1.5 What Are the Differences Between NetWare and OES 11?

1.5.1 System and Administrative User and Group Differences

Because OES 11 services run on Linux rather than on NetWare, there are noticeable differences between the system and administrative users and groups on OES 11 servers. For example, some OES 11 services, such as Novell CIFS, require proxy users to retrieve service-related information and service attributes, and to write service information in eDirectory.

For more information, see System User and Group Management in OES 11 SP3 and Administrative Users in OES 11 SP2 in the OES 11 SP3: Planning and Implementation Guide.

1.5.2 Comparing Services Between NetWare and OES 11

Table 1-3 Service Comparison Between NetWare 6.5 SP8 and OES 11 SP3

Service

NetWare 6.5 SP8

OES 11 SP3

Platform Differences / Migration Issues

Access Control Lists

Yes

Yes

In combination with NCP Server, Linux supports the Novell trustee model for file access on NSS volumes and NCP (POSIX) volumes on Linux.

AFP (Apple* File Protocol)

Yes - NFAP

Yes - Novell AFP

AFP services on NetWare and OES are proprietary and tightly integrated with eDirectory and Novell Storage Services (NSS).

Apache Web Server

Yes - NetWare port of open source product

Yes - Standard Linux

Using Apache HTTP Server on OES Servers (Single Server or Cluster Nodes) in the OES 11 SP3: Web Services and Applications Guide.

Administration Instance vs. Public Instance on NetWare.

What’s Different about Apache on NetWare.

Archive and Version Services (Novell)

Yes

Yes

Setup varies slightly, but there are no functional differences.

Backup (SMS)

  • SMS

  • NSS-Xattr

Yes

Yes

SMS provides backup applications with a framework to develop complete backup and restore solutions. For information, see the OES 11 SP3: Storage Management Services Administration Guide for Linux.

NSS provides extended attribute handling options for NSS on Linux. For information, see Using Extended Attributes (xAttr) Commands in the OES 11 SP3: NSS File System Administration Guide for Linux.

CIFS (Windows File Services)

Yes - NFAP

Yes - Novell CIFS

and

Novell Samba

Both NFAP and Novell CIFS are Novell proprietary and tightly integrated with eDirectory and Novell Storage Services (NSS).

Samba is an open source product distributed with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES).

Novell Samba is enhanced by Novell with configuration settings for eDirectory LDAP authentication via Linux User Management (LUM). Novell Samba is not tightly integrated with NSS on Linux and works with any of the supported file systems.

Clustering

Yes

Yes

Comparing Novell Cluster Services for Linux and NetWare in the OES 11 SP3: Novell Cluster Services NetWare to Linux Conversion Guide.

DFS (Novell Distributed File Services)

Yes

Yes

In combination with NCP Server, DFS supports junctions and junction targets for NSS volumes on Linux and NetWare. DFS also supports junction targets for NCP volumes on non-NSS file systems, such as Btrfs, Ext3, and XFS. The VLDB command offers additional options to manage entries in the VLDB for NCP volumes.

DHCP

Yes

Yes

For a comparison between what is available on OES 11 SP3 and NetWare, see DHCP Differences Between NetWare and OES 11 in the OES 11 SP3: Planning and Implementation Guide.

To plan your DHCP implementations, see Planning a DHCP Strategy in the OES 11 SP3: Novell DNS/DHCP Services for Linux Administration Guide and Planning a DHCP Strategy in the NW 6.5 SP8: Novell DNS/DHCP Services Administration Guide.

DNS

Yes

Yes

For a comparison between what is available on OES 11 SP3 and NetWare, see DNS Differences Between NetWare and OES 11 in the OES 11 SP3: Planning and Implementation Guide.

See Planning a DNS Strategy in the OES 11 SP3: Novell DNS/DHCP Services for Linux Administration Guide and Planning a DNS Strategy in the NW 6.5 SP8: Novell DNS/DHCP Services Administration Guide.

Dynamic Storage Technology

No

Yes

No functional differences.

eDirectory 8.8

Yes

Yes

No functional differences.

eDirectory Certificate Server

Yes

Yes

No functional differences.

eGuide (White Pages)

Yes

No

This functionality is now part of the Identity Manager User Application. For more information, see the User Application: Administration Guide..

FTP Server

Yes

Yes

No functional differences.

