ATG

As Novell will no longer support NetWare 3.12 beginning sometime next year, and to keep with current technologies, the Netframe must be upgraded to NetWare 4.1. We (ATG) now have the software and knowledge necessary to perform this upgrade.

NetWare 3.x servers store user names, rights, and passwords in a flat (not-dynamic) file called the bindery. Each user must know the specific server name, unless the connection has been automated via some DOS batch file, where their user name and password is valid. If they have more than one account on one server, multiple user names and passwords (though these can be the exactly the same) are required.

NetWare 4.x implements what is known as Novell Directory Services (NDS). NDS is a object oriented, dynamic database of user names, rights, and passwords. NDS can be thought of as a tree, with a main server at the root of the tree holding the main copy of the database. Each subsequently installed 4.x server holds a copy of the database. The root of the tree is known as the Organization (UTC), and each branch below it is known as an Organizational Unit (i.e. CECA or DOITS). Other Novell objects (servers, users, print servers, etc.) are known as leaf nodes below the Organizational Unit. Whenever a user is added, each server receives a copy of the users name, rights, and password. In this way a user can login to the "Network" and have rights on several servers at the same time. Server volumes are mapped in the same way as in 3.12. Below is the proposed UTC NDS tree:

1. Catastrophic Failure during the Upgrade - This is not very likely, but always a possibility. Using the new software that was ordered a two full backups of SRV1 would be made to Razor, the NT server. Also SRV1 should be separated completely from the rest of the network to prevent an accidental logons during the upgrade.

2. Email (Mercury) fails to work with 4.1 - I have tested Mercury with UTC_ATG1, which has been 4.1 for several months, and found no problems. The major difference is the amount of users. ATG1 has a 7 user license, SRV1 has a 250 user license. The load is of course greater on SRV1.

3. NMS (Optivity) fails to work with 4.1 - Using the old copy of 3.12 for SRV1, I proposed to build a simple server (UTC_ATG3) to run NMS. This would remove any possible incompatibilities.

4. Older NetWare clients (NETX.EXE for example) may not be able to connect to SRV1 - This should not be a problem. All 3.x servers upgraded to 4.x servers can do "Bindery Emulation" when a user attaches to the server using old clients.

5. Users may require new passwords.

1. SYS volume must NOT run out of disk space or NDS errors could occur. We can SET VOLUME LOW WARNING THRESHOLD to monitor SYS and add the command SET AUTO TTS BACKOUT FLAG=ON. Also our monitoring program can be set to monitor disk space on SRV1.

2. SRV1’s clock must be accurate...It should be routine that SRV1’s clock is checked monthly and reset if necessary. This clock reset would require downing the server.

3. Monitor SRV1’s utilization (which should not go above 60%), cache buffers (which should not go below 40%), and concurrent connections (currently a maximum of 250.)

Hardware requirements. - 4.x requires at least 20 M of RAM to run correctly, 3.x would work with 8 M. 4.x can autosense certain hardware during installation (Hds, E-net Cards, etc.), 3.x had to be told everything.

Multiple Servers require Multiple User Ids - As stated before 4.x users require only one user name and password to access multiple servers. Unfortunately the users on servers upgraded to 4.x, as opposed to users created after the upgrade, do not have this ability. The user must be deleted (not their data, only the name) and recreated with the exact same rights as before to gain this benefit.

Time Synchronization - As each 4.x server has a copy of the NDS database, changes must be broadcast to each server. To make sure these changes occur in the correct order, each server must be synchronized (share the same clock time) with the master server. The master server maintains the master clock (primary-single reference), and each other 4.x server sync to the master clock via the network.

One Administrator - 3.x servers have a Supervisor user which administer the server. 4.x NDS trees have one ADMIN user which can be thought of as a Super-Supervisor. ADMIN can act as SUPERVISOR on each server in the NDS tree.

For approximately a year and a half servers; UTC_SRV1, UTC_DF01, UTC_DC01, and UTC_DE01, have been backed up routinely using an old PS/2 and software named Arcsolo. As SRV1 will soon be a NetWare 4.1 server, and this is inherently more complex than its current 3.12, Arcsolo is no longer a solution to its backup needs. Knowing this beforehand we ordered a new software package called Backup Exec. The main Backup Exec software runs on Windows NT (razor) with agents, like that to be put on SRV1, that communicate with it. Razor also has a new HP JetStore 8 Gig DAT drive upon which to store the backed up files. I would also like to have UTC_ATG1 added to the backup list.

As the license we’ve bought for Backup Exec(BE) allows an unlimited number of NetWare Servers, both 3.x and 4.x, it would seem the best choice to discontinue use of Arcsolo in favor of BE. Also the new DAT drive has a larger capacity to hold the increasingly large volume sizes of the servers. BE and its agents allow for very quick backup and should be able to do a full backup of SRV1 in less than an hour. My proposed backup schedule is:

1st week of month - Full backup of all four servers on separate tapes.

2nd week - Incremental backup using tape from 1st week.

3rd week - Full backup of all four servers on separate tapes.

4th week - Incremental backup using tape from 3rd week.

Every six months make a full backup of each server and archive it somewhere other than Hunter Hall.

This would require buying 15 new tapes (Backup Exec cannot format or erase tapes used by Arcsolo) 10 for regular backup and 5 for six month archive purposes.

Test backups on ATG1 have shown that 16 Meg of memory is not sufficient for Backup Exec. I’ve had to unload most of the NLMs (NetWare components) to get BE to work with ATG1, but ATG1’s functionality was seriously impaired.. The servers SRV1 and DF01 have (or will have soon) more than 16 Meg of memory but DE01, DC01, and ATG1 only have 16. As all of these servers use 72 pin SIMMS, and prices have dropped to about $105 per 8 Meg, it wouldn’t be that expensive to upgrade the servers to 32 Meg. I’m not sure how Engineering or Computer Sci will like to hear this news, but we can still use Arcsolo for those servers.

____ 1. Check to make sure that at least 75M of free disk space on SYS:

____ 2. Two complete backups of SRV1

____3. Edit autoexec.ncf to remove non-Novell NLMs.

____4. Copy info about PrintServers, rights, names, etc: