Just for interest...

[andy]

Does anyone use Netware?

[e_g_r]

Wish i did.

My old school is still a Netware site and uses the likes of ZEN Works and Border Manager to good effect.

NDS out performs active directory and you have far less issues with patch's.

[daveyboy]

Yep and lovin' it !!!!!

[mprcomp]

Why does a Novell Zen Works log in take 6 minutes in my school. I keep asking techies but just get its not on list of priorities.

Is this me expecting too much?

Paul

[RoyG]

I've been running Netware on our 3 servers since 1996 - yes, it is addictive!

Since then -
number of unplanned occasions server down = 3
longest server downtime = 40 minutes

I rest my case!

RoyG

[DMcCoy]

You must have missed netware 6.0 out then :P

Netware 5.0 was very stable for us, no great issues with it. We then bought some new servers (compaqs) and Netware 6. Netware 6.0 (even with the first 2 overlay service pack cds) would abend during a clean install on the servers.

Then there was the new filesystem. There were filesystem patches released constantly and we never got it working. This also affected backup, which usually crashed the server. I tried several backup products, but they all did the same. it was the tsa driver iirc (its been a few years now). The novell ndps server also used to abend the server every few days too!

I also got put off by bordermanager. It had major issues. It didn't clear its cache when it got full (like the documentation said it would), and it needed manual configuration to fix its email proxy, otherwise it would eat all the mail. I would have been less annoyed if this wasn't labled as a bug and it wasn't fixed in 3.0, 3.5, 3.6 and 3.7.

I assume that you are using a version thats based on suse for the server now? I can see how that would be stable, I would also say that I did like NDS.

Unfortunatley for Netware we tried 6.0. As a consequence we don't have single netware product left.

[john]

I did some work experiance at Nelson & Colne College and at that time they had Netware, they seemed to like it, don't know what its like now as a few years have gone since I was there, so cannot comment on it now.

[RoyG]

You must have missed netware 6.0 out then :P

Never got that far, we've stuck with 5.1. It hasn't broken, so we haven't mended it!

I also got put off by bordermanager. It had major issues. It didn't clear its cache when it got full (like the documentation said it would), and it needed manual configuration to fix its email proxy, otherwise it would eat all the mail. I would have been less annoyed if this wasn't labled as a bug and it wasn't fixed in 3.0, 3.5, 3.6 and 3.7.

The cache is fine, it just punts off the oldest items as required. Email proxy not an issue, our Email is hosted elsewhere.

I assume that you are using a version thats based on suse for the server now? I can see how that would be stable, I would also say that I did like NDS.

We're taking a look at Novell Open Enterprise server (Novell flavoured Suse) at the moment, but not in a rush to upgrade.

[standunstan]

Why does a Novell Zen Works log in take 6 minutes in my school. I keep asking techies but just get its not on list of priorities.

We once had this as a problem and found that the Novell and Microsoft network clients were both installed and going head-to-head for supremacy on logon.

Removing the Microsoft client resolved the problem.

(This assumes, of course, that the Microsoft client is not required for other reasons such as access to MS server-based applications such as SIMS etc.)

[beama]

been using Novell on file server 5 years, its great.

[riedquat]

Been using Netware here for almost 10 years now, currently running a number of Netware 6.5/OES servers plus a couple of Win 2000 servers to host the KS3 ICT tests etc.

[davecox]

I was using it at my old school and it was fantasic. Did what it was supposed to do with out a hitch. Since I left and moved to a windows environment my old school have got zenworks and are raving about it constantly. I do miss it so much

[riedquat]

I do miss it so much

btw, you do realise that edirectory and zenworks installs on Netware, Linux and Windows now...no need for an actual netware server if they won't let you have one :-)

[brubakes]

We have 13 servers. All but 1 are Netware. Mostly 6.5SP5 with two still at NW6. I always liked NetWare, ZENWorks, and other Novell software offerings.

[Kained]

Why does a Novell Zen Works log in take 6 minutes in my school. I keep asking techies but just get its not on list of priorities.

Is this me expecting too much?

Paul

Take a look at the service location ensure that this is setup

DNS settings is your next step, try specifying dns settings in windows this helps speed things up usually.