Windows or Novell (Need Help Please)

[richrad_mills]

Hi Guys,

I have recently started work in a secondary school who use Novell network. My previous employer was a secondary school aswell (this was my work experiance placement for university) who used Windows (Vanilla) network. I have the follwoing questions I would relly appreciate it if someone could help me:

1) What is the difference between Novell and Windows?
2) Which is better Novell or Windows? and why?
3) Is Novell network old technology (basic network)?
4) Which type of network is mainly used at schools, colleges and universities?

I personally believe Windows is better and i am planning to look for another job.

Thanks in advance,
Richrad Mills

[ckuntz01]

K-12 School district In the US we use Microsoft Windows 2008 with GPO. Currently merging most districts in the county (10 districts in all) and anyone that is not on Windows will be Windows by the end of summer.

[rvdmast]

I'm assuming here you're talking about Novell Netware in some version (3.x, 4.x or even 5)
In that case i'd say "old" is an understatement, ancient would be more appropriate.
In fact i doubt that anything above Windows XP ( Vista, 7) still support it...

[CyberNerd]

It does rather depend on which version of netware.
if you have 6.5 on SuSE openenterprise server then it's probably worth sticking with. Kinda depends what you want to do with it. Which is better? How long is a piece of string?

[wagnerk]

1) What is the difference between Novell and Windows?

Different architecture and ways of doing things.

2) Which is better Novell or Windows? and why?

It's really the one that meets the needs of the organisation.

3) Is Novell network old technology (basic network)?

Well Novell is the company name, so no. Added to that Novell does things like ZenWorks and Linux.

4) Which type of network is mainly used at schools, colleges and universities?

Create a poll here and find out, personally from the school's (primaries, secondaries as well as public/private) & colleges/Uni's I've visted, support(ed) and/or went to all run a Windows domain (one of the college's I went to had a dedicated Unix lab, and a few schools had a couple of Mac's but that's about it), either a vanilla one or one with bolt-on software, eg RM, Ranger, etc...

I personally believe Windows is better and i am planning to look for another job.

Personally, I do to. But I'm bias, most of my certifications are Microsoft ones If you believe that there is a business case (eg cost savings due to operations and/or technical training, usability, extra features, etc) to migrate from Novell to a Microsoft environment, put it forward to SLT and let them decide.

-Ken

[richrad_mills]

Thank you guys for the feedback i really apperciate it.

[richrad_mills]

I'm assuming here you're talking about Novell Netware in some version (3.x, 4.x or even 5)
In that case i'd say "old" is an understatement, ancient would be more appropriate.
In fact i doubt that anything above Windows XP ( Vista, 7) still support it...

Different architecture and ways of doing things.

Personally, I do to. But I'm bias, most of my certifications are Microsoft ones If you believe that there is a business case (eg cost savings due to operations and/or technical training, usability, extra features, etc) to migrate from Novell to a Microsoft environment, put it forward to SLT and let them decide.

-Ken

Thanks Rvdmast and Ken, we are using Novel Netware Version 4 and we are on Groupwise and all the workstations are on XP (we have not got outlook). If I recommend Windows to the SLT team then my manager will go against me.

1) Does anyone know the best way i could recommend a network change to the school?
2) Was Novell one of the first network that came out then Windows and now it's Citrix?


Thanks in advance,
Richard Mills

[TronXP]

We currently use Novell Netware 6.5 (OES1) with Zenworks. To be honest it is a great system very robust. Servers are only down for maintenance and we reboot them once a year when the power is being tested.

We are though moving to microsoft over the summer. Why? well because 6.5 is no longer on free support from march (you have to pay for a maintenance contract) and we had to decide on staying with Novell and going to OES2 on linux platform or move to windows. We opted for Microsoft, mainly because myself and my technicians feel more comfortable within the microsoft environment then in the linux environment, at the end of the day you are have to support the systems and if trouble occurs then you need to be able to fix it.

The second for me that lots of our software requires a Microsoft server, but I will miss our novell netware servers.

