1.1 Consolidation Overview

The Novell Server Consolidation Utility is a file-and-print consolidation tool that helps you reorganize your network by copying data from any number of existing source servers to any number of destination servers. By consolidating data onto newer, more powerful servers, you can simplify your network administration processes and lower your IT costs.

The Server Consolidation Utility automates key tasks, such as migrating users and their trustee assignments, assigning passwords, and migrating the NetWare or Microsoft Windows NT file system data to NetWare servers in an eDirectory tree. This automation eliminates the need to choose from various utilities that would help you perform these tasks individually.

IMPORTANT:If you want to migrate NetWare data from old hardware that is being replaced, use the NetWare Migration Wizard that is included in the Server Consolidation and Migration Toolkit. For more information, see Section IV, Server Migrations.

This section describes how the Server Consolidation Utility works and provides some example scenarios of how you can use it to consolidate your data.

1.1.1 Server Consolidation Projects

The Server Consolidation Utility is a versatile tool that lets you perform a variety of consolidation projects.

NetWare-to-NetWare Consolidations

For NetWare to NetWare consolidations, you can reorganize your network by copying data from any number of existing NetWare source servers to any number of NetWare destination servers. The accompanying rights, trustees, ownership, and name space information are copied to the destination server along with the files.

You can copy entire volumes or specific directories between servers in the same eDirectory tree or in different eDirectory trees. The source server can even be the same as the destination server.

NDPS Printer Agent Consolidations

As part of a NetWare-to-NetWare consolidation, you can reassign several Novell Distributed Print Services (NDPS) Printer Agents to a single NDPS Print Manager within the same tree. This simplifies your network printing configuration.

Windows-to-NetWare Consolidations

You can also use the Server Consolidation Utility to copy data from servers in Windows NT or Windows 2000/2003 domains to NetWare servers in Novell eDirectory trees. NTFS permissions and ownership information are converted to NetWare equivalents and transferred along with the necessary users and groups.

1.1.2 Drag-and-Drop Modeling

With the Server Consolidation Utility, you model your consolidation project using drag-and-drop procedures.

The utility’s main project window displays the source tree on the left-hand side and the destination tree on the right-hand side. To model your project, you simply drag folders or entire volumes from the source pane and drop them to the desired location in the destination pane. This gives you a visual representation of how the data will be organized on the destination servers.

No data is actually copied during the modeling phase, so you are free to rearrange the data structure until you are satisfied with it.

When you are ready to proceed with the data copy, the Server Consolidation Utility performs a pre-copy verification of the project. This helps prevent errors from interrupting your server consolidation and allows you to correct mistakes before data is copied to the destination servers.

1.1.3 Example Consolidation Scenarios

The benefits the Server Consolidation Utility provides can be better understood through examining some sample consolidation scenarios.

Basic Server Consolidation: Many-to-One

In the first scenario (see Figure 1-1), suppose you have three existing NetWare servers. You recently purchased a multiprocessor server that you want to install NetWare on to take advantage of NetWare's multiprocessor-enabled features. You want to copy the data from each of the three servers to the single NetWare server. Rather than manually moving all the data and Printer Agents, or backing up the data on each of the three servers and then restoring it to the NetWare server, you can use the Server Consolidation Utility to automate the process.

Figure 1-1 Many-to-One Server Consolidation

Although Figure 1-1 shows the servers all in the same eDirectory tree, the Server Consolidation Utility lets you do tree-to-tree consolidations as well.

Consolidating Data from Multiple Servers onto a Two-Node Cluster

In the second scenario (see Figure 1-2), suppose you have five existing NetWare servers. You recently purchased two multiprocessor servers and the necessary hardware to create a two-node cluster complete with an attached Storage Area Network (SAN). You have decided to install NetWare on the two-node cluster because NetWare comes with Novell Cluster Services software and a two-node cluster license. You want to copy the data from each of the five servers to the SAN on the two-node cluster. Rather than manually moving all the data and Printer Agents or backing up the data and restoring it to the SAN, you can use the Novell Server Consolidation Utility, which automates the data migration process.

Figure 1-2 Cluster Server Consolidation

Cross-Platform Data Consolidations

As mentioned previously, the Server Consolidation Utility lets you copy data from Windows servers in a Windows NT domain or Windows 2000/2003 Mixed Mode domain to servers in a Novell eDirectory tree.

You can use the Server Consolidation Utility to copy data between the following server platforms:

  • NetWare to NetWare

  • Windows NT/2000/2003 to NetWare