Module 14: Interoperating with Novell Netware

Review Intro:

The software included in NT includes:

Some Background

Primarily, NetWare is used for file and print services, with user accounts and privileges stored in the NetWare bindery. Bindery is the NetWare 3.x equivalent of the Windows NT directory database. In NetWare 4.x, the NDS tree is used.

Microsoft Windows NT Server and Workstation provide several features and services that enable computers running Windows NT to coexist and interoperate with NetWare servers. Some are included in Windows NT, while others are available as separate products, called add-ons.

First the basic Novell protocol must be present to do anything :

NWLink

Client Service for NetWare (CSNW)

What's it for?

In order to use CSNW to access NetWare resources, these conditions must be met:

(the user can connect to desired resources through Network Neighbourhood or the NET USE command utility.)

CSNW

CSNW enables computer running NTW to make direct connections to file and printer resources at NetWare servers running NetWare 2.x or later.

Note: Although NT 4.0 supports NDS, they do not support administration of NDS trees.
 

  • CSNW Support for Bindery Emulation. CSNW supports the bindery-based version 3.x of Novell NetWare. User accounts and privileges are stored in the NetWare bindery, which is Novell's equivalent of the NT directory database. Access to the network is validated based on user accounts and Pwd in NT domain through the directory database, or on a Novell NetWare server through the bindery.
    •
    NOTE:
    You can use Preferred Server OR Default Tree and Context - not both. Use Preferred Server if connecting to a NetWare 3.x server; use Default Tree and Context when connecting to a NetWare 4.x server.

    You CAN use the Preferred Server setting to connect to a NetWare 4.x server running in bindery emulation mode, but you won't be able to browse the NDS tree.

     

    NOTE:
     Compare using CSNW on NT Workstation to connect to a NetWare server AND connecting through NT Server which is running GSNW.
    • CSNW on NT Workstation: will be faster because it's a direct connection to the NetWare server
    • Through NT Server running GSNW: no CSNW is needed on the client. This is the only option for MS-DOS and Win95 clients.

    The question to answer before deciding is how much access do you need?

    • If a lot, then NT Workstation with CSNW
    • If only occasional or the client isn't NT Workstation, then NT Server with GSNW

     

    Gateway Services for Netware (GSNW)

     

    Some Background:
    Generically speaking, the term “gateway” refers to a software component permitting computers that do not share a common set of protocols and services to communicate with one another. In other words, the gateway translates from one protocol and service world to another, and vice versa.

    REMEMBER, GSNW can only be implemented on NT SERVER!

    What's it for?

    So you need...

    Protocol NWLink
    Service CSNW
    Service GSNW


     

    Microsoft Picture:

     When to use GSNW
    1. It is designed to provide Windows clients with occasional access to a NetWare network.
    2. Serve as a migration path (example NetWareà NT)
    3. It's not designed to allow Windows NT Server computer to be a high performance gateway because ALL clients are receiving services through one NetWare connection.
    4. RAS clients can use GSNW to access NetWare servers. Using GSNW, business can use NTS as a communications server and enable remote users to have reliable and secure remote access to a NetWare local area network.
    Remember this:
    The chief selling point for GSNW is that it provides access to NetWare resources for MS Network clients without requiring any additional software, or software changes, to be made to those clients themselves.

     

    Installing GSNW

    Installing GSNW to create a NetWare Gateway requires six steps:

    1. Remove any existing NetWare client software from the Windows NT server before you start

    Here's why:

    Because CSNW is installed and very much part of GSNW, this means that any Windows NT server with GSNW installed also can function as a client to a NetWare server. This explains why you must remove existing NetWare client soft-ware— especially Novell’s NetWare Client for Windows NT—from any Windows NT server before installing GSNW on that machine.

    1. Install GSNW on a Windows NT Server (NWLink is installed too if not present; CSNW is installed too)
    2. Create a Group account called NTGATEWAY on the NetWare server or NDS tree and make sure the group account set up on NetWare server must have necessary permissions assigned for resources to be accessed
    3. Create a User account on the NetWare server using SysCon, NWAdmin or NetAdmin and make the user a member of the NTGATEWAY group. Windows NT will use this account to login to the NetWare server or NetWare tree.
    4. Configure GSNW to attach to that preferred server (NetWare 3.x) or default tree and context (NetWare 4.x)
    5. Add the server or tree shared resources to the GSNW service (Using Gateway button) and then Add in the Configure Gateway dialog box.)
    Note: Like CSNW, GSNW can also support NDS and bindery-based 3.x version of NetWare

     

    Another note:
    If you want to support NT long filenames on the NetWare file server, you must
    • have OS/2 name space on the NetWare volumes that will store long file names
    • if you have NetWare 4.11, then use Long Name Space

    Otherwise, you must use DOS FAT 8.3 naming conventions.

     

     File and Print Services for NetWare (=add-on)


     Directory Service Manager for NetWare (=add-on)

    Use DSMN to accomplish these tasks:

    1. Specify which NetWare user and group accounts to manage centrally from Windows NT Server computer. Those are copied to PDC and become NT Server accounts. They are bound by the account policy of the NT Server domain
    2. Merge account names from multiple NetWare servers into one account name when adding them to the domain. E.g., DavidS and DavidSm could become DavidS.
    3. Specify which Windows NT Server domain accounts to copy back to NetWare servers. This ensures that changes made to domain accounts are synchronized with NetWare server.
     Migration Tool for NetWare (Nwconv.exe)

    What's it for?

    NOTE: a migration leaves the NetWare server intact and only copies the information to the NT Server

    It provides a Windows NT Server computer to perform functions:


     

     Now, Migration Tool for NetWare in DETAIL...

    (STUDY NOTE: Unless your NT Server is physically connected to a Novell Server, it's difficult to study the Migration Tool for NetWare. If NT doesn't find a Novell server, you can't blame it for stopping you dead in your tracks.)

    Migration Tool for NetWare is used to migrate NetWare

    1. users,
    2. groups,
    3. selected files and directories,
    4. and rights on files and directories (security)

    to Windows NT domains.

    Migration tool for NetWare will not migrate:

    Prerequisites for using NWCONV.EXE:

    There may be a question on what components you need to perform a Migration from NetWare --> NT
    These are the top three, but don't ignore the rest.

    The destination drive on the NT server must be NTFS to successfully migrate file and directory security information from the NetWare server.

    1. Migration Tool for NetWare Is accessed from the command line (NWCONV.EXE) It is located in the \WINNT\system32 folder
    2. The main Migration Tool for NetWare screen.

      Press the ADD button and you get this Select Servers for Migration dialog box:

    The User and Group dialog box allows you to customize how users and groups will be transferred.
    Click User Options on the Main screen to access User and Group Options:

    The default setting is to migrate all users and groups.


    Let's go through all the tabs here to review the options and DEFAULT for each:

    1. Password migration (Click on the Passwords tab see above)

    There is also a checkbox for "User must change password at next logon."

    None of this is very secure, so you can use a mapping file to specify passwords - see the Use Mappings File below.

    2. Duplicate user names (Click on the Usernames tab)

    By default, users with duplicate user names will not migrate. The following options are available:

    3. Duplicate group names (Click on the Group names tab)

    By default, duplicate group names will be ignored and will not migrate. The following options are available:

    4. Account restrictions (policies and profiles) (Click on the Defaults tab)