NW Cluster and IPX?

[summoner]

Current situation:
We are a small shop that uses a Netware 5.1 server and vinca standby server (also 5.1 server)to provide high availablity for a legacy database app. We are still using IPX/SPX on our network for connection to the netware server and the clients use CSNW on 2000 and XP Pro workstations (about 100 clients). We wanted to install Novell client32 on all the machines but our database vendor does not certify his database with client 32 and only with CSNW (I told you it was legacy :-( )

We want to get rid of vinca standby server, it is a performance drag, and not true clustering, someone must be their to make the switch in case of a failure. We are impressed by NW 6 cluster services and think a 2 box cluster would fit right in.

The only problem is all the info I've seen so far is IPX is not supported. I read somewhere that someone loaded IPX onto his cluster and it seemed to be running fine. What are the implications of running IPX on an NW6 cluster?

Beleive me, I would so like to get rid of IPX and CSNW, install client32 and tcp/ip on all the workstations but this is not a certified solution by my database vendor. If somethign goes wrong or the database gets corrupted, they will blame our network and not support us. They seem to have a grudge against client32 and cite examples of data corruption.

Anyway, if I can't come up with a solution, then we will have to ditch netware and renew our server leases with win2003 servers, a move which I'm not looking forward to. At least we will be on a tcp/ip network but I'd like to run NW6 instead. Anybody? Thanks in advance.

 

[summoner]

Just to clarify...if we go the netware route, we would use native file access pack to communicate with the workstations.

 

[Provogeek]

The person saying they had a cluster working using the IPX protocol was blowing smoke, they may have IPX on the server, but it was not being used by the cluster moduels.

http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?/10063341.htm

http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?/10058233.htm

Use the NFAP route if you want to stick with NetWare.

Brent Schmidt CNE,Network +

 

[nlee]

Hi, as far as I know and im my experience, you should not enable the IPX if you want the cluster service, it only runs on IP.

Noel Lee CATSRI,CATSE,CNS6.5
Network and Systems Engineer
ITS, Philippines

 

[summoner]

Thanks for the replies...

On the subject of NFAP, has anybody experienced any examples of data corruption or in general problems with data saved on the server with NFAP? Can anybody comment on its reliability in a clustered setup? Thank you