IPX vs TCP/IP 1

[etcorp]

I'm upgrading a NW 4.11 server to NW 6 and don't have any need for anything other than file and print services. I was considering only installing IPX and no TCP/IP, thus don't need DNS, DHCP, etc. Does anyone have any comments on this as to if this is a good or bad idea and if so why??

Thanks,

jim

 

[Chewie71]

Why IPX? I'd think you would want to go TCP/IP only and drop IPX. Novell is moving away from IPX for just about everything. In fact you won't be able to manage some features on the NW6 server without TCP/IP...the browser based stuff. ConsoleOne and NWAdmin won't do it all anymore.

So now that I think about it I'm not positive you can successfully run NW6 without TCP/IP. Anybody else have any comments on this?

 

[Beaghler]

If you have a small network, with no WAN links or links to the outside, IPX is OK. However, NW6 is really made to use IP, and communications are better with IP. The same goes if you need to talk to an NT (or 2000) network.

Post a little more info about what your network looks like, and I'm sure we can come up with a good scheme for you. Be sure to include:

Number of servers and OS
WAN or LAN
Internet connection

 

[Beaghler]

Chewie and I posted at the same time. He raised a good point that I hadn't considered. Your managment abilities will be very limited with just IPX. You'll need some IP for management.

 

[michigan]

I agree w/Chewie

Novell is moving most all administrative tools to web-based interfaces soon, which will require TCP/IP. And, from what I understand, all future releases will be strictly web-based.

IPX by design has always been a little faster then TCP/IP over a LAN, but I wouldn't recommend going ONLY IPX. If you really like IPX, (IPX/SPX) or need it for some reason, I would install both protocols - not only will that accomplish what you want, but will not leave you/your network SOL when certain TCP services attempt to load/run.

Good Luck.

 

[etcorp]

Thanks for your input. After some more consideration I think we will install both TCP/IP and IPX (for no other reason BackupExec requires TCP/IP). The network is a very small (25 user, single server) NW4.11 enviroment right now. I am going to be doing a migration to NW6 using the Novell migration wizard (single server again). I've read through the docs and even tried a migration, does anyone have any gotcha's that I should know about? Do printers and queues migrate OK (how about Jetdirect cards)? Lastely, the DOCs mention that if you fail after the new server has taken on the personality of the old server that you have to remove and reinstall NDS on the old server, it's assuming that the server is on a network with other servers and replicas. Mine isn't, what happens if it fails at that point? I would also like to be able to bring this server back online if needed (seperate LAN so I don't need to worry about duplicate trees, names, etc).

 

[michigan]

etcorp -

I wrote a thread a while back (August) when we upgraded. You may want to read this re: HP Printers/Ques

Title of Thread was:
Novell Netware 6: Pre-upgrade suggestion for HP Printers
thread 697-328537
(in the HP Printer forum)

Not sure about BackupExec, but our ARCServeIT didn't migrate well. Actually, it just broke. Tons of "pre-patches" - I would check our Veritas site for their suggestions - may need their updated version.

I actually hired a senior Master CNE locally to come in and "assist" with the migration. I'm very glad I did. We bumped into more $hi7 then quite a bit more then expected. He basically "assisted" the rest of the way of the migration as I refilled the coffee cups, and took what little notes I could.



Good Luck.

 

[Chewie71]

Have you considered not going with a migration...and start fresh with NW6? I think you'll find you'll have a lot fewer problems. The problem there is you have to recreate all your users/printers/file system/etc... But if you're in a small environment that may be the best way to go. You won't end up dragging any 4.11 cruft into your new NW6 tree that way. Course this method depends on having new hardware which you may not have.

This is what we are doing here....in a very large environment. But we are doing it because the old 4.11 trees were poorly designed in the first place so...I get to start from scratch. But I think it's the best way to go.

Matt

 

[Provogeek]

You can go pure IPX if you want, and you can do everything you can do right now on 4.11, you just do it a little different for some things (like licenses). The only thing you really lose is the kewl new stuff Novell is doing with their NOS, and it can be a pain to add it on afterwards. I had a problem with Port Resolver messing up the installs of all of my web services for one of my migrations that I chose just IPX (so you're better off just installing IP).

Done a few of these migrations, it will be a pain any way you go. Across the wire, going fresh will take the same amount of time. Build your 6.0 server using the SP2 overlay CD, don't use shipping media.

Across the wire:
Follow the directions in the documentation for prepping your 4.11 server and ther rest of the network. The only step they didn't give you that seems to be the key to get a migration from 4.11 to go with out screwing everything up when you go stright to 6.0 is to import the schema from the 6.0 tree into the 4.11 tree. Now when you do this, the NDS migration will go okay and not screw everything up because of a lack of the NICI and certificate authority stuff. Make sure your 4.11 tree is in wonderful health before you do this, because any DSREPAIRs run on the 4.11 afterwards will be filled with errors because of the schema extensions it doesn't understand. When all is said and done, your tree will work.

Matt's suggestion:
So you don't end up shooting your self in the foot, don't recreate the wheel just to migrate your server. Just prep the 4.11 server for NDS 8.6.2 by installing th latest SP and DS version and install the PRENDS8 files. Install your 6.0 server into you 4.11 tree, give the 6.0 server a R/W copy of the replica, then make it the master. Backup your data to tape then restore the data so you can retain trustee assignments / backup trustees using TBACKUP copy data using any method you choose, the restore trustees with the BAT file TBACKUP created for you / use Consolodation Wizard to move files from one server to the other (retaining trustee assignments). The just uninstall NDS from the 4.11 server, clean up the objects on your tree, recreate queues and you're in business.

Novell Consultings method:
If the hardware can handle it, do an inplace upgrade to 5.1 to make sure your NDS migrates safe, go to NDS 7 when installing 5.1 then upgrade to NDS 8.0 then upgrade to NDS 85.27 (install 5.1 using the SP5 overlay CD) Then do an across the wire migration to 6.0 (nds 8.6.2) and your in business. This method may seem a little over worked, but it IS the safest and easiest on NDS (which is just the little thing the entire Novell network depends on). I just used this method for a 4 server, 300 node network. Had only 36 hours to finnish all 4 server and get mission critical servers backup and running on NW6 (it was for a bank). The migration had zero problems and after a month of operation, they still have zero problems and all services function correctly, even print queues.

The key on the print queues is to turn off the print server device while the migration is going. And if you can, just isolate the source and destination server with whatever workstation you are using (if it's more than a single server enviroment, then you will need to keep all server in communication while the migration goes). Brent Schmidt CNE, Network +
Senior Network Engineer
provogeek@hotmail.com
East Bay, California; USA