Windows NT and NDS Together at Last

The road has been long and difficult, but Windows NT finally has a NetWareDirectory Service (NDS) client worthy of the name. In fact, it now has two. TheMicrosoft Client Service for NetWare that ships with NT 4.0 lets you log an NTworkstation on to an NDS tree, but the Microsoft client can't run the 16-bitNetWare Administrator (NWADMIN) that ships with NetWare 4.1. The second clientis a new Novell NetWare Client for Windows NT (also called the IntranetWareClient for Windows NT Workstation). This client offers many more features thanits Microsoft counterpart.

Similar in appearance and functionality to Novell's Client32 releases forWindows 95 and DOS/Windows 3.1, the Novell client supports NT 3.51 and 4.0 andincludes an improved 32-bit NetWare Administrator, the new NDS Manager utility,and the NT version of the NetWare Application Launcher (NAL). The client addsnew tabbed pages to existing Explorer and Printer Properties dialog boxes, soyou can perform many NetWare administrative functions from within the standardNT utilities.

You can see the release of this new client as a sign of Novell's acceptanceof NT as a force to be reckoned with in the network OS marketplace. Two factssupport this view: Novell quietly renamed NDS as Novell Directory Services, andNovell has promised to release a product in early 1997 that allows integrationof NT networks into an NDS database.

Novell's latest client is a vast improvement from previous versions. Thenew NetWare Client for NT installs easily, performs file-and-print managementtasks well, offers improved NDS administration tools, and includes anapplication launcher that demonstrates the true potential of NDS as a tool fornetwork administrators.

Installation
Novell will distribute its new NT client on CD-ROM as part of forthcomingIntranetWare product releases, and you can download separate versions fordiskette and network installations from Novell now. The self-extracting archivesexpand to create either disk images for 11 floppies or a directory structurebuilt off a I386 root directory that Novell clearly designed to be stored on anetwork drive with the NT installation files. This choice of installationmethods is an improvement from the previous Novell client, which forced you tomake installation diskettes from the release files.

Many more client installation alternatives are available now. For theindividual user, the easiest alternative is simply to run setupnw.exe. Thisprogram removes the Microsoft client for NetWare, if it is present, and installsthe Novell client. Usually no further user interaction, except a reboot, isnecessary.

To install the Novell client, you need a network adapter driver. Novell'sclient can operate with NT's standard Network Driver Interface Specification(NDIS) adapter drivers, or it can use one of the 32-bit Open Data-link Interface(ODI) drivers included with the client. The drivers support a relatively smallnumber of adapters. Note that with this client, you cannot use the 16-bitdrivers that ship with most network adapters.

Alternatively, you can install the Novell client from the Network option inNT's Control Panel after you remove the Microsoft NetWare client. Although aserviceable alternative, the Control Panel installation method provides noadvantage over the executable setup program. The Novell client includes aseparate NetWare/IP support service, which you can install from Control Panel.

For network administrators, the Novell client provides two ways to automateinstallation on networked machines. For existing NT systems, the Novell packageincludes an unattend.txt file, which contains the client's configurationparameters. You set them to preconfigure the installation for network users.Then you activate the Automatic Client Upgrade feature by running setupnw.exewith the /acu and /u switches from your users' login scripts. The setup programexamines the client already installed on the workstation, determines whether anupgrade is needed, and if so, presents a dialog box for the user's approvalbefore it proceeds with the installation. On a new workstation installation, youcan integrate the client configuration parameters into NT's unattend.txt fileand install the Novell client with the operating system.

The client installation places most of its files in subdirectories calledetware and lsenglish, which the client creates in the winnt directory.Like earlier Novell Client32s, this client is not thin. The workstation half ofthe installation requires 10MB of disk space, and the new administrationutilities, which you install on the NetWare server, require an additional 20MBon the sys volume.

Users who perform administration tasks from an NT workstation requireanother client installation. Run the admsetup.exe program from the workstation.This program creates a winnt directory off sys:public on a selected NetWare 4.xserver. This directory contains the components of the NetWare Administrator, theNDS Manager, and the NetWare Application Launcher (if you have appropriaterights to the server). This feature improves on the process in the earlierclient. That process required you to install from floppy disks, using the serverinstall.nlm utility, even though the procedure did nothing but copy files to thesys volume.

