Processors Toolkit

Administrate NetWare via Linux

Tags:
Linux,
Caldera,
NDS,
Administrate

John Sheesley Tech Republic

Published: 18 Jun 2002 10:46 BST

Quick: If someone says "cool new technology," what do you think of? Odds are pretty good that NetWare and NDS won't come to mind first. Chances are, you're thinking of Java, Lindows, or some new buzzword of the week. After all, NetWare has been around for so long and is so reliable that it seems a little dull.

But Novell is constantly adding to NetWare, incorporating the coolest, newest technologies. One example is ConsoleOne 1.3.3 For Linux, which incorporates Java and Linux with Novell's administration utility, ConsoleOne. With it, you can administer your NetWare servers from a Linux workstation as easily as you can from a Windows workstation. I'll show you how it works.

Author's note: If you're familiar with Linux, you know that many distributions and versions are available. I'll be using Red Hat 7.1 in this article. If you're using a different version of Red Hat or a separate Linux distribution, don't worry. What I'm covering will work on most distributions, with some subtle variations.

What's ConsoleOne?
ConsoleOne is Novell's newest administration tool for NetWare.Newis a relative term, though, because ConsoleOne has been around since Novell first shipped NetWare 5. It's new in the sense that many NetWare administrators still use the old reliable NetWare Administrator and have not made the switch to ConsoleOne.

Unlike NetWare Administrator, which is a pure Windows application, ConsoleOne is a Java-based utility. It can run on many platforms, including all versions of Windows after Windows 95, Solaris, and Tru64 UNIX. You can even run it from your NetWare server's GUI. Recognizing the increasing usage of Linux, Novell has also created a version of ConsoleOne for Linux platforms.

Aside from its platform independence, ConsoleOne has other benefits over the traditional NetWare Administrator program. It also has a few key drawbacks. One is the fact that, as a Java-based utility, ConsoleOne is a lot slower in performing administration duties than NetWare Administrator.

Obtaining ConsoleOne For Linux
In the spirit of Linux software, Novell provides ConsoleOne For Linux as a free download from its software download Web site. You have two choices when you download ConsoleOne: You can download it as one large 25-MB download or as two smaller downloads. If you have a fast, reliable Internet connection, choose the larger download file, - c1_linux_full.tar.gz. Save this file to a temporary directory on your Linux workstation -- your home directory is usually the best choice.

After you've downloaded the file, open a terminal window on your Linux workstation. Then extract ConsoleOne's tar file from the .gz file you just downloaded by typing gunzip -d c1_linux_full.tar.gz and pressing [Enter]. Linux will display a message only if there's a problem with the extraction. Otherwise, you'll just see another command prompt.

Next, you must extract the ConsoleOne installation files from the ConsoleOne tar file. Type tar -xf c1_linux_full.tar and press [Enter]. Again, you'll only see another command prompt appear after you extract the files. If you view a directory listing using the ls command, you'll see a "Console1" directory.

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