Working with Windows and Novell Netware

ncpfs

ncpfs allows a client to mount volumes of NetWare servers under Linux and to print to NetWare print queues and spool NetWare print queues to the Linux printing system. Most distributions, including RedHat, come with a binary pack package (e.g., RPM) for NCPFS. You may also need a supporting package called something like ipxutils.

N.B. With the current configuration of the NDS (as of 2002 November 21) version 2.2.0.18 of NCPFS fails to authenticate but 2.2.0.20 works like a dream.

More!

Have a look at the Linux IPX HOWTO.

Mounting Your P: Drive at UMIST

First:

    ipx_configure --auto_interface=on --auto_primary=on

To mount your P:-drive you first need to know your server. If you don't know it but have some idea what it's called, you can use the slist utility which comes with ncpfs --- it lists all IPX servers which your machine can talk to:

    [prompt]$ slist 
    MAN-BS-FS2                                          01033A2A  000000000001
    UMIST-HS1                                           01033B96  000000000001
    ...
    ...

Then authenticate and mount the P:. If not migrated, something like:

    ncpmount -S uk-ac-umist-fs1 -U mpciish2.csu.iss.umist.ac.uk \
            -V vol1 /mnt/novell/

    ncpmount -S umist-hs1 -U mpciish2.isd.umist -V vol1 /mnt/novell/

Printing to a Netware Print Queue

You first need to know which queues your machine can "see" --- use the pqlist utility:

    pqlist -S umist-prn1 -U mpciish2.isd.umist 

To print:

    nprint -S umist-prn1 -q usuls2 -U mpciish2.isd.umist \
        /home/simonh/printtest.txt.ps 

Recent distributions of Linux come with a graphical utility called printconf-gui which can be used to set up a standard, local print-queue to save the above lengthy typing: within the utility select select New and then Novell Printer and enter the values used above. Then you can use

    lpr -P<queue-name> <file>

Wine

Wine is a free implementation of Windows for Unix, or, more precisely, of the Windows 3.x and Win32 APIs on top of X and Unix. Wine works on most popular Intel Unixes, including Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris.

Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely alternative implementation consisting of 100% Microsoft-free code, but it can optionally use native system DLLs if they are available. Wine comes with complete sources, documentation and examples and is freely redistributable.

Samba

Samba is an Open Source/Free Software suite that provides seamless file and print services to SMB/CIFS clients. Samba is freely available under the GNU General Public License.

More

I quote: Samba runs on Unix platforms, but speaks to Windows clients like a native. It allows a Unix system to move into a Windows "Network Neighborhood".... Windows users can happily access file and print services without knowing or caring that those services are being offered by a Unix host.

All of this is managed through a protocol suite which is currently known as the "Common Internet File System", or CIFS. This name was introduced by Microsoft, and provides some insight into their hopes for the future. At the heart of CIFS is the latest incarnation of the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol...