Migrating from Novell to NT

[aditrusj]

I work in a shop with Novell as the server and I would like to know if anyone has done a migration from Novell server to NT server. What problems will I be encountering along the way should I decide to take this route? Any info would help. BTW, our shop has almost 450 users.....


Thx.

 

[rjs]

We've done a number of NetWare to NT migrations. Although you can use the migration wizard that comes with NT, since NT and NW implement security and because directories/shares are different, we've always found it best to design the NT side from scratch - create the users, print queues, etc.

You can setup and test the whole NT side prior to moving any of the real users over. Then once everything on NT is installed and tested (users, print queues, shares, etc.), then just move all the data over. If you have to operate in a mixed environment temporarily, just use the Gateway for Netware service in NT to make the NetWare volumes into NT shares. When everyone is finally moved over to to NT, copy the data and change the login to point to the real NT shares instead of the NetWare ones.

Planning and testing are critical, particularly with that number of users.

 

[DrGreen26]

Of course, one thing yu shoould consider is your network security before you do this. Example..would you leave your car parked in some downtown city with the doors unlocked? Probably not, well, NT implementd their network security in the ame manner, everything is unlocked until you lock it. What I would recoemmend is the following. Deploy your NT server environment if you are planning on them being used for Application servers. File, Print and Network security should be controlled by Novell in which cas you can install E-Directory on NT and control the environment from NW Admin. Who would of thought.. Also be aware, that NT servers require a power cycles every 3 to 4 days. I have been in several shops where on the average a heavily used application server was downed daily, and email servers every 2 to three days. NT has its place in the world but only for small scale application servers.. Large scale application servers should be run on a Unix platform and file/print and network security on Novell. Besides this information, were you aware that 81% of Fortune 500 companies use Novell...

I said my piece..hope this helps.



Mark C. Greenwood, CNE
m_jgreenwood@yahoo.com

CNE 4.11 and CNE 5 certified. BS Degree in MIS. Working in the industry for 8 years.

I work with NT servers, NDS for NT as well.