| Good-bye NetWare, hello Linux: Novell Open Enterprise 2.0 |
Oct. 09, 2007
Novell's long journey from NetWare to Linux is finally complete. On Oct. 8, Novell released Open Enterprise Server 2 to its customers worldwide.
Shortly after acquiring SUSE and its enterprise-focused Linux distribution, Novell announced that its follow-on to NetWare 6.5 would ship as a set of network services that could run atop the NetWare and the Linux kernel, OES (Open Enterprise Server) 1.0.
OES, which began shipping in April 2005, was the first major step in Novell moving NetWare's services from its native operating system to Linux.
Now, with OES 2.0, the NetWare operating system kernel, NetWare 6.5 SP7, is still there if you run it, but it runs on top of the Xen hypervisor. You can also run the NetWare services, or a para-virtualized instance of NetWare, on top of Xen with the SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) 10 SP 1 kernel. So, if you're wedded to NetWare and its way of doing things, you don't have to wave good-bye to it.
Management tools such as ConsoleOne, iManager and Novell Remote Manager are still present and work the same as ever. You can also use Linux management utilities and terminal programs.
The virtualized NetWare uses the same binary code that runs on bare metal machines for the most part. According to Novell engineers, "More than 95 percent of the NLMs [NetWare Loadable Modules] required no changes to run on a NetWare virtual machine. When changes were needed, it was typically because the NLMs contained privileged or sensitive CPU instructions, accessed hardware directly or expected to run at ring zero."
OES 2 also features full 64-bit support of NetWare software services, along with storage-management enhancements. Open Enterprise Server also combines NetWare's workgroup services with SLES' services. According to Novell, this completes the Open Enterprise Server shift to providing workgroup services entirely on Linux.
"The biggest challenge facing IT departments today is how to meet growing business needs with shrinking budgets," said Jeff Jaffe, Novell's executive vice president and CTO, in a statement. "To meet that challenge, Novell brings SUSE Linux Enterprise Server together with tightly integrated, proven networking services in Novell Open Enterprise Server. Of special note, our current NetWare customers can choose to run NetWare in para-virtualized mode on Linux to take full advantage of the latest hardware while maintaining their current NetWare environment and preferences as they move to Linux. This Linux-based solution unites interoperability and high availability with proven services in an open, secure environment."
In addition to NetWare virtualization, the new OES features Dynamic Storage Technology, also known as Shadow Volumes, a new technology that uses customer-defined policies to recognize active and stale data and automatically shifts it to the appropriate storage device as the data's status changes.
Dynamic Storage automatically puts active data on high-end storage devices for quick access and inactive or stale data on tape or other low-cost devices. This enables better use of expensive storage hardware, streamlines backup of critical data, improves disaster preparedness and reduces administrative costs.
Does it work? In a case study provided by Novell, the company pointed to U.S. NEXCOM (Navy Exchange Service Command), the headquarters for the worldwide Navy Exchange System that oversees 107 Navy Exchange facilities and its 344 stores worldwide, providing goods and services to active-duty military, retirees, reservists and their families. After determining Linux would provide the right open platform for its business, NEXCOM wanted to migrate while maintaining the familiar benefits of NetWare. NEXCOM chose OES 2, which brings all the networking, security and management services of NetWare onto SLES.
"With this system, we get the best of both worlds - all the benefits of NetWare with a Linux flavor," said Sean Zackman, field engineering manager at NEXCOM. "We are using Xen to virtualize many of our Microsoft Windows servers and are now moving everything we can to Linux."
Migrating to Open Enterprise Server has helped a small IT staff at NEXCOM manage a large and dispersed IT environment. Using Xen virtualization, NEXCOM already has consolidated 45 servers down to 10 and plans to consolidate another 40 more by the end of the year for savings of more than $200,000. Moving to a single server in each of its locations also will reduce IT maintenance and administration. NEXCOM is using OES for file, print and the majority of its security services.
Steven J. Vaughan Nichols
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