Again, Novell has pioneered new ground in the world of networking. The new features available in NetWare 6 provide administrators all over the world with an enhanced toolkit of Internet-savvy filing, printing, and network management utilities. (Just don’t forget the i.)

Following is a brief description of the seven most exciting new Web-based features included with NetWare 6:

   Novell iPrint—Novell iPrint is a powerful Web-based printing tool that enables mobile users to print from a variety of remote locations to a plethora of printing devices via the Internet. Users simply point, click, and print from any Web browser. One of the greatest features of iPrint is a map utility that enables you to select printers from a geographic-oriented Web page. With this feature, printers are represented as icons on a map—with all the complex redirection management handled in the background and transparent to the users. This feature, called the iPrint Map Designer, is illustrated in Figure 1.1. We explored iPrint in great depth in Chapter 9 of CNA Study Guide for NetWare 6.

FIGURE 1.1 iPrint Map Designer.

   NetWare Web Access—This Java servlet application built into NetWare 6 is based on Novell’s award-winning Portal Services. With the NetWare Web Access product, administrators can create a secure Web-based portal, enabling users to access network resources from anywhere in the world via a simple Web browser—no more clients! Customized content is delivered to users through gadgets—Java windows to specific content on Web pages within the portal. Gadgets communicate with back-end systems to gather all the specific data that users need. This is all accomplished with a single sign-on. You’ll build your own NetWare Web Access portal in Chapter 7, “NetWare 6 Internet Services.”

   Novell Native File Access Pack—NetWare 6 includes native support for Macintosh, Linux, and Unix clients...finally! The Novell Native File Access Pack (NFAP) included with NetWare 6 allows Macintosh, Linux, Windows, and Unix workstations to access and store files on NetWare servers without having to install additional Novell client software. Unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to CNEs because many of the non-Web management tools still require a workstation-based client. Sorry!

   Novell iManager—iManager represents the future of Novell Web-based network management. NetWare 6 includes the first release of iManager that enables you to manage network resources, eDirectory objects, printing devices, Novell licensing, and DNS/DHCP services through a Web browser (see Figure 1.2). iManager accomplishes this feat by assigning eDirectory administration roles and tasks to specific users. iManager will eventually replace traditional platform–specific utilities such as NetWare Administrator and ConsoleOne. You’ll learn how to manage NetWare 6 services using iManager in Chapter 3, “NetWare 6 Server Management.”

FIGURE 1.2 The iManager browser screen.

   Novell iFolder—iFolder is the first of three new Internet-based Novell storage solutions introduced in NetWare 6 and is the user interface component of Novell’s new storage strategy. iFolder is a file storage and management tool that enables users to access applications and data via a Java-enabled Web browser. In a nutshell, iFolder is a central, Web-based storage server that provides automatic, secure, and transparent synchronization of your files. We covered this tool in great depth in Chapter 5 of CNA Study Guide for NetWare 6.

   Novell NetStorage—NetStorage is the second component of Novell’s extensive new Internet-based storage strategy. NetStorage serves as a bridge between your company’s protected Novell storage devices and the Internet. This is the critical back-end component of Novell iFolder. NetStorage provides a platform for secure file access from any Web browser or Microsoft Web Folders.

   Novell NetDrive—NetDrive is the third and final component of Novell’s Internet-based storage strategy. NetDrive enables users to map file system drives to Web servers or FTP servers using a simple Internet connection (no client required). Using NetDrive, you can perform all the same file operations on Web and FTP servers that you now perform using Windows Explorer.

This completes our brief overview of new features in NetWare 6. Yet this is only the beginning. There are almost twice as many updated and enhanced features coming up. Let’s check them out.

In addition to all the great new features, NetWare 6 includes updated and enhanced versions of some of your favorite Novell tools, including eDirectory, Migration, Novell Clustering Services, NSS, and NetWare Remote Manager.

Following is a brief review of these many enhanced NetWare 6 CNE features in five different categories:

That does it! This completes our quick review of NetWare 6’s Top 20 new and enhanced features. As you can see, we’ll all be managing the network in style very soon. But first we must install it!