See Novell FTP in the OES 11 SP3: Planning and Implementation Guide.

Health Monitoring Services

Yes

Yes

No functional differences.

For help with diagnosing problems using Ganglia and Nagios in OES 11 SP3, see Diagnosing Problems Using Ganglia and Nagios (OES 11 SP3) in the OES 11 SP3: Novell Remote Manager Administration Guide.

The NRM Health Monitor tool is no longer available in OES 11 SP2 and later.

For information about using Health Monitor in OES 11 SP1 and earlier, see Diagnosing Problems Using Health Monitor (OES 11 SP1) in the OES 11 SP3: Novell Remote Manager Administration Guide.

Identity Manager 4.0.2 Bundled Edition

No

Yes

See Using the Identity Manager 4.0.2 Bundle Edition..

iPrint

Yes

Yes

See Overview in the OES 11 SP3: iPrint Linux Administration Guide, and Overview in the NW 6.5 SP8: iPrint Administration Guide.

IPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange) from Novell

Yes

No

Novell has no plans to port IPX to OES.

iSCSI

Yes

Yes

The iSCSI target for Linux does not support eDirectory access controls like the NetWare target does. Nor is the iSCSI initiator or target in OES 11 SP2 or later integrated with NetWare Remote Manager management. You use YaST management tools instead.

On the other hand, the iSCSI implementation for Linux is newer and performs better.

See Linux-iSCSI Project on the Web.

See Overview in the NW 6.5 SP8: iSCSI 1.1.3 Administration Guide.

KVM Virtualization Guest

No

Yes

Of the two OES virtualization solutions (KVM and Xen), only Xen is supported for running Netware.

KVM Virtualization Host Server

Yes

N/A

 

LDAP Server for eDirectory

Yes

Yes

No functional differences.

Multipath Device Management

Yes

Yes

NetWare uses NSS multipath I/O. Linux uses Device Mapper - Multipath that runs underneath other device management services.

MySQL

Yes - NetWare port of open source product

Yes - Standard Linux

See MySQL.com on the Web.

See Overview: MySQL in the NW 6.5 SP8: Novell MySQL Administration Guide.

See also Configuring MySQL with Novell Cluster Services in the OES 11 SP3: Web Services and Applications Guide.

NCP Volumes

No

Yes

NCP Server on Linux supports creating NCP volumes on Linux POSIX file systems such as btrfs, Reiser, Ext2, Ext3, and XFS.

For information, see Managing NCP Volumes in the OES 11 SP3: NCP Server for Linux Administration Guide.

NCP Server

Yes

Yes

NCP services are native to NetWare 6.5 and NSS volumes; to have NCP services on OES, the NCP Server must be installed.

See Benefits of NCP Server in the OES 11 SP3: NCP Server for Linux Administration Guide.

NetStorage

Yes

Yes

NetStorage on Linux offers connectivity to storage locations through the CIFS, NCP, and SSH protocols. NetWare uses only NCP.

NetWare Traditional File System

Yes

No

Novell has no plans to port the NetWare Traditional File System to Linux.

NetWare Traditional Volumes

Yes

N/A

 

NFS

Yes - NFAP

Yes - native to Linux

For NetWare, see Working with UNIX Machines in the NW 6.5 SP8: AFP, CIFS, and NFS (NFAP) Administration Guide.

NICI (Novell International Cryptography Infrastructure)

Yes

Yes

No functional differences.

NMAS (Novell Modular Authentication Services)

Yes

Yes

No functional differences.

Novell Audit

Yes

No

Novell Audit is not included with OES. However, the Novell Audit 2.0 Starter pack is available for download at no cost on Novell.com.

Novell Client for Windows and Linux support

Yes

Yes

Novell Client connectivity to OES requires that the NCP Server be installed.

Novell Cluster Services

Yes

Yes

See Product Features in the OES 11 SP3: Novell Cluster Services for Linux Administration Guide.

See Product Features in the NW6.5 SP8: Novell Cluster Services 1.8.5 Administration Guide.

Novell iFolder 2.x

Yes

No

For migration information, see Migrating iFolder 2.x in the OES 11 SP3: Migration Tool Administration Guide

Novell iFolder 3.9

No

Yes

OES 11 SP3 includes Linux, Macintosh, and Windows clients.

