Interoperability "Microsoft Windows"

Interoperability
With the vast diversity of client operating systems out there, any network operating system must be able to provide services to multiple clients. Windows never used to “play well with the other
children” in terms of interoperating with other platforms. Historically speaking, a NOS other than Windows Server would have limited interoperability with Windows Server. These days,
Windows Server has many tools for platform interoperability.
One of the coolest interoperability tools for Windows is Windows Services for Unix (SFU), which provides a framework for UNIX scripts as well as UNIX services like NFS to run on Windows.
You can download it from www.microsoft.com . With SFU, an administrator can port network services and scripts to a Windows Server machine and run them on the Interix subsystem (a sort of “mini-Unix” part of Windows that comes with SFU). In addition, Windows can interoperate with NetWare. When Windows NT Server was first introduced in 1993, NetWare was the primary network operating system available. As a matter of fact, it had more than 75 percent of the installed network operating system base. For this reason, Microsoft created software for Windows that allows it to coexist in a NetWare environment. Three main programs facilitate the integration of Windows and NetWare:

• Gateway Services for NetWare (GSNW)
• Client Services for NetWare (CSNW)
• File and Print Services for NetWare (FPNW)

Gateway Services for NetWare (GSNW)

GSNW installs as a service on a Windows Server machine and translates requests for Windows resources into NetWare requests. At a lower level, GSNW is translating Server Message

Block (SMB) protocol requests into NetWare Core Protocol (NCP) requests. GSNW allows multiple Windows NT clients to connect through a Windows NT server to NetWare servers using only Windows NT client software and protocols. Figure 5.1 illustrates this arrangement.

NOTE:

GSNW has a relatively undocumented feature: Any number of Windows clients can connect to NetWare resources through GSNW and use only one license on the NetWare server being accessed. With this capability, it is theoretically possible

to build a network of mostly NetWare servers but license all of them for five users or fewer. Novell is understandably peeved. However, GSNW performance is very poor in this application. Microsoft doesn’t recommend GSNW for environments with high NetWare traffic.

FIGURE 5 . 1 Gateway Services for NetWare (GSNW) operation

Client Services for NetWare (CSNW)

CSNW is probably the simplest of all the software, but it requires the most overhead to implement. You must install CSNW on every Windows workstation computer that needs access to NetWare resources. Client services for NetWare allows a user sitting at a Windows workstation to access the services of NetWare servers. Additionally, all users who want to access NetWare resources need user accounts and rights on the NetWare servers they access.

File and Print Services for NetWare (FPNW)

FPNW is really a method for providing files and printers hosted by Windows Server to Novell clients. When installed and configured on a Windows server, this service makes a Windows server look like a NetWare server to Novell clients. This service is good when you have a small number of NT servers and a large number of NetWare servers.