Moving User Accounts

To establish NetWare user accounts on the Linux server, you must manually configure them. There are no widely available utilities or tools you can use to perform this function. However, the typical Unix/Linux password can be used as a reference for the kind of information you'll need in order to create user accounts on Unix/Linux systems. If you only need to create a few user accounts for system administrators, for example, the process will be simple. If you need to create a large number of accounts, possibly for client workstations, you probably will find it necessary to produce a report from the NetWare system and use this to make the entries or create a script file that can be used for this purpose.

The Unix/Linux password file is covered in Chapter 38, "Managing Unix and Linux Users."

And if you are using NetWare 5.x or 6.x, the Native File Access Pack feature enables Unix, Windows, and Macintosh clients to access NetWare servers. This feature doesn't require you to install NetWare client software on the client systems, and can be integrated with the directory services.

NetWare, particularly the 4.x and higher versions that support directory services, keeps track of a lot more information for a user account than is done on Unix/Linux systems that use just the /etc/passwrd file. Because of this, and the simplicity of the /etc/passwrd file, you won't have to do a lot of work to create new user accounts on the Linux system. However, you might find that the trade-off is that you need to examine security (file permissions, for example) and other aspects of your Unix/Linux system to ensure that your users are afforded the same access.

Networking Protocols

The TCP/IP protocol is the standard used on the Internet and most LANs. It has become increasingly popular for use in all kinds of networks in just the past few years . For example, early versions of Windows NT would install the IPX/SPX protocol by default. Starting with Windows NT 4.0, the default became TCP/IP. This has stayed the same for Windows 2000/XP and Windows Server 2003.

NetWare's legacy protocols (IPX/SPX) aren't used a lot anymore, since NetWare adopted TCP/IP a few years ago. Unless you have an older version of NetWare that still uses IPX/SPX, it would be a good idea to upgrade the NetWare servers to at least version 5.0, which does support IP.

Applications

Unfortunately, if you have a large investment in application software that was written (or compiled) for a Windows platform or NetWare's native servers, you will need to purchase new versions of your existing software or purchase new software. If you have internally developed applications for which you have the source code, you might need to make only minor changes and recompile the source code on a Unix/Linux system. The C language (and its descendants) is the programming language of choice for Unix/Linux, so if your in-house applications were written in C, this task may be somewhat easier.

Many major as well as second- tier server and system manufacturers are now marketing systems that include Linux. As the popularity of Linux continues to grow, many vendors have started to think about producing Linux versions of their products as well as Unix versions. You won't find Microsoft Office there yet, but you will find competing products. If you can use the file conversion capabilities that come with most products of this type, you might find that changing to a new product is not that painful, short of a little user training.

One of the factors helping to fuel the popularity of Linux is Sun's StarOffice, an integrated office suite designed to provide much of the functionality of Microsoft Office at a fraction of the price. With each new release (StarOffice is now at version 8 or above), compatibility with Microsoft Office has improved, and StarOffice now also supports the OASIS OpenDocument format.

Note

The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) is an international non-profit consortium that develops e-business standards, including OpenDocument, XML Catalogs, and many others. The OASIS Web site is located at www.oasis- open .org .

StarOffice has an open-source sibling, OpenOffice 2.0. OpenOffice is available as a free download and offers features similar to those in recent versions of StarOffice, including OASIS OpenDocument compatibility.

Note

Learn more about StarOffice from the official Sun StarOffice Web site at www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/index.jsp .

Learn more about OpenOffice and download it from the OpenOffice Web site at www.openoffice.org .

StarOffice is available for the following platforms:

Linux (x86)
Solaris Intel
Windows 98, 2000 (SP 2 or higher), XP
Solaris on SPARC

OpenOffice supports the following platforms:

Linux (x86)
Solaris Intel
Windows 98, Me, 2000 (SP 2 or higher), XP, Windows Server 2003
Solaris on SPARC
Mac OS X

The applications provided with Sun's StarOffice include the following (* feature is also available in OpenOffice 2.0):

StarOffice Writer* A professional word processing program
StarOffice Calc* A spreadsheet
StarOffice Impress* A graphics presentation program
StarOffice Draw* A graphics drawing program
StarOffice Base* A database for the suite
StarOffice Schedule A scheduling application to keep your appointments in order
StarOffice Mail An email client
StarOffice Discussion A news reader program

As you can see, StarOffice offers just about the same applications as Microsoft Office. Because of its price and availability on multiple platforms, you might find integrating Linux into an existing Windows environment to be less costly than you had originally anticipated. Or, if you do have a Linux desktop computer, StarOffice is easier to use than many Unix or Linux utilities that provide similar functionality.

OpenOffice is available in several languages, and you'll even find a version for Windows. So you can run the same office suite for Unix/Linux users as well as for Windows clients on your NetWare network.

If you already have a large investment in Microsoft applications, you can use one of the alternatives to StarOffice or OpenOffice. You can purchase software that emulates Windows and runs some of those applications on a Linux computer.

For example, a company called CodeWeavers ( www.codeweavers.com ) sells a product called CrossOver Office, available in Standard and Professional editions. A Server edition is available for running office-productivity programs on Linux or Solaris thin clients.

You can download an evaluation copy from its Web site before you decide to make a purchase. If you decide that this product works well on your Linux computers, you'll find that it is very inexpensive: just under $40 for Standard, and just under $70 for Professional. Although CrossOver Office doesn't run every Windows application, CodeWeavers is working to add additional applications. Some of the Windows applications depend on the version of the product you buy. The following applications that were written for Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP using CrossOver Office include:

Microsoft Word
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Internet Explorer
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft PowerPoint (Windows 2000 version only)
Microsoft Outlook (Windows 2000 version only)
Microsoft Access (Windows 2000 version only)

In addition, some non-Microsoft products are also supported:

Adobe Photoshop
Lotus Notes
Quicken

At the CodeWeavers Web site you can also find a list of applications that can be run, but may encounter a few bugs . These applications are still under development, however, and support for them will be added in future versions of CrossOver Office.

Note

The CodeWeavers Web site lists applications that are expected to work, and those that have been tested. Tested applications are ranked from Honorable Mention to Gold, depending upon how well they work. See www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/medals for details.

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Ogletree T.W., Soper M.E.

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