Novell Nterprise Linux Services Announced 236
eer writes "At BrainShare (Novell's customer/developer conference), Novell customers reacted positively to the news that they would have the choice of running Novellâ(TM)s network services on Linux or NetWare or both. Today the company provided more details by introducing Novell Nterprise Linux Services, which will give customers file, print, messaging, directory and management services in an integrated package that runs on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server distributions--along with providing those customers with comprehensive Novell technical support, training and consulting services for Linux. Partner companies, including IBM, HP, Dell, Red Hat and others, also voiced their support for Novell's Linux."
Way to go Novell (Score:5, Interesting)
I have seen many people put Novell down recently with all the SCO crap going on. But the truth is, they really do make great stuff that nobody can compete with (right now). Linux/Sendmail/mySQL is great (I use it a lot) but everything from Novell is just easier to deploy (flame bait).
I mean
Re:finally! (Score:2, Interesting)
If Nterprise uses an alternate file ownership scheme with network ACL's, I'm all for it!
Hooray, Linux for huge networks (Score:2, Interesting)
Once you got to Novell 4 and 5, you were able to manipulate very large scale networks, with thousands of users, something MS barely does (one PDC?) and Linux not at all. It makes me laugh when Linux Zealots talk about replacing corporate networks with Linux servers, and the largest network they've administered is 3 Pentiums and a Pentium II for playing Doom.
Yeap, one big step for more Linux in real, corporate networks.
another link of interest (Score:5, Interesting)
Kind of makes you wonder .... (Score:4, Interesting)
It all makes a little more sense now. I'm glad they finally embraced their services on Linux though. I always like the Novell File Services!
Why Enterprise editions of Linux? (Score:3, Interesting)
Novell already relies on Linux (Score:2, Interesting)
support (Score:2, Interesting)
This will also mean more products on Linux as a lot of companies which already support NetWare will have to move in Linux direction.
Re:Anyone use Novell anymore? (Score:1, Interesting)
I call shenanigans!
Re:Legacy users only? (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe it does blow donkeys, but I've got it as an http proxy for 1,000 simultaneous users right now - I think that's pretty darn good. And it used to crash a whole lot, but it was a hardware problem - 45 days up, and climbing fast. So sad that so many of those users are looking at pictures of...
People... blowing... donkeys?
Christ, these internet logs scare me. Over 130 MB/day, too.
Re:About time (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:About time (Score:2, Interesting)
NWAdmin's tool was so powerful, we migrated all of our SAM-based NT domains 4.0 to NDS for NT 2.0 on Novell 4.x in as OU's in the primary tree. (No small task, this was at the number 1 largest air conditioning company in the world no less.)
Nothing better than having a single interface to manage all your organizations accounts and permissions, especially NWAdmin.
Now, apply that to linux/*nix services across the board, and you've got a winner. Albeit a most likely expensive, commercial winner...
Who cares! (Score:3, Interesting)
I earned my Novell CNE (Certified NetWare Engineer) back in 1996, and since then watched Microsoft's Windows NT steadily eat away their market share. Novell succeeded back in the 80's and early 90's because they filled a need. It didn't matter that their support was bad or their marketing non-existent, because at one time NetWare was the only game in town. But they lost their market share to Microsoft because they did not improve their support or their marketing.
But times have changed. Microsoft may be the leader now, and although they do a good job of marketing, their support is awful, mostly because their products are bloated piles of spagetti code. I ditched working with NetWare because I can do everything and more with NT, and then I ditched NT because I can do everything and more with Linux and can support it or make changes without things blowing up. Linux will never have the marketing that Microsoft has, but it doesn't need it because word of mouth and an ever improving product is the best form of advertising.
Sorry Novell. Sorry Microsoft. You treated guys like me who paid thousands of dollars for your certifications like crap for years, so we left and decided to write our own. Linux doesn't need Novell or Microsoft to succeed in the long run. Anyone who says different hasn't worked in the industry long enough.
