NetStorage

NetStorage provides a transparent WebDAV interface to NetWare files. This is probably one of the most exciting NetWare 6.5 features that you've never heard of. Effectively, NetStorage lets you access files on a NetWare 6.5 server without a NetWare client. NetStorage is integrated with iFolder, NetDrive, and Virtual Office to make accessing your network files as easy and seamless as possibleall without using the traditional Novell Client.

NetStorage leverages a middle- tier architecture, also called X-tier , to provide its services. This same architecture is used to support some of the functionality for Novell's ZENWorks line of management solutions.

Installing NetStorage

NetStorage can be installed during the installation of the NetWare 6.5 server, or after the fact through iManager or the graphical server console. Typically, you will need to install NetStorage only on one NetWare 6.5 server in your eDirectory tree, or on one server at each geographical site, although very heavy usage might require more than one per site.

To install NetStorage through iManager, complete the following steps:

1. Insert the NetWare 6.5 Operating System CD-ROM into your workstation.

2. Launch iManager and open the Install and Upgrade link in the left navigation frame

3. Select Install NetWare 6.5 Products, and then click Remote Product Install in the right frame.

4. At the Target Server screen, select the server to which you want to install NetStorage and click Next . Authenticate as an Admin user for your eDirectory tree and click OK.

5. At the components screen, click Clear All and select only Novell NetStorage. Click Next.

6. At the Summary screen, click Copy Files. You will be prompted to insert the NetWare 6.5 Products CD-ROM.

7. At the NetStorage Install screen, specify the required information, and click Next. You can change these settings after the installation through iManager by opening the NetStorage link and selecting Authentication Domains.

   • Primary eDirectory Server: Specify the DNS name or IP address of a server in your eDirectory tree that hosts a master or a read/write replica of eDirectory. This does not have to be the server where NetStorage is being installed. NetStorage will use this server to authenticate users when they attempt to log in to NetStorage.

     TIP

     If you want NetStorage to search a specific eDirectory context for user information, you can add that context to the end of the DNS name or IP address, separated by a colon (:). If no context is specified, NetStorage searches the entire eDirectory partition stored on the specified eDirectory server for user information.

   • (Optional) Alternate eDirectory Server: Specify up to two other eDirectory servers to use for user authentication. These can be different servers entirely, or the same server but a different associated context.

   • (Optional) iFolder Server: Specify the DNS name or IP address of your iFolder server, as well as the port number used by the iFolder service. This will make iFolder contents available via NetStorage (WebDAV). More information on iFolder is available later in this chapter.

WARNING

If you install NetStorage after the NetWare 6.5 installation, you must restart your NetWare 6.5 server after completing the NetStorage installation.

At the Installation Complete screen, click Close to complete the installation of NetStorage.

Configuring NetStorage

Use iManager to configure and manage your NetStorage environment by opening the NetStorage link in the left navigation frame. There really isn't much in the way of required configuration, but it's nice to understand the control you do have over NetStorage.

• Authentication Domains: This page lets you add/remove/modify authentication domains to NetStorage. These are eDirectory servers that NetStorage will search for user authentication information.

• Browse Files: This page lets you actually view the available NetStorage files. You will be required to authenticate as a valid user, and the user must exist in one of the authentication domains defined for this NetStorage server.

• Current Sessions: Shows a list of current NetStorage sessions.

• General: This page lets you configure some basic NetStorage parameters. In most cases you won't have to change any of these, but they are available if necessary.

• iFolder Storage Provider: This page lets you review and change basic iFolder parameters that relate to its operation with NetStorage. In most cases you won't have to change any of these, but they are available if necessary.

• NetWare Storage Provider: This page lets you review and change basic parameters related to the use of NetWare mapped drives with NetStorage. In most cases you won't have to change any of these, but they are available if necessary.

• Resource Usage: This page shows server resources being used in support of the NetStorage middle-tier server environment. It is useful for keeping track of how server resources are being used for troubleshooting server issues.