NetWare 6 can be installed in a variety of ways using a plethora of different installation, upgrade, and migration methods. In this chapter, we’ll focus on the straight-forward NetWare 6 installation method for a new server.

NetWare 6 installation is an exciting adventure consisting of five distinct phases, each with multiple, sequential steps. Following is a brief introduction to the five main installation phases:

Before you tackle this great adventure, let’s begin with some initial preparation tasks.

Before you install NetWare 6, you should ensure that minimum hardware, software, and configuration requirements have been met (or exceeded). A detailed discussion of each of these NetWare 6 installation requirements follows.

In this chapter, we’ll focus on installing NetWare 6 on a new server in a new eDirectory tree. If you instead install NetWare 6 on a new server that will be integrated into an existing eDirectory tree, you must first update eDirectory using the NetWare Deployment Manager utility (included with NetWare 6).

The following is a summary of the tasks required to prepare your network for NetWare 6 using NetWare Deployment Manager:

After your network has been updated, you’ll have to prepare your server for the NetWare 6 operating system.

NetWare 6 is a robust operating system. As such, you should make sure that your servers are prepared for the challenge. In this section, you’ll learn about the two most critical server preparation targets: DOS partition and DOS configuration files.

To begin the NetWare 6 installation process, insert the NetWare 6 Operating System CD into the CD drive (or log in to the network if you’ve stored the NetWare 6 installation files on an existing server), and enter the following command at the prompt:

You’ll notice that the installation program displays the initial screens in text mode. Autodetected and/or default settings appear on each screen. You can either accept the autodetected and default settings or you can modify them to meet your requirements. To navigate a text screen, use the arrow keys on your keyboard. To select a menu choice, highlight the desired option and press Enter. To toggle between predetermined values in a field, highlight the field and then press Enter to toggle to the next value. See the bottom of each screen for further information.

At the beginning of the installation process, you’re asked to agree to the terms and conditions contained in the NetWare 6 Novell Software License Agreement. Press F10=Accept License Agreement, as appropriate, to indicate that you’ve read the agreement and accept its terms and conditions. (The appropriate choice will depend on the method you used to start the installation program.)

The installation program then checks the server’s first hard disk to verify that it has a valid boot partition and adequate disk space. When a screen appears indicating that a valid boot partition has been found, select Continue with Existing Partition.

When the JReport Runtime License Agreement screen appears, press F10 to indicate that you’ve read the agreement and accept its terms and conditions.

When the Welcome to the NetWare Server Installation screen appears (see Figure 1.3), you’re given the opportunity to select the installation type (Express or Custom) and the installation method (New Server, Upgrade, or Pre-Migration). The default installation type is Express and the default installation method is New Server. Let’s take a closer look at each of these options.

FIGURE 1.3 Step 3: Selecting the installation type and method.

The Server Settings screen appears next, listing the following default values:

Some of the information that you might want to keep in mind regarding these options includes

The Regional Settings screen appears next, as shown in Figure 1.4. Regional settings are used to customize server language and keyboard settings. If you’re located in the United States, the default values are as follows:

FIGURE 1.4 Step 5: Selecting regional settings.

During the next few steps, the Installation Wizard attempts to automatically detect certain types of hardware devices and to load the appropriate drivers. Other drivers must be selected manually.

Figure 1.5 shows the first of three consecutive driver screens. This first screen lists the server’s autodetected mouse type and video mode parameters. Following is a brief description of each:

FIGURE 1.5 Step 6: Selecting mouse type and video mode.

Review the values listed on this screen and modify them as necessary.

The Installation program then copies a number of server boot files from the CD to the C:NWSERVER startup directory. These include files such as SERVER. EXE, disk drivers, NWCONFIG.NLM, NWSNUT.NLM, VREPAIR.NLM, and other NetWare Loadable Modules (NLMs).

This completes the first six steps of NetWare 6 installation and phase I. Now we move on to platform support and NetWare storage.

Figure 1.6 shows the second of three driver screens. This one lists the platform and support modules (which have been autodetected, wherever possible):

FIGURE 1.6 Step 7: Selecting platform support, PCI HotPlug, and storage adapter drivers.

