Does Novell Open Enterprise = Netware 6.5

EJizzel

I help support users (on a small scale such as reset passwords and grant directory rights) using Netware 5.0. Im interested in learning a lot more since my job is planning on upgrading to Netware 6.5. Whats resources are available for learnign this material. I've done some research and it looks like Novell Open Enterprise server contains Novell 6.5... is this so. Does anyone think that its better learning Novell OES or Netware 6.5.

Turgon

Hi,

I see you may be considering becoming Novell qualified. Congratulations. Having finally completed my CNE in Netware 5 and 6 this year after I first worked on Novell 3.12 in 1997 I can say it's one of the most satisfying and challenging things I have done.

If you are planning on being at your current shop for a few years then it makes sense to allow what they use and plan to use to steer your certification choices. In which case if you can answer the question on how much they buy into Linux use and integration then that should help you decide.

In any case given that you are presently supporting Netware 5 and that the CNE for Netware 5 has retired I would suggest you seriously consider reading up on Netware 6 which builds on NW 5 technology. If you are presently admin for Novell users then I would consider studying for the CNA qualification for 6.5. This is how I started out with Novell (I did CNA in Netware 5.0 in March 2000 I think). From there if you put the time in you could eventually work towards CNE.

Be aware though it is a lot of work. You can download an evaluation of NW 6.5 off the Novell site. I would advise you read up on the installation procedures before attempting using it though. A good CNA level book on NW6.5 administration should help there.

If you get through the exams for NW6 you can take further exams and become an NCE covering the enterprise linux stuff.

Try amazon for some good used books for CNA/CNE in Netware 6 by Novell Press. If you have the money you can also try the self study kits from Novell. These kits are expensive but I have it on good authority that these contain all the details and exercises you need for the actual exams although I never used them myself.

EJizzel

Thanks for the response I was getting worried that no Novell people would answer.

I actually contacted Testout (I have another post referring to that also ) to see if they are still selling there CBT for Netware 6.5. I plan on staying at my current position till the beginning of 2009 then plan on relocating. I'm looking into North Carolina (many colleges in the area) and I understand Netware is still relevant in the academic world I also think many businesses will consider Linux in the future so I definitely want to learn Netware.

Turgon

EJizzel wrote:

Thanks for the response I was getting worried that no Novell people would answer.

I actually contacted Testout (I have another post referring to that also ) to see if they are still selling there CBT for Netware 6.5. I plan on staying at my current position till the beginning of 2009 then plan on relocating. I'm looking into North Carolina (many colleges in the area) and I understand Netware is still relevant in the academic world I also think many businesses will consider Linux in the future so I definitely want to learn Netware.

You are spot on with the Linux angle. The linux hippies have been raving for years about this OS but it still struggles to be taken up by many enterprises in a big way. Driver issues and lack of a big vendor to beat up when support things go wrong is one big reason. Novell offer a solution to that now and potentially offer to open doors to enterprise linux deployments. If that interests you then Novell one way or another will pay off for you.

You may very well be onto a good thing providing you look at things long term. You need time to invest in your skills development with Novell. A steady job like you have will help.

You are getting Netware experience and if the colleges still use it that will stand you in very good stead for opportunities in a year or so elsewhere.

Many people certified the last 5 years have no experience in Netware at all or come to that hold recent CNA's or CNEs. So you will be well placed providing you aggresively work on your Novell skills and keep current on job openings, which you will if you do your research. My best advice to you is stick at it, stay current on Netware, learn as much as you can about it and look around for oppportunities. They will come and you may be laughing all the way to the bank in a couple of years time particularly if the shop you work for is moving in a significant way to the Enterprise Novell/Linux solutions. There will not be many people in North Carolina who are red hot at that stuff and available.

CBTs are fine but definatly get some books.