Logging On
The Novell client's Login dialog box replaces the NT dialog box, but theNovell dialog box includes tabbed pages that give you a great deal of controlover the logon process for both NT and NetWare networks. On the NetWareconnection page, you specify the name of your NDS tree or your preferred serverfor a bindery logon. On the Login page, you enter your username, NDS context,and password. The dialog box provides browse lists for the tree and serverselectors, but unfortunately, not for the context selector. A second tab holdsthe NT options. Here you specify your NT username and domain.

The Novell client offers several options that simplify maintaining the twouser accounts for simultaneous NetWare and NT network logons. You can changeyour NT password to match your NetWare password during logon, manually changeeither password with one utility that comes with the client, or suppress the NTlogon information altogether.

The AutoAdminLogin feature stores your NT username and password in theRegistry and automatically supplies them when you log on to NetWare. If thephysical security of your computer is not a problem (because it is in a lockedoffice, for example), you can store your NetWare logon information in the sameway. When you turn on your machine, you are automatically logged on to bothnetworks. This procedure requires you to manually store your logon informationin the Registry, and therefore includes an element of risk. Make sure that yourcomputer is open to remote Registry edits before committing to the process,though, or a typo in the Registry editor could lock you out of your system. Onceyou are certain that the logon procedure functions properly, you can disableremote administration to preserve your system's security.

The Login dialog box includes screens you can use to control the executionof NetWare login scripts. You can select whether to run scripts at all orspecify an alternative to the login script already associated with your account.For complex scripts, you can also specify up to four variables that you can usein your scripts. These variables are like the %1, %2, %3, and %4 variables thatyou can place on the login.exe command line in the DOS NetWare client.

Client Configuration
The client Properties pages let you permanently configure logon settingssuch as the preferred NDS tree and context. In the NT Control Panel, the clientinstallation creates an icon that provides access to these pages in NT 3.51.This icon does not function in NT 4.0, however. Instead, you are informed theapplet is obsolete and you must access the client Properties dialog box from theNetwork option in Control Panel.

You can use System Policies to set the client configuration parameters orthe unattend.txt file if you want the settings executed during the installation.Usually, the NetWare client requires little configuration beyond the basic logonresources, but you can configure the appearance of the Login dialog box fromthese pages. To protect the settings, you can configure the properties that yousee under Display connection page, Display script page, and Displayvariables page in the Login dialog box, and clear the check boxes thatprecede these labels, to prevent users from changing the configuration. Screen 1shows these Display page settings.

The Properties dialog box contains Advanced logon settings that let youconfigure the location of a system policy file (a file containing Registrysettings that customize the NT desktop interface), or create a roaming userprofile that you can store on a network drive or in an NDS container. Thisapproach is ideal for providing a consistent desktop environment for IS supportpersonnel who may have to log on to the network from many differentworkstations. You can even specify the bitmap graphics and welcome text thatappear during the client logon process.

All NetWare clients' configuration settings are stored in the Registry,eliminating the need for a net.cfg file, which earlier DOS clients used. As yousee in Screen 2, the Advanced Settings page of the Properties dialog boxcontains many of the technical parameters that net.cfg previously included.

File Management
Installation of the NetWare client alters the appearance of several elementsin NT Explorer. The most obvious change is in the Network Neighborhood display.It now includes trees (e.g., the Production icon in Screen 3) and containers(e.g., the NetWare Department icon), as well as the usual machine and directoryobjects. When you look under Entire Network, you see that the NetWare Servicesare broken down into NetWare Servers and NDS trees. NetWare 4.x volumes appearboth in the server listing and as NDS objects. You can navigate to files anddirectories on NetWare volumes through either display, and you can map a driveor change your default context by right-clicking the appropriate object andselecting a command from the pop-up context menu. You can also log on tomultiple NDS trees simultaneously, so you can access your entire enterprise.