As you can see in the example in Figure 1.7, the third and final driver screen lists the following storage devices, network boards, and NLMs:

FIGURE 1.7 Step 8: Selecting a storage device and network board.

After the device drivers have been installed, you need to create the SYS: volume and parent NetWare partition. A partition is a logical section of physical storage that’s used to divide a large storage region into smaller, more manageable sections.

Each partition typically corresponds with an operating system, such as NetWare, Unix, or DOS. A single storage device can contain up to four partitions. Each partition can be divided into smaller sections called volumes. An NSS partition can contain up to 255 volumes.

During step 9, the NetWare 6 installation program checks whether a SYS: volume already exists (from a previous installation). If one is found, you’ll be prompted to select one of the following options (as shown in Figure 1.8):

FIGURE 1.8 Deleting an existing SYS: volume.

Next, the installation program displays a storage creation screen similar to Figure 1.9. If your hard disk is large enough, the installation program uses the following defaults:

FIGURE 1.9 Step 9: Creating a NetWare partition and SYS: volume.

By default, the NetWare 6 installation program creates the SYS: volume as an NSS volume, rather than a traditional volume. This has many advantages. See Chapter 3 for more information about NSS volumes.

If you plan to have additional volumes on this partition, decrease the size of the SYS: volume, as necessary, to leave room for the other volume(s). It’s probably a good idea to create one or more additional volumes for your data to keep it separate from your NetWare operating system files. Doing so also makes it easier to restrict access to specific directories or files.

If you choose to modify the defaults, remember that NetWare 6 requires 2GB for the SYS: volume (4GB recommended). To modify the SYS: volume size, select Modify from the Options box shown in Figure 1.9. Then choose the appropriate storage device (SEAGATE ST32550N, for example), select the NetWare Partition Size field, and backspace over the current size. Input the new size into the Volume SYS Size (MB): field. Save the settings and continue by pressing F10. If desired, additional volumes can be created later in the installation process or after the installation is complete using ConsoleOne.

When you select Continue, the NetWare 6 installation program creates a NetWare partition and SYS: volume using the parameters you specified. The Installation Wizard then copies system files to the new SYS: volume.

This completes the next three steps of NetWare 6 installation and phase II. Now we’ll venture into a whole new world: GUI installation screens.

At this point, the Installation Wizard copies a number of files to the server hard drive (called the preparatory file copy process). A Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is created on the server and the GUI portion of the Installation Wizard is loaded. This step might take a while, so feel free to go have a cup of Java while you wait.

When the Server Properties dialog box appears (see Figure 1.10), type the server name in the Server Name field. The name should consist of 2 to 47 characters (including letters, numbers, hyphens, and/or underscores—but no spaces). The first character cannot be a period. Don’t forget that each server in your eDirectory tree must have a unique name. The server name should also be different than the one that will be used for the eDirectory tree name later in the process.

FIGURE 1.10 Step 10: Naming the server.

Some technologies (such as SSL and certificate generation) require the use of cryptography. If the Encryption screen appears, as shown in Figure 1.11, insert the NetWare 6 License/Cryptography disk into the computer’s disk drive. On the disk, browse to the License directory, select the .NFK file, and then click OK.

FIGURE 1.11 Step 11: Enabling cryptography.

If the Encryption screen appears and you don’t select an .NFK file, you won’t be able to install NetWare 6! Of course, you could always use the .NFK included with this CNE study guide!

The NetWare 6 file system consists of partitions, volumes, and free space. In step 9, you created a NetWare partition that contains the default SYS: volume. In this step, you’re given the option of creating additional NetWare partitions and volumes by using available free space. For example, you can divide a large disk into two or more volumes, or distribute a single volume over more than one disk.

You can create two different types of NetWare 6 volumes:

   NSS volumes—NSS is an advanced file system technology that’s designed for the management of large volumes, large files, name spaces, and complex storage devices. It significantly reduces the amount of time required to mount large volumes. This is the default volume type.

