To take advantage of a shift in Novell's NetWare strategy and make it easier for customers to migrate from NetWare to Windows, Microsoft has released an updated version of its Services for NetWare feature pack. Services for NetWare 5.03 provides a set of interoperability and migration utilities for using Windows Server 2003 in a NetWare network and improves support for directory synchronization and file migration, but it also removes support for File and Print Services for NetWare.

The release comes as Novell signals that Linux will be more important in its future than its former flagship product, NetWare. In particular, Novell acquired Linux distributor SuSE, as well as Ximian, an important Linux application software vendor, in 2003. At its Brainshare conference in Mar. 2004, Novell indicated it will push hard to move Linux into the mainstream. Although it will release NetWare 7.0, it has ported the core NetWare functionality to Linux in a product called Open Nterprise Server, and it will migrate other products, such as its ZenWorks management suite, to Linux.

Improvements in 5.03

Services for NetWare 5.03 provides protocols and services that enable migration, synchronization, and interoperability with Novell NetWare networks, allowing computers running Windows Server to coexist with other NetWare clients.

To enhance NetWare interoperability, Services for NetWare 5.03 improved the following:

• Microsoft Directory Synchronization Services (MSDSS), which enables migration and synchronization of directory resources from NetWare servers
• File Migration Utility (FMU), which enables migration of files from NetWare servers.

Services for NetWare 5.03 also provides tools for monitoring network traffic and troubleshooting connectivity problems, log-on scripts, and password synchronization.

Microsoft's File and Print Services for NetWare, which were designed to ease interoperability between NetWare and Windows-based networks, has been dropped from Services for NetWare 5.03. Since most companies using NetWare today are likely to migrate at some point to either Linux or Windows, the FMU, which supports a cleaner and faster migration of files from a NetWare to a Windows server, provides a better solution than maintaining Netware File and Print Services on an ongoing basis.

Resources and Availability

Microsoft supports Services for NetWare 5.03 on all versions of Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003.

Administrative tools for Services for NetWare 5.03 will run on Windows 2000 or XP Professional.

Services for NetWare 5.03 works with the following Novell products:

• NetWare 3.x (Bindery)
• NetWare 4.x
• NetWare 5.x
• NetWare 6.0 with Service Pack 3
• NetWare eDirectory 8.6.2
• NetWare eDirectory 8.7.x

Services for NetWare 5.03 requires one of the Novell Clients for Windows (4.83 or 4.9 Service Pack 1).

For more technical details on interoperating with or migrating from NetWare and to download Services for NetWare 5.03 for free, see www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sfn/default.mspx.

Novell’s emphasis on Linux-based products is described at www.novell.com/products/linux.