The NetWare client adds functionality to other Explorer context menus aswell. The Properties screens for NetWare files and directories include tabs thatlet you view general information about the object and set its trustee rights andattributes, if you have the appropriate rights. In Screen 4, you can see how theinterface lets you add trustees by selecting user and group objects from abindery or NDS listing and checking off the rights that you want to give toeach. This capability is a boon to network administrators, not only because itsimplifies their file system maintenance tasks, but because it lets themdelegate these tasks to others more easily.

NDS Support
If the NetWare client does not provide obvious benefits to the noviceNetWare user, it will certainly be welcome to managers of NDS databases. Theclient includes a 32-bit version of the NetWare Administrator that adds many newcapabilities. (A 32-bit Administrator shipped with the previous Novell Clientfor Windows NT, but it was similar in functionality to the 16-bit version.) Thisnew Administrator improves the interface by adding an expanded, configurablebutton bar and quick access to the Internet (by automatically importingshortcuts and bookmarks from your Web browser to the Internet menu).

Just as the client lets you access multiple NDS trees through NT Explorer,the new NetWare Administrator lets you manage objects on multiple treessimultaneously. You can now open multiple windows in the Administrator. Thesewindows can display either different trees or different views of the same tree.Screen 5 shows two NetWare Administrator windows, providing views of twodifferent NDS trees, PRODUCTION and ROAD_TREE. You can copy files anddirectories from volumes on one tree to those on another by dragging. You cansimultaneously edit properties for several users by selecting multiple objectsand choosing Details on Multiple Objects from the Object menu.

The Novell client includes the new NDS Manager graphical utility. Thisapplication replaces the Partition Manager in earlier versions of the NetWareAdministrator. With NDS Manager, you can create, move, and merge NDS partitions;control and monitor the synchronization of the partitions; and create and deletereplicas. NDS Manager also lets you spawn DSREPAIR jobs on your servers, applyDS.NLM updates, and even print out information on the various components of yourNDS database.

NetWare Application Launcher
An exciting demonstration of NDS's potential is NAL. Novell includes NALwith the Client32 releases for Windows 95 and DOS/Windows and now with the NTclient. NAL uses a snap-in module to extend the schema of the NDS database,letting you create new types of NDS objects that represent network applications.After creating an object, you can configure its properties and deliver theentire package to a user's desktop by associating the application object with anNDS user, group, or container.

The properties of the application object make NAL a useful tool. You canspecify application command-line parameters, a working directory, drivemappings, and printer port captures for each object, and none of theseparameters take effect until the user launches the application. After theapplication is closed, the workstation environment returns to its original stateuntil the user launches the application again. Also you can create pre- andpost-execution scripts for an application object. You use the NetWare loginscript language to modify the workstation environment as necessary to run theapplication, and reset the script afterwards.

NAL can relieve you of many repetitive chores required to give users accessto the applications they need. Scripted ini file or Registry changes eliminatethe need to install workstations individually, and application-oriented drivemappings and print captures replace those in login scripts.

Once you create and configure the application objects, users have only torun the nal.exe program from the server's public directory to open a desktopwindow containing icons for all their network applications. To ensure nal.exe'sexecution, you can place it in the Windows Startup group or even use it in placeof the Windows 3.1 Program Manager.

Performance
What price do you pay for this functionality? The client is free for thedownloading. The September 1996 beta (on which this article is based) has bugs,but Novell will address them before the release, and none are showstoppers.

Should you plan an immediate mass migration to this new client for all NTmachines on your network? Probably not. The Microsoft client capably handlesbasic file-and-print functions. It provides easy navigation of the NDS tree andis seamlessly integrated in the NT desktop. If you administer NDS from an NTworkstation, you will want these tools, though, and you can easily assimilatethe Novell client into the NT installation to use it on all your new machines.

Best of all, the client is quick, even in beta. With some early Client32betas for Windows 95, the routine was to install the new release, marvel at itsmany new features, and then go back to the Microsoft client because Client32 wasso slow. In contrast, I installed the new IntranetWare Client 4.0 for Windows NTon my workstation for testing, and it is there to stay. (For more about NetWareand NT, see "Interoperability Solutions," page 151.)