Chapter 32. Overview of Novell NetWare IPX/SPXSOME OF THE MAIN TOPICS IN THIS CHAPTER ARE
In addition to an extensive discussion of Novell's IPX, SPX, and NCP protocols, this chapter highlights the most important of the other Novell proprietary protocols. Although Novell has been making a shift to IP since Version 5.x, NetWare can still use IPX/SPX. In addition to backward compatibility, IPX/SPX is used for the RCONSOLE utility. The primary reason to use IPX/SPX is for compatibility with older network components and for other applications that use only the IPX/SPX protocol. This chapter is intended to give you an overview of these protocols to enable you to better make your case to upper management as to why it is time to upgrade. And, for those stuck with an older Novell network, the information found in this chapter might prove useful to help you in troubleshooting and solving problems until you can upgrade to a newer version of NetWare (or another operating system). An interesting note to consider is that NetWare was once king of the PC networking industry. Even as Microsoft introduced its LAN Manager product, among others, it was not until Windows NT was marketed that Windows operating systems began to incorporate built-in networking functionality. NetWare provides both an application server and a network protocol. If you can find the same functionality in another less expensive product, where does Novell fit in today? For more about the current version of NetWare, just look at the next chapter to see where Novell has positioned the product today.
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