novell oes 2 and mac os x compatability

Question

I'm curious as to the level of support Novell OES 2 has for mac os x. Particularly filesharing and also groupwise.

What resources are there that address the issue?

Thanks,

Matt Delves

Answer 1

Filesharing should work with SP2 for OES 2. From http://www.novell.com/communities/node/9669/pull-trigger-enhancements-novell-open-enterprise-server-2-sp2-make-now-time-move-linux :

... "With the perpetual focus on interoperability, Novell provided Linux support for the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) and the Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol in its first support pack for Novell Open Enterprise Server 2. While this protocol support enabled native network file services for Mac OS and Windows clients accessing a Linux server, this initial release had limitations in terms of cross-protocol file locking. Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 SP2 eliminates these limitations by providing secure file locking regardless of whether a user is using an NCP, AFP or CIFS client.

With the number of Mac users increasing in the enterprise and education sectors, cross-protocol file locking makes it easier for Mac and Windows users to share files. It also gives you greater flexibility in supporting your Windows users. Instead of requiring a whole group of users to either use the Novell NCP Client or go native with CIFS, you can now let individual users choose.

Perhaps the greatest benefit cross-protocol file locking provides is the maintenance and hardware savings you'll gain through server consolidation. If you had been using these native file services protocols on your Linux servers previously, to prevent inadvertent file corruption, you had to segment your servers. For example, you might have one server running AFP to support your Mac users, another server running CIFS to support your native Windows users, and yet another server for Windows users using the NCP client. With the cross-protocol file locking in Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 SP2, you can consolidate these functions onto a single server to support all of your client scenarios" ...

Answer 2

One downside to AFP Support is that DST (Dynamic Storage Technology), which allows you to have shadow volumes for older files (defined by a policy, and managed in the background) is currently only expose via NCP clients. But with OES 2 SP3 (due soon) CIFS (not Samba, but the Novell CIFS implementation) will support DST. But AFP is not scheduled to be done for SP3.