   Traditional volumes—Traditional volumes are not recommended and should be used only if you require the use of technologies such as block suballocation, data migration, NFS (Network File System), FTP, VREPAIR, or file locks. If a Configure File System dialog box appears (see Figure 1.12), review the information listed. To create an additional volume, choose one of the displayed Free Space icons and click Create.

FIGURE 1.12 Step 12: Installing the NetWare server file system.

If the New Volume dialog box appears (see Figure 1.13), type the name of the new volume in the Volume Name field, provide a size in the Space to Use field, and click Apply to Volume. When you’re done, click OK. The Configure File System screen then reappears, listing the new volume. Repeat the process, as necessary, to create additional volumes.

FIGURE 1.13 Creating a new volume.

In addition, the size of an existing volume can be increased, but not decreased, by using the Free Space option within the Configure File System screen. In the Space to Use field, enter the new size of the volume, select Apply to Volume, and click OK. To decrease the size of an existing volume, you must delete and re-create it. To delete a volume, highlight it in the Configure File System screen and choose Delete.

If the Mount Volumes dialog box appears, indicate whether to mount all volumes when the server reboots at the end of the installation process or whether to mount all volumes now (as shown in Figure 1.14). The default choice (Yes) establishes that all volumes will be mounted when the server reboots. You would typically need to mount all volumes now only if you plan to install additional products and services (such as documentation) on volumes other than SYS:.

FIGURE 1.14 Mounting server volumes.

At this point, the Protocols dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 1.15. This screen asks you to specify the network protocol(s) that need to be bound to each server network interface card (NIC).

FIGURE 1.15 Step 13: Installing network protocols.

NetWare 6 can be configured to process IP network packets and/or traditional IPX packets. If desired, both protocols can be assigned to a single network board. This allows the server to communicate using both IP and IPX.

In fact, your NetWare 6 server can be configured in any of these ways:

Earlier I mentioned that the IP protocol identifies servers and workstations by their unique four-part IP addresses. These addresses are complex and difficult for humans to track. Fortunately, your NetWare 6 server can maintain a list of simple, readable names that match all the IP addressed devices on your network. This capability is known as Domain Name Services, and the corresponding NetWare 6 application is called DNS Server.

To provide DNS services from your NetWare 6 server, you must configure the following information in Figure 1.16:

FIGURE 1.16 Step 14: Configuring DNS information.

The server time and time zone are important for synchronizing network events throughout the eDirectory tree. Advanced time synchronization settings are available by selecting the Advanced button on the Time Zone screen. These advanced parameters include Time Server Type (for configuring primary and secondary time servers) and Time Source (for configuring a specific time source for your server).

In step 15, the Time Zone dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 1.17. Choose the correct time zone for your server and make sure that the Allow System to Adjust for Daylight Saving Time check box is marked (if appropriate).

FIGURE 1.17 Step 15: Setting the server time zone.

This is probably one of the most important steps in the entire NetWare 6 installation process. At the beginning of step 16, the first NDS Install dialog box appears, as displayed in Figure 1.18. If this is the first NetWare server in your eDirectory tree, select New eDirectory Tree. Remember that the resources available in the new tree will not be available to users who are logged in to a different tree.

FIGURE 1.18 Selecting an existing eDirectory tree.

Next, a second NDS Install screen appears, similar to the example in Figure 1.19. If this is a new tree (which it should be because you’re using a nonproduction server as you follow along in this guide), complete these steps:

FIGURE 1.19 Step 16: Configuring eDirectory.

If you chose to install the server in an existing tree (rather than creating a new tree), you’ll be asked to provide three critical pieces of information: the tree name (if there’s more than one tree available), the Admin username, and the Admin password. The server can be installed in any Organization (O) or Organizational Unit (OU) container in the eDirectory tree where you have the Supervisor right. This is why you must provide the Admin username and password to add your server to an existing tree.

Now that you’ve created a new eDirectory tree or installed the server into an existing eDirectory tree, the NetWare Server object and Volume objects will be installed in the container you specified. If you’ve created a new eDirectory tree, a user (default name Admin) with the Supervisor right to the eDirectory tree will be created in the same eDirectory container as the NetWare Server object.

