linux and IPX...

[karmic]

Ok, the fight with "accpac plus" is over, I wanted to cut everything over to samba but it's a no-go... Now I have the two servers running side by side.

What i'd like to know is this... How hard (or feasible for that matter) is it to load IPX on the RH9 server and run backups from novell to linux and vice versa???

Thanks.

~ K.I.S.S - Don't make it any more complex than it has to be ~

 

[marsd]

I've fought this battle before.
Worked in a legacy setting with netware 3.2x and 4.0.
SuSE 6.4-7.0 were the distributions used to interface.
The bottom line is that it rarely, if ever is used
anymore afaik, and my experiences with it have been
pretty sketchy. There is a dated howto here:

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/IPX-HOWTO-1.html

The ncputils and assorted tools are available, and
a google search should pull up any newer work on
netware and ipx stuff.
As Novell now seems to be putting their effort into
linux, there may be some good stuff out at the novell
site for legacy interaction.

 

[karmic]

This is novell 3.12... it's probably easier to do the copy from a workstation at this point or start using an external drive for backing up...

~ K.I.S.S - Don't make it any more complex than it has to be ~

 

[marsd]

Should be pretty simple then.
Make sure you have ipx support in your kernel , use ncpmount
to mount your volume(s). You should then be able to copy
files back and forth with no problem.

 

[thedaver]

OK, off-topic, but I just take a moment to say...

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Running Novell 3.12????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry, I don't mean this as a slam, but WOW!!!! That's some creeky old stuff. I presume your response is "Heck, it works", and that's fine.

I just had to say WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hosting Solutions for Home or Business.

http://www.surfinbox.com/hosting/

 

[karmic]

yeppers... 3.12 in the flesh. Some clients just won't let go of the past. This server was running for 8 years on the original hardware, that hardware was only upgraded six months ago.

Runs like a top :O)

~ K.I.S.S - Don't make it any more complex than it has to be ~

 

[ericbrunson]

If it works, don't fix it!

 

[thedaver]

Man, I hope you're jacking up your consulting rate for handling stuff that shouldn't be running any more on gear that shouldn't logically be surviving. I hope you've been consulting them that they run a very real systems failure risk as well as the security practices that preach not running old, probably unsupported, potentially unpatched / vulnerable OSs. Head-in-the-sand computing doesn't cut it anymore...

Raise your rate, they'll thank you for it when they realize they should be upgrading to Banyan Vines on Token Ring. ;-)

All IMHO.
D.

Hosting Solutions for Home or Business.

http://www.surfinbox.com/hosting/

 

[marsd]

LOL. I worked as a netware admin in a legacy network with 3.12, 3.2, 4.0 and upgraded to 5.x before I left.
The older netware stuff was as solid as Freebsd and simple
to deal with. The bindery as DS was stable and the client
config was as simple as installing the MS client or client32.
I regretted upgrading to NDS and the 5.x series that broke frequently. The only problems were the broadcast traffic and
interacting with the linux IPX stuff and ncputils. Linux side was very flaky and I wouldn't rely on it if it hasn't progressed any. IPX/SPX and the app traffic (SAP) on top is not really simple to code for anyway, so I don't blame
anyone, and the interest level was probably pretty sketchy
linux-side. There were some really obvious glitches.

 

[karmic]

When I first took them on as clients, the server had been running for something like 8 years... The scsi drives were deafening, literally. I don't know how the controller sat thru all that noise day after day...

3.12 is easy to work with and yeah, I still like it. Been in the computer field for 10 years now, and have seen alot of comings and goings. It's bulletproof and now running on 40 gig drives and new hardware.

For you daver, they were running on coax with the old hardware... lol

I think i'm going to rely on copying from server to server via a workstation.



~ K.I.S.S - Don't make it any more complex than it has to be ~