Novell’s Open Enterprise Server 1.0, the latest release of the company’s flagship operating system, lets you run NetWare services on top of either the NetWare kernel or SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server) 9. I tested the public beta of OES in the University of Wisconsin-Madison labs and found that it adds several features to NetWare, though its Linux side needs more development.

Best of Both Worlds

Based on NetWare 6.5 SP3, OES for NetWare provides all the services you’d expect. Updated components include iManager 2.5, QuickFinder 4.0 (formerly Web Search) and services typically found on Linux systems, such as support for RPM (Red Hat Package Management), bash (born-again shell) scripting and the vi editor.

OES for Linux provides all the services found in NetWare with two exceptions: Nsure Audit and Novell Licensing Services aren’t included.

I installed the new OES Linux system and added it to an existing NDS test tree with just one hitch: Instead of the DNS name, I had to use the IP address of a server in the existing eDirectory tree. If you’re familiar with installing SuSE Enterprise Server, you’ll have no problem getting this OS running.

The Novell components on Linux use YaST (Yet another Setup Tool) plug-ins–SuSE’s configuration interface–making it easy for administrators to configure them. If you prefer, you can configure the components manually after the installation, though the documentation on where the files reside and their configuration options weren’t completed in the beta release.

Once the OES Linux server was up, I did an in-place upgrade of one of two existing NetWare 6.5 SP2 nodes. This was a breeze.

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