A couple of newsletters ago (see link below) I mentioned that I would re-examine the NetWare client for Linux. I then went on to talk about the full-service NetWare client for Linux that would be available when Open Enterprise Server ships early next year. But some of you are a bit impatient and wondered why it wasn't already shipping, along with the recently released Novell Linux Desktop. One longtime reader, who lives close enough to Waltham that he can drop in from time to time, did some digging and turned up the clues to the rest of the story. Thanks Tim.
More about Novell Client for Linux
Network World Novell NetWare Tips Newsletter, 11/09/04
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Help on the way for SMB telephony reseller margins being squeezed to death by Cisco
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In that same newsletter, I talked about the open source utility ncpfs, which ships with many distributions of Linux. This is a command line file system access tool for Novell Core Protocol (NCP) based file systems (i.e., NetWare). A similar tool has been available from N-iX Software Development Team, a German company that's part of Newcomp Computersystem. N-iX' tool is also an NCP redirector, rather than an actual client. Turns out both ncpfs and N-iX have a role to play in the new NetWare client for Linux providing both the source of the solution as well as the major part of the problem.
Novell's engineers, working with N-iX are leveraging the open source re-director, ncpfs, to create the client, which will come in two parts: a server-side and a client-side.
The server-side is being done in Provo, and is - in most respects - complete. The client-side is being jointly worked on with N-iX, incorporating N-iX' work as well as ncpfs. It's the login/credentialing part that's the sticking point.
RSA Security, which licenses its BSAFE encryption library to Novell, won't allow Novell to use it in an open source product. According to an RSA spokesman: "RSA Security helps companies secure their applications with RSA BSAFE encryption software and has secured more than a billion applications worldwide. The company does not sell RSA BSAFE products with an open source license in order to keep the integrity of the application that is being secured." This left Novell in a bit of a quandary - use the RSA library and make the client "closed source", or be true to its new-found "open source" religion and find another way to do the encryption.
Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. He's written a number of books including the (sadly) now out of print "Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks." His musings can be found at Virtual Quill.
Kearns is the author of two Network World Newsletters: Windows Networking Strategies, and Identity Management. Comments about these newsletters should be sent to him at these respective addresses: windows@vquill.com, identity@vquill.com .
Kearns provides content services to network vendors: books, manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing, technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill provides "words to sell by..." Find out more by e-mail.
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