Upgrading and Repairing Networks

Why Use Unix or Linux?

NetWare has been around for many years, and other than ARCnet it is perhaps the oldest PC networking technology still in existence on a wide scale. NetWare, however, has been deployed in large networks that span great geographical distances, as well as in small departmental LANs for many years. There exists a large user base and a sizable population of trained network administrators. Many applications have been developed by vendors to make use of Novell's Directory Service (NDS, now the eDirectory, and referred to in the rest of this chapter as directory services when discussing NetWare). However, using Linux in a NetWare environment to provide services to NetWare clients, to protect the network through a firewall, or to give technical users a Linux desktop does make sense in some situations.

One good integration scenario is the small LAN. For example, consider a small company that originally created a LAN to link several Intel-based Web servers that use a Windows operating system. Business has grown and it's time to upgrade. The choices are more powerful Intel-based systems running a Windows variant or Linux boxes. In this case, Linux has the edge because it is not limited to the Intel platform. You'll find both Unix and Linux running on many hardware platforms. Recent partnerships between Red Hat and hardware manufacturers enable Linux to scale to larger enterprise servers. However, if the existing LAN uses NetWare (which means you have Windows systems in your network), exchanging information with Unix and Linux Servers will require some new networking skills. By using fast Unix/Linux boxes to run your Web servers, databases (such as Oracle), and other CPU-intensive applications, you can still keep your Windows desktop machines. Novell does incorporate technology (most notably in the 6.x versions) that goes a long way toward enabling connectivity between Unix/Linux and NetWare.

Another reason you might consider bringing Linux into your small LAN is that it's basically free. You can buy inexpensive versions from many vendors, such as SuSE, Caldera, or Red Hat, that have sprung up to cater to the Linux community, or you can download a version from a Web site, usually free. If you have an experienced Unix staff at your site, Linux will be much cheaper to implement than NetWare. Without the experienced staff, however, it might become more expensive when it comes to support and engineering. However, the various vendors just mentioned also provide support for their Linux versions (also known as distributions, or distros for short), and you can find a lot of information on the Internet by searching for Unix or Linux "how to" documents.