Novell Inc used the Networld+Interop conference in Las Vegas this week to introduce a new software suite to enable users of its Netware operating system to manage their remote and branch office servers using IP as opposed to Novell’s proprietary IPX language. BranchManager isn’t a completely new solution; all bar one of the individual components have been available separately for some time. What’s new, says marketing manager Randall Harvey, is that this is the first time Novell has bundled all the products together, onto a single CD, to offer a complete NT management solution.
The new component is an IP-based version of NDS for NT. The latter has been available for Netware for some time, but this is the first time a version has been developed for NT. NDS for NT 2.01 provides the foundation for the product, Harvey said. Having an IP version will speed up management of the servers and access to applications since the network won’t have to carry out the IPX-IP translation process, as it had to in the past. The second product, ZENworks 1.1, provides to ability to centrally manage and control NT-attached desktops remotely. Administrators can go in and fix application problems, or file corruption problems without having to be on site, which benefits the end-user by increasing uptime, Harvey said.
ManageWise Agent for Windows 2.6 provides similar functionality but for the NT console itself. Adminstrators can perform proactive management – check server status, CPU utilization, disk utilization, potential bottlenecks and so on – and take appropriate action before problems occur. Finally, BorderManager Authentication Services 3.0 provides secure authentication, authorization, and accounting services for remote users through NDS and the Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) protocol. It provides remote users with a secure, consistent interface to all network resources.
The one drawback is that users will have to have either Netware 4.0 or version 5.0 somewhere on the network in order for it to work, although Harvey said Novell was looking at providing an all-NT solution, but said there was no timeframe for its delivery. He said Novell would need to port more of Netware’s utilities, such as DS Repair for administering the directory, to NT before it could be Netware independent. Novell BranchManager for NT server and a five-client license is available worldwide for $995. Additional five, 10 and 25-client licenses can be purchased for $245, $490, and $1225 respectively.