Novell Licensing Services

Yes

No

See OES Doesn’t Support NLS in the OES 11 SP3: Planning and Implementation Guide.

Novell Linux Volume Manager

No

Yes

The Novell Linux Volume Manager (NLVM) command line interface can be used to create and manage Linux POSIX file systems.

For information about the syntax and options for the NLVM commands used in this section, see the OES 11 SP3: NLVM Reference.

NSS (Novell Storage Services)

Yes

Yes

Most NSS services are available on both platforms. For a list of NSS features that are not used on Linux, see Cross-Platform Issues for NSS in the OES 11 SP3: NSS File System Administration Guide for Linux.

In OES 11 and later, NSS supports both the DOS and GPT partitioning scheme. It also supports partitions up to 8 TB in size. (NetWare supports only DOS and partitions up to 2 TB in size.)

In OES 11 SP1 and later, NSSMU supports Linux volumes in addition to NSS pools and volumes.

NTPv3

Yes

Yes

The ntpd.conf file on NetWare can replace an OES server’s NTP configuration file without modification.

OpenSSH

Yes

Yes

NetWare includes a port of the open source product. Linux includes the open source product itself.

See Functions Unique to the NetWare Platform in the NW 6.5 SP8: OpenSSH Administration Guide.

PAM (Pluggable Authentication Modules)

No

Yes

PAM is a Linux service that Novell leverages to provide eDirectory authentication. eDirectory authentication is native on NetWare.

Pervasive.SQL

Yes

No

Pervasive.SQL is available for Linux from the Web.

PKI (Public Key Infrastructure)

Yes

Yes

No functional differences.

Printing

Yes

Yes

See iPrint.

QuickFinder

Yes

Yes

See Search.

RADIUS

Yes

Yes

See the information on forge.novell.com.

Samba

No

Yes

Samba is an open source technology available on OES. Novell provides automatic configuration for authentication through eDirectory. For more information, see the OES 11 SP3: Novell Samba Administration Guide.

Search (QuickFinder)

Yes

Yes

When indexing a file system, the QuickFinder engine indexes only what it has rights to see.

On NetWare, it has full access to all mounted volumes. On Linux, it has rights to only the files that the novlwww user in the www group has rights to see.

For more information, see Security Characteristics and Generating an Index For a Linux-Mounted NSS Volume in the OES 11 SP3: Novell QuickFinder Server 5.0 Administration Guide.

SLP

Yes - Novell SLP

Yes - OpenSLP

For OES 11, see SLP in the OES 11 SP3: Planning and Implementation Guide.

NetWare uses Novell SLP, which provides caching of Directory Agent scope information in eDirectory. This provides for sharing of scope information among DAs.

OpenSLP on Linux is now customized to provide DA information retention and sharing as well.

Software RAIDS (NSS volumes)

Yes (0, 1, 5, 10, 15)

Yes (0, 1, 5, 10, 15)

See Understanding Software RAID Devices in the OES 11 SP3: NSS File System Administration Guide for Linux.

Storage Management Services (SMS)

Yes

Yes

No functional differences, except that the SBCON backup engine is not supported on Linux.

The nbackup engine is available for exploring SMS capabilities, but in a production environment, you should use a third-party, full-featured backup engine.

TCP/IP

Yes

Yes

No functional differences.

Timesync NLM

Yes

No

Timesync will not be ported to Linux. However, NTPv3 is available on both Linux and NetWare.

See Time Services in the OES 11 SP3: Planning and Implementation Guide.

Tomcat

Yes

Yes

NetWare includes Tomcat 4 and a Tomcat 5 servlet container for iManager 2.7. OES 11 SP2 or later includes Tomcat 6.

See “Administration Instance vs. Public Instance on NetWare”

Virtual Office (Collaboration)

Yes

No

Virtual Office has been replaced by Novell Vibe OnPrem. A separate purchase is required. For more information, see the Novell Vibe OnPrem Web Site.

WAN Traffic Manager

Yes

No

 

Xen Virtualization Guest

Yes

Yes

NetWare 6.5 SP8 (and NetWare 6.5 SP 7) can run as a paravirtualized machine. OES 11 SP3 can run as a paravirtualized machine or fully virtualized machine.

Xen Virtualization Host Server

N/A

Yes