Question (Score:3, Interesting)
If all I'm doing is providing body panels and upholstery I'm not going to be calling myself an auto manufacturer.
TW
Novell supporting Linux.. (Score:3, Interesting)
This has got to be the smartest marketing Novelll has ever done. (Any of you familiar with Novell know how absolutely BAD they are at marketing). I actually have a renewed interest in Novell products, and I may just dust off my CNE cert and hang it on my wall proudly, rather than hiding it at the bottom of my underwear drawer where no man but me dares tread. A CNE and a CLE might look nice together on a resume.
cool (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Novell is coming around (Score:3, Interesting)
A step that is seven years late. Find it hard no one remembers this.
Funny, seven years ago this was blasphemy. The Linux world was up in arms. Novell is evil! SCO rocks!! Please leave our little Linux alone!!!
Today, the present. The Linux world wishes for ALL corporations to use Linux. SCO is evil! Novell rocks! Please add to our Linux and make it your own.
Secret project? Yes Actual product? No (Score:3, Interesting)
The real goal of M$ Linux would be to take concepts that work and port them back to Windows, so as to reinforce the monopoly in the places where it is crumbling. They might try to use marketing magic to bring some of the NSA credibility to Windows, although they are a long way from having a product that would remain secure long enough to make the effort worthwhile.
Microsoft is a mature IT company. They have to hold onto Windows because any other technology will cannibalize their revenue stream faster than new customers can replenish it. They face a dilemma in that competitors are free to bring their Linux submarines to periscope depth and launch torpedoes at the M$ battleship.
There may be a point in the future when some other technology undercuts or outperforms Linux and the Red Hats of the world have grown to a size where they can't adopt the new stuff without killing their existing base.
debian advocacy (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Novell Is Smart. (Score:3, Interesting)
The novell server it is on has been up for over 7 years now. noone touches it except to change the backup tape daily. no administration, no reboots, no nothing ever needed to be done to it. something that is 100% impossible with any microsoft server ever made. it serves the files and printers flawlessly. Management 3 years ago wanted to upgrade it so they made me buy 5.1 and the new user pack.. I naver installed it as it is pure stupidity to mess with something that is not broke...
I really hope that that old reliability and efficency that was the basis of novell is coming along with this product of theirs...
because no programmers at microsoft are capable of it, and BSD or linux is the only thing even close to the realiability and speed of Novell.
My only problem I ever had with netware was the insane way of configuring netware... what sick person thought that was a good idea? it makes editing sendmail configs by hand look easy.
Re:A couple years late? (Score:3, Interesting)
I spent some time selling and installing these boxes to small businesses because they could seriously undercut the price of native Netware. They ran well on RHL 6.0, but got flakier on 6.1 and 6.2, and broke completely on 7.0. Novell/Caldera never upgraded or patched. Every time I called or talked to them at a trade show, they would tell me that a new updated version was right around the corner and should be out any day now. But it never happened.
That was FOUR YEARS AGO. Four years and not a peep or whistle or so much as a security patch.
Why should we trust them now?
-Graham
Re:Way to go Novell (Score:2, Interesting)
Look into your IT staff
Re:A couple years late? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Two fingers to SCO (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:support (Score:3, Interesting)
I think the problem with a lot of linux tools for implementing "enterprise" solutions is that they tend to require that the admin know every little detail about each component technology in that solution. in an ideal sense, this is good because it encourages learning. in the realistic sense, it means that a potential convert ends up saying "Fuck this noise" and reaches for the fuzzy-feely-pointy-clicky thing that proprietary vendors will happily sell them. sometimes you don't want to have to memorize the ldap spec just get a centralized account/auth database up and running.
A teeny little bit of hand-holding (and a teensy bit less scorn and patronization) would go a long way to lubricating linux's deep, deep penetration into the enterprise, especially among mid-size businesses.