Workshop

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Although the server runs in character mode, you’ll use the Novell utilities for managing the NDS in the
Windows environment; for example, the NWADMN32 tool, which is used by the working network
administrator to add, delete, and modify users, groups, security, and so on, runs under Windows NT and
Windows 95. This tool is windowed, but because the windowing happens at your workstation, it doesn’t
bog down the server.
If you have an older NetWare 3.x server, you can get a Windows-based SYSCON system manager
program by upgrading to 3.2—apart from its Y2K readiness. Other 3.x versions are no longer supported
by Novell. To get NDS, though, you still need to upgrade to 4.x or higher.
If NetWare 3 servers don’t support NDS, what do they support? Each server must maintain its own list of
users and groups, called a bindery. The bindery of a server is a standalone entity that does not
communicate with other servers at all. If common groups and user names are desired between servers, the
network administrators must manually synchronize them.
The bindery has become obsolete with NetWare 4.x and higher, but there’s still a bindery emulation mode,
which makes a NetWare 4.x server respond to NetWare 3.x–style bindery requests.
Das Basics
Any Novell server is fundamentally a 32-bit program called SERVER.EXE that runs from a DOS prompt
(yep, just like Windows 3.x used to run from a DOS prompt). This means you still have an
AUTOEXEC.BAT file on your C drive—it just typically consists of one line: SERVER.EXE. This server
program actually doesn’t do much; for example, it can’t network on its own or access hard drives. When
you load the SERVER.EXE program, the server console screen opens. This screen, shown in Figure 13.1,
is a text-based interpreter that can accept various commands.
Figure 13.1 RCONSOLE (or Remote Console) allows you to remotely control the server console from
your desk.