S 2.147 Secure migration of Novell Netware  3.x servers to Novell Netware  4.x networks

Initiation responsibility: Head of IT Section, IT Security Management

Implementation responsibility: Administrators

Under Novell Netware  3.x, every server manages information on its users in a "bindery". One disadvantage of this approach is that in a network consisting of several Netware  3.x servers, an account for a user must be created on each of the servers separately. For administrators, this creation of multiple accounts entails a tremendous effort which can basically not be avoided. In addition, users need to log into each server separately.

In a network consisting of several Novell Netware  4.x servers integrated in a NDS tree however, users only log into the network once, after which they can immediately make use of all the resources which have been released for them (refer to S 2.151 Design of a NDS concept).

A complete integration of Netware  3.x servers in a Netware  4.x network is not possible, as these servers continue to operate as independent systems. Users who need to access Netware  4.x as well as Netware  3.x still require multiple accounts in this environment.

A feasible alternative to this is the migration of a Netware  3.x server to a NDS tree. The NETSYNC.NLM product accompanying the Novell Netware  4.x packages can be used for this purpose. Operation of a Netware  3.x server in a Netware  4.x network is advantageous in that the user accounts can be managed centrally on a Netware  4.x server, and no longer need to be maintained individually on each Netware  3.x server.

This requires the availability of a Netware  4.x server which can manage up to 12 Netware  3.x servers. This server is designated as the host and is needed for further management of the user accounts, as it transfers NDS modifications to the bindery of the Netware  3.x server. During migration, a large proportion of the NLMs of the Netware  3.x servers is replaced, and the servers are then linked with a host. A restoration of an independent Netware  3.x server would thus entail a great effort.

The following points must be observed to ensure secure migration:

• The bindery context needs to be set for the container in which the Netware  3.x server is to be created.

• The bindery emulation needs to be specified and activated with the instruction SET BINDERY CONTEXT = ... in the AUTOEXEC.NCF file on the Netware  4.x host.

• After migration, changes must no longer be performed with the utility SYS:PUBLIC\SYSCON.EXE. Other utilities such as SYS:PUBLIC\FILER.EXE and SYS:PUBLIC\PCONSOLE.EXE are replaced by NETSYNC.NLM during migration. However, it is advisable to make exclusive use of the SYS:PUBLIC\NWADMIN.EXE program for administrative tasks. The SYS:PUBLIC\SYSCON.EXE utility should thus be removed.

• If several Netware  3.x servers are to be migrated to the same container or if several bindery emulations have been activated, the related objects must be checked beforehand for name conflicts, as multiple instances of them under the same name are not permissible