• Statistics: Displays a report with information about server up time, login failures, number of NetStorage sessions, and so on.

• Storage Locations: Use the Storage Locations pages to create/delete/modify storage location objects in your eDirectory tree. Storage location objects are pointers to NetWare directories that can be given more useful names than those typically seen when looking at NetStorage resources. This is particularly useful for common directories shared by multiple users.

• WebDAV Provider: This page lists the location of the NetStorage WebDAV provider (XDAV.NLM) and the location of NetStorage template files used for building the NetStorage Web interfaces.

For more detailed information on any of these parameters, see the NetWare 6.5 online documentation.

Using NetStorage

In order to avoid timestamp issues and confusion over the most current version of a file, Novell recommends that the date and time on the NetStorage server and the WebDAV client be reasonably close, within a few hours of each other.

You can access NetStorage from any WebDAV client. Two of the most obvious of which are Web browsers and Microsoft Windows Web folders. However, there are WebDAV clients for Macintosh and Unix/Linux systems as well. The following process is equally applicable to those environments.

1. From your WebDAV client, enter the magic NetStorage URL, which is the DNS name or IP address of your NetStorage server with /oneNet/NetStorage appended to the end. Remember to include the http:// prefix and remember that URLs are case sensitive. For example:

   http://wal-serv1.quills.com/oneNet/NetStorage

   NOTE

   To use Web folders in Windows 2000, open My Network Places (the Windows WebDAV client) and double-click Add Network Place. This opens a wizard for creating a new folder in My Network Places.

   
   

2. At the authentication screen, specify your eDirectory username and password. This User object must be accessible from the eDirectory server(s) you specified during the NetStorage installation.

Once authenticated, your WebDAV client displays the network files and folders that are currently accessible. To do this, NetStorage reads the user's NetWare login script to determine drive mappings, reads eDirectory User object properties to determine the path to the user's home directory, and then displays a list of files and folders based on mapped drives and home directories. Figure 10.1 shows NetStorage views from both a Web browser and Windows Web folders.

Figure 10.1. Accessing NetWare folders through NetStorage.

TIP

If you specified eDirectory servers from different eDirectory trees during the NetStorage installation, NetStorage will read the user login script from only the primary eDirectory server when calculating mapped drives to display. However, NetStorage will read User object properties from all trees and display multiple home directoriesas long as the User object has the same name in each tree. This is useful if a user normally logs in to more than one eDirectory tree.

If you have an iFolder account, you will see an iFolder folder in addition to your mapped drives and home directory, as shown in Figure 10.1. The first time you open the iFolder folder, all you will see is a file called PASSPHRASE.HTM. To access the contents of your iFolder directory, open PASSPHRASE.HTM, as shown in Figure 10.2, and specify the passphrase of your iFolder account.

Figure 10.2. Specifying your passphrase to access iFolder from NetStorage.

This lets NetStorage decrypt your iFolder files so that it can interpret them properly. The passphrase for NetStorage is stored as an encrypted attribute on your User object, so it is not at risk of discovery.

Once connected to your NetWare files through WebDAV, you have full access to them. You can browse, open, and close folders; copy files to your local drive; and open files with WebDAV-compliant applications such as Web browsers, Microsoft Office 2000, and so on.

In addition, if you use Microsoft Windows Web folders, you can use all the normal Windows mechanisms for copying, cutting, pasting, and renaming files. To perform similar actions from a browser interface, click the Down arrow next to the file or folder with which you want to work.

If you need to use a file with a non-WebDAV application, you will need to copy the file to your local drive so that the application can use normal operating system mechanisms for working with the file. This is the only real drawback to NetStorage: It does not provide low-level integration with the operating system, such as creating a drive letter that lets applications access the files as if they were local.

Novell helps you resolve this issue for Windows workstations with NetDrive, which is described in the next section. The trade-off is having full access to network files as if they were local versus having a clientless solution for accessing your network files.