At this point, the Installation Wizard checks for duplicate tree names and installs eDirectory. When the NDS Summary screen appears (see Figure 1.20), write down the values you supplied for the following parameters and store them in a safe place for future reference:

FIGURE 1.20 Reviewing eDirectory summary.

In step 17, we’ll use the NetWare 6 Installation Wizard to license the NetWare 6 server (as shown in Figure 1.21). When the Licenses dialog box appears, insert the NetWare license disk in the disk drive and select the appropriate license file. Be sure to use a unique license disk, and make sure that you actually browse for and select the license file, instead of just listing the drive letter (a common mistake).

FIGURE 1.21 Step 17: Licensing the server.

When you click the license file, you’ll notice that the type of license appears in the Description section, such as NetWare 6 Server+50 User Connections. Click OK to return to the Licenses screen, and Next to continue to step 18. Note: We’ll discuss Novell License Services in much greater depth later in this chapter.

NetWare 6 must have a valid server license and user connection license to function as a server. You can install the license from the NetWare 6 License/Cryptography disk or browse to a directory that contains a valid NetWare 6 license. In addition, you can choose to install NetWare 6 without a license by marking the Install Without Licenses check box in Figure 1.21. In this scenario, the unlicensed server will allow only two user connections.

If an MLA License Certificate context screen appears, select the eDirectory context where you would like the MLA server-based license certificate and connection license certificate installed. (See the section, “Novell Licensing Services,” later in this chapter for a complete discussion of MLA certificates.) These MLA certificates are valid for all servers and users located at the selected eDirectory context and below. You might want to install these MLA license certificates high in the tree so that they’ll be available to more servers and users.

This completes the four trickiest steps of NetWare 6 installation and phase IV. Now it’s time for the home stretch: completing the installation in phase V.

Near the end of the installation process, you’ll be given the opportunity to install a variety of additional network products. These products provide enhanced server and network functionality, including Internet printing, WebAccess services, Domain Name Services, and advanced Novell auditing.

Toward the end of the NetWare 6 installation process, the Components dialog box appears, enabling you to select from the following list of additional network products (see Figure 1.22):

FIGURE 1.22 Step 18: Installing additional network products.

If you rest your cursor on an installation option, a description of the accompanying product is displayed at the bottom of the screen. Mark the check box of each product you want to install. If a product requires a supporting component, the check box of the supporting product will automatically be selected. Also, always make sure that your server has enough disk space and system memory to accommodate the products you want to install.

The Novell Certificate Server ensures secure data transmissions between servers and workstations over your network. This NetWare 6 service is required for Web-related products such as NetWare Web Manager and NetWare Enterprise Web Server. It also enables you to mint, issue, and manage digital certificates by creating a Security container object and an Organizational Certificate Authority (CA) object.

If the network doesn’t already have an Organizational CA object, the first NetWare 6 server automatically creates and physically stores the Security container object and Organizational CA object for the entire eDirectory tree. Both objects are created at, and must remain, at the tree root of the eDirectory tree.

Only one Organizational CA object can exist in an eDirectory tree. After the Organizational CA object has been created on a server, it cannot be moved to another server. Deleting and re-creating an Organizational CA object invalidates any certificates associated with the Organizational CA—you must make sure that the server hosting the Organizational CA object is very reliable.

To create the Security container and Organizational CA objects, you must be logged in as a user with the Supervisor right to the Tree Root of the eDirectory tree. In the Novell Certificate Server Objects installation screen (shown in Figure 1.23), mark the appropriate check boxes. The Installation Wizard will give the Organizational CA a default name based on the server name. Click Next to create the Novell Certificate Server objects and continue.

FIGURE 1.23 Step 19: Installing the Novell Certificate Server.

When the Summary screen appears (as shown in Figure 1.24), review the NetWare 6 products that are ready to be installed. When you’re satisfied with the list of products, click Customize to access the installation customization screen. Check it out.

FIGURE 1.24 Reviewing products to be installed.