I advise you not to jump straight into NW6.5. You are presently using NW5 so invest study hours in that first. Also be mindful that many Novell shops still have a lot of upgrading to do to get to 6.5 so you really want to be comfortable with NW5 so you can contribute to the upgrade path in a knowledgable and experienced way. Focus on 5 first, then 6/6.5

As you are using Netware 5 at work get the NW5 Administration Guide off Amazon for starters and read it cover to cover. Get that book licked and then start looking at other Novell Press books for Netware 5 that look at Design and Implementation. This gives you a baseline of knowledge you can try and attain while you have a live NW5 environment around you. You will find you will learn a great deal about what you are administrating by putting this reading in.

From there, get Novell Press on upgrading to Netware 6/6.5

Let me know how you get on.

Good luck.

EJizzel

Im plan on using the CBTS as a guide and reference. I have VMware on my laptop and want to install a trial version of Netware 6.5 for practice. I just found out yesterday that the head of the IT dept. wants to start getting a lab setup with netware 6.5 to testing purposes. I really want to be a part of the whole process when they decide to switch over to 6.5 so i think Im gonna concentrate on that (beside its only 2 people here the head and myself and lets say i think he keeps alot of info to himself to keep me not knowing to much, makes himself more valuable). The cbt's and hopefully books discuss upgrading from 5 to 6.5 so I'll definitely pay attention to those chapters. I hear that Novell is more user friendly than MS Server (I'm also lacking in that area), is this true? I planned on going for the 70-290 exam after the XP 70-270 (which I plan on taking the middle of December) but I think im going to just do a weekend crash course on MS Server 2003 and concentrate on Novell. What do you think?

Turgon

By all means start looking at 6.5. However I do still think you need to invest time studying what you already use. If I was asked to design a Checkpoint firewall upgrade to NGX I would come up short quickly if I didn't already know a good deal about the previous version of Checkpoint that was actually running in production. Upgrade starts with understanding what you already have running hot in depth.

It could be sometime before your company is fully across to NW6.5 and in any case looking hard at NW5 in production with decent books in NW5 will help you better plan for the upgrade. You want to be looking at the new features of NW6.5 once you understand how everything you already have hangs together. By that I also mean what NW5 features you are using and the ones you are not. If you are not using some features you need to find out why not. NW6.5 may have solved a problem for you with it's enhancements.

Compare NDS and eDirectory for starters. For that you need a solid understanding of NW5 functionality as well as NW6. Get resources in both!

One final thing, if your boss isn't one to share knowledge most likely he will bone up on NW 6.5 using similar resources as yourself and make his own mind up about what will/wont work with feature rich NW 6.5 in your environment. It is very likely that he will do this based on his knowledge and experience of Netware 5 so I suggest you try and equalise things there by covering the administration and design aspects of Netware 5 first.

You could be spending the next couple of months learning things about Netware 5 that will make the upgrade to Netware 6.5 easier to understand and make the benefits the new features have to offer your existing setup much more tangible.

Further by looking at CNA/CNE level material on Netware 5 you stand to be ahead of your boss in terms of technical understanding of what Netware is actually designed to do. Once you stop reading up on that side of things and concentrate on keeping a system ticking over those details can be lost and they are very important if you are thinking of upgrading platform.

I really think you will be better placed to advise and assist your boss if you read up on the details of Netware 5 for yourself before NW 6.5 comes rolling in like the last Netware version in your shop.

You should have upgraded to 5.1 ages ago

petedude

EJizzel wrote:

I help support users (on a small scale such as reset passwords and grant directory rights) using Netware 5.0. Im interested in learning a lot more since my job is planning on upgrading to Netware 6.5. Whats resources are available for learnign this material. I've done some research and it looks like Novell Open Enterprise server contains Novell 6.5... is this so. Does anyone think that its better learning Novell OES or Netware 6.5.

OES has more of a future to it, but NetWare 6.5 will be around for about seven more years now.
(Novell has only committed to supporting NetWare through 2015). Depends on how big your shop is and how steady your job is there. If you're going to be there a long time, they're going to be around a long time, and NetWare will stick around until it's end, certify on NetWare. Otherwise, OES (better yet even, SUSE Linux) certs are a better bet.

Kasor

Novell SVR are more stable and Novell client for windows are 10x better than before.

Generally, there is not much maintenace for Novell SVR unless there is something wrong. And usually caused by power supply or hardware issues.