[wagnerk]

1) Does anyone know the best way i could recommend a network change to the school?

Here one reason:

...We are though moving to microsoft over the summer. Why? well because 6.5 is no longer on free support from march (you have to pay for a maintenance contract) and we had to decide on staying with Novell and going to OES2 on linux platform or move to windows. We opted for Microsoft, mainly because myself and my technicians feel more comfortable within the microsoft environment then in the linux environment, at the end of the day you are have to support the systems and if trouble occurs then you need to be able to fix it.

The second for me that lots of our software requires a Microsoft server, but I will miss our novell netware servers.

Other reasons, you can read about from the following links, including TCO:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserv...educe-tco.mspx (also includes case studies)

2) Was Novell one of the first network that came out then Windows and now it's Citrix?

Not sure what context you're refering to however:

Novell started in 1979 (hardware), then in 1983 moved over to developing/producing the multi-platform network operating system (NOS): Novell NetWare.

Microsoft started in 1975, but didn't really product a business OS until 1993 with Windows NT 3.1. Up to that point it was mainly DOS, Windows really aimed at home users and applications.

Citrix started 1989, in the early 90's dealt with remote access to Windows/DOS - a joint vendure between themselves and MS resulted in Windows Terminal Server (before that MS & Intel funded Citrix).

All three have moved on to bigger and better things, surely it's not a question of who came first, but which offers the best for your organisation...

-Ken

[_Adam_]

I have never used Novell but I have worked alongside people who have. You will find people very loyal to Novell and for good reason, it's solid and did things for a long time other systems did not. But I believe Active Directory Domain Services have caught up well and truly now and it's free.

You could find whitepapers, look at budget gains, find other school examples for swapping from Novell but if your manager is biased towards Novell I doubt he will change.

I know of one IT manager locally to me who has the only Novell admin user as himself, he figures if the school sacks him they will be screwed. He also really did have a god complex

[richrad_mills]

I know of one IT manager locally to me who has the only Novell admin user as himself, he figures if the school sacks him they will be screwed. He also really did have a god complex

Thanks Adam yeah your right he probably knows that not enough people have got experince in Novell. But I guess he can use the excuse why get rid of something if it works and nothing is wrong with it.

Thanks
Richard Mills

[wagnerk]

Thanks Adam yeah your right he probably knows that not enough people have got experince in Novell. But I guess he can use the excuse why get rid of something if it works and nothing is wrong with it.

Thanks
Richard Mills

But what if something happens to him? An accident, he leaves, he gets fired or even something as simple as he's on A/L and not contactable? I'm not saying that Novell is better than Microsoft or vice versa, but SLT and the IT manager has to think along the lines of Succession Management and Continuity of Business.

If they want to keep Novell, fair enough, however a decent training package should also be given. Considering that, while they have a good user-base, it's not as large as Microsoft's user base. So "community support" isn't as large.

My two cents, anyway

-Ken

[CyberNerd]

But what if something happens to him? An accident, he leaves, he gets fired or even something as simple as he's on A/L and not contactable? I'm not saying that Novell is better than Microsoft or vice versa, but SLT and the IT manager has to think along the lines of Succession Management and Continuity of Business.

you advertise for a linux admin or buy a support contract, just as you would advertise for a windows admin or get a support contract in a windows environment. It's more about TCO than continuity.

[CaptainJack]

CyberNerd: The one distinct advantage Novell had over Microsoft is that it is still much more stable. Novell servers (be they older Netware or the newer OSE) rarely, if ever, require being rebooted for no apparent reason. However, as where I work is moving to Windows-based servers, we are seeing occasions where Windows servers need to be bounced "just because". In my mind, this is totally unacceptable. Also, it is harder for miscreants to hack into Novell servers unless they are standing at the console. The fact is that MS just has a better marketing plan...not necessarily the better product and unfortunately, MS is proof that you don't have to have the best product in the market, just be the best marketed product.

[uzy]

Thanks for the info.