You can enhance the basic NetWare 6 installation with some additional configurations by using the Product Customization dialog box. As shown in Figure 1.25, the NetWare 6 installation process provides you with a plethora of customizable categories, including the core NetWare operating system, file system, protocols, time synchronization, Novell Directory Services, and additional products and services.

FIGURE 1.25 Step 20: Customizing the installation.

To customize your installation, browse the tree to find the first NetWare 6 component you want to modify, select the component, and click Properties. When you’ve finished customizing your selections, click OK to return to the Summary screen.

On the Summary screen, click Finish to complete the installation process. Yaayyy!

The Installation Wizard then performs the main file copy (this step might take a while). When the file copy has finished, the Installation Complete window appears. Select View Log or View Readme, if desired. Next remove the NetWare 6 License/Cryptography disk from the disk drive (if you used one), the NetWare 6 Operating System CD from the CD-ROM drive (if applicable), and click Yes to restart your server (as shown in Figure 1.26).

FIGURE 1.26 Step 21: Completing the server installation.

Congratulations—you’ve done it! You’ve successfully traversed the five phases and 21 steps of NetWare 6 installation! Now it’s time to use your new server to help save the Net! Check out the step-by-step challenges awaiting you in Lab Exercise 1.1. After you’ve completed the exercise, we’ll take a more detailed look at Novell Licensing Services.

Now that you’ve successfully built your WHITE-SRV1 NetWare 6 server, it’s time to shift our focus to the Novell licensing model. After all, this is how Novell gets paid.

The following steps describe how license service providers (LSPs) handle requests from NLS clients by interacting with the eDirectory database:

This process relies on two main licensing components: LSP and NLS clients. An LSP is licensing software that you install and run on NetWare servers. This software is contained in the NLSLSP.NLM program running on a NetWare 4.11 (or later) server. An LSP provides the actual licensing service by handling requests from NLS clients and maintaining the license certificates stored within eDirectory.

When you install NLS on a NetWare server, NLS automatically installs the LSP software and creates an LSP object (NLS_LSP_servername) in the eDirectory tree. You can also use NetWare Deployment Manager to accomplish these two tasks after a NetWare 6 server installation. NetWare Deployment Manager also is the tool you use to install licenses that replace expired licenses on an active NetWare 6 server.

The host LSP server must have a writeable replica of each partition in order to serve License Certificate objects from eDirectory. This also applies to partitions that contain (or will contain) License Certificate objects. If a partition does not contain (or will not contain) a License Certificate object, that partition does not require a server running an LSP. This replica can be a Master or Read/Write replica. You can run LSPs on other servers without replicas as long as they can communicate with the LSP that has a writeable replica. As a result, the server with the writeable replica can make changes to the eDirectory database on the other server’s behalf.

In addition to an LSP, NLS relies on client software as an interface between licensing-enabled applications and the central LSP. An NLS client can run on either a workstation or a server. When you install NLS on a server, all files that enable an application to use NLS are copied to SYS:PUBLIC and SYS:SYSTEM.

NLS clients support 32-bit Windows and NLM platforms. The following shows how clients for Windows and NLM platforms communicate with the LSP:

Because NLS relies on eDirectory integration for storing license certificates, the following eDirectory Licensing objects are required: NLS_LSP objects, License Container objects, and License Certificate objects.

To fully grasp the functionality of NLS, you must fully understand some key terms, including the following:

Now let’s delve into much more detail regarding NLS installation and management. The following licensing responsibilities will have a dramatic effect on the functionality of your NetWare 6 server.

NLS license management relies on eDirectory-integrated license certificates. These certificates include the license resources NLS needs to successfully respond to client requests. In this section, we’ll explore the following NLS management tasks:

Let’s take a closer look at Novell Licensing Services management.

Managing Licenses with License Container Objects

When a license certificate is installed, License Container objects (container objects that always hold License Certificate objects) are automatically created. You use iManager to view information about a license product container.

In iManager, select License Management and then Manage License Properties. Navigate to and select a license container, and then select OK. As shown in Figure 1.27, you see the following two property tabs for the License Container objects:

   General—This tab includes information related to the product (such as the publisher name, product name, and product version number) and the installed licenses (including the number of licenses installed, in use, and available). You use this tab to determine the licensed application version when troubleshooting licensing issues. Be sure that you have the same version of NLS running on network servers.

