Chapter 60. Migrating from NetWare to Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003

SOME OF THE MAIN TOPICS IN THIS CHAPTER ARE

Windows Protocols and Services

Microsoft's Services for NetWare Version 5.0 ( SFN )

When Windows NT 3.51 was released, the default network protocol during installation was Microsoft's implementation of Novell's IPX/SPX protocol, NWLink. It easily can be assumed that at that time Microsoft perceived that Novell was its most important competitor in the network operating system marketplace . With Windows NT 4.0, the TCP/IP protocol suite, along with the Internet Information Server and a host of utilities for creating applications for the Internet, moved that focus away from Novell to the then-fast-growing Internet market.

Yet, over the years , Windows has continued to dominate the desktop, from Windows 95 to 2000 Professional and now to Windows XP. So one has to consider what benefits there are to pay for Novell's NDS (now the eDirectory) and related networking products, when most of the functionality that Novell provides is already present in Windows 2000 and Windows 2003 Servers. Novell has recently concentrated its efforts on a new and improved NetWare 6.0. But whether that remains the focus of the company is somewhat in doubt. Parts of NetWare 6.x have been broken out for sale as separate products, such as iPrint and iFile. And as new versions of NetWare have been released, there has been an inconsistency in the Web server that comes bundled with the package. NetWare has also decided to head toward the Linux route and offer future versions that run both in native NetWare mode and on top of the Linux kernel.

Microsoft cannot be absolved from any blame here either. Each generation of Internet Information Services comes with new features, and also gets rid of older features, given time. And with 2003 Server features now being introduced, you can expect that Microsoft will try, as Novell, IBM, and others have, to conquer the Internet desktop. This is the future of networking and the Internet.

This chapter covers ways to migrate your network from Novell NetWare to Windows 2000 by doing the following:

• Examining features of the Windows operating system that help provide connectivity between Windows and NetWare computers.

• Looking at Microsoft Windows Services for NetWare 5, which can be very useful, along with other tools for performing a migration to Windows NT or Windows 2000.

You can take a gradual approach, slowly integrating Windows into important roles in the network, or you can take the all-at-once approach. The former probably would be cheaper in the long run (you can lose NDS servers by attrition and you don't need as many people devoted to the migration if you have more time). And, if you take the slow road, you can learn from your experiences. The latter approach might be a lot more costly, because you'll need to have a larger team of trained professionals to get the job done quickly. Using the all-at-once approach also is riskier. If something goes wrong, or if your capacity planning or organizational planning is faulty, you'll need a good back-out plan (and probably another job).

Note

When planning any migration or upgrading project, you should carefully consider your choices and experiment in a lab situation to ensure that your solution works, among other things. Chapter 4, "Upgrading Strategies and Project Management," may be useful reading before this chapter.