   Units in Use—This tab is especially useful when tracking denials for licensing certificates. The information in this tab can help you identify who has established a connection and used a certificate in an environment where users are limited to a single connection. The Units in Use window displays usage information for each user connected to the network. When users connect to the network from various workstations and use a license, this tab helps you determine how many connections a user has established.

FIGURE 1.27 Properties page for a License Container object in iManager.

Using the NetWare Usage Tool

The NetWare Usage tool included in the NetWare 6 Remote Manager enables you to determine whether your network is in compliance with your licensing agreement. To access the NetWare Usage tool, log in to the Remote Manager and select Usage Information from the NetWare Usage section at the bottom of the window pane on the left of the screen. Enter a time period for which you want to view usage statistics. As shown in Figure 1.28, this tool displays the number of users that logged in to the network over that specified period of time.

FIGURE 1.28 NetWare Usage information in Remote Manager.

The NetWare Usage tool uses NWUSAGE.NLM and NLSRUP.NLM to gather usage information. Each server gathers information regarding authentication. The information is then saved in a database. A server is then assigned to the collection server, which gathers this information and displays it when NetWare Usage is accessed. You are allowed to specify the collection server.

REAL WORLD

The NLSRUP.NLM program gathers information in its database only for NetWare 6 servers running in the same tree. Information is not available from NetWare 5 or NetWare 4 servers. Other NLM programs that support the NetWare Usage tool include CONNAUD.NLM, NLSMETER.NLM, and NLSADAPT.NLM.

You can configure the NetWare Usage tool to determine how it’s used on your network. From the NetWare Usage section at the bottom of the pane on the left of the screen, select Configuration. As you can see in Figure 1.29, you can then enter the following parameters:

   Collection server—The current collection server is displayed and you have the option of disabling automatic usage collection.

   Frequency—You can specify how often the usage information is sent to the collector server as well as how often the servers enroll with the collector.

   IP Ports—This option enables you to specify the ports on which the servers communicate.

   Default date range—Here you specify a number of months.

FIGURE 1.29 Usage information configuration in Remote Manager.

After you’ve configured your settings, you select the Update button at the bottom right of the page.

You can also set these parameters at the server console by entering the command NLSLRUP HELP. You’ll be presented with a list of commands for setting the configuration options.

Configuring Notifications and Reports

When NLS generates notifications, they’re sent by default to the User object that installed the certificate. Using NetWare Administrator, you can change this designated person by modifying the License Container object’s Notify property page, as shown in Figure 1.30.

FIGURE 1.30 License Container object’s Notify property page in NetWare Administrator.

As mentioned previously, license certificate notifications are used to identify when a company is out of compliance concerning an NLS-aware application. The designated NLS administrator receives a notification when an application assigned to a license certificate attempts to exceed the available number of licenses. After notification, the administrator can then purchase and install more license certificates or resolve the issues that are related to the license agreement and its usage.

In addition to license certificate notifications, NLS includes a variety of license reports that track data about licensed and metering products. As an NLS administrator, you can create, use, and save these reports to help you monitor the usage of NLS-aware applications.

First, you can create NLS license reports for all license units used in a given context, a specific container, or within a single license certificate. The default reports provide data for the past 15 months. NetWare Administrator provides a license generation capability at the container level. Simply click a License Container object and access the Report Wizard by using the following menu options: Tools @@> Novell Licensing Services @@> Generate License Reports.

Next, you can save license reports in any of the following formats:

   Save Graph as Bitmap—This option enables you to save the data as a bitmap file with the .BMP extension. The Graph tab on the report enables you to view this data.

   Save Summary as Text—This option enables you to save the data as a text file with the .TXT extension. The Summary tab on the report enables you to view this data.

   Save Reloadable Data—You can use this option to save the data as a .DAT file. This provides a 15-month snapshot of the product’s usage on the network.

   Save Tab-Delimited Data—This option enables you to save the data in a two-column tabbed format for import into a database or a spreadsheet application.