Iowa/Nebraska Novell Technical Blast
John Bezy, Novell Iowa/Nebraska Systems Engineer



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Vol 2, No 25 - 12/18/00

** High Priority **

Technical Tips

Novell Holiday Shutdown
Novell corporate will have a seasonal shutdown effective Dec 27-29. Novell holidays are Dec 25 and 26. All Novell offices will be closed. Minimal Tech support will be available. The Minneapolis office will have someone responding daily to voice messages. If you need immediate assistance, call the Novell Minneapolis/Bloomington office at 612-893-2601. The on-call person should contact you within 4 hours.

NetWare Support Packs Pulled
Worldwide Support has found an issue with the current NetWare Support Packs. SP 6, and SP 2. When the right circumstances exist, most communication from a server will be suspended. The issue does not appear to affect all customers. However it is wide spread enough that we have decided to stop shipment of both Support Packs.

We are aggressively pursuing the root of the issue, and resolution to this issue. Engineering, CPR and IS&T are fully engaged, and will assist in the rapid resolution. We anticipate that we will understand the root of the issue this week, and provide a solution soon after. In the interim, hold off deployment of these Support Packs. Customers who have installed them, and are not having the problem do NOT need to roll back.

Net Directory Newsletter Number 7 is attached.

NetWare Server as DHCP Client?
Need to have your NetWare server on a cable modem or DSL service? They typically require servers to support DHCP... The standard IP stack and DHCP in NetWare do not allow the server to be a DHCP client. But, here is where you can get it...

http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/tidfinder.cgi?10052520

Compaq Insight Manager Vulnerability
The default installation of Compaq Management Agents allow anonymous access via port 2301 over HTTP to the files SYS:SYSTEM\AUTOEXEC.NCF and SYS:ETC\NETINFO.CFG. These files may contain the remote console password in addition to others such as the SNMP Control Community password. The passwords are stored in plaintext and can be obtained by connecting to: http://target:2301/survey. Successful retrieval of the passwords may allow a malicious user to gain full administrative control over the Management Agents. Check out http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/1917

The bottom line from a Compaq SE Manager-
"Here is the scoop on this! First, this only allows you to see the rconsole password or SNMP info (community strings) not any administrator passwords (unless they are in theses files). So, what does that mean... You should not put the automatic passwords in the rconsole line and even if they can get to your SNMP stuff all they can do is clear out info in the logs and set thresholds!! You still have to enable remote reboot or power off to do those and the Remote Insight Board Lights Out Edition card has its own separate password and user file that they can not see without being able to know that info, so they can not power that off either! As for locking this down, one way is to not load the SURVEY.NLM file, if it is not running then this does not work (I tried it just now!!!!!) It is not the agents that are the issue, it is survey and you can run it manually until we set some sort of password protection on it!!! If they DO NOT load the SURVEY.NLM in a continuous fashion then this resolves the problem (that is what their sample HTML link is doing, loading Survey into the browser to view). Survey does indeed retrieve a VIEW of the Autoexec and Startup.NCF files, but you can not do anything with them (like edit or change or delete), since they would be a big part of any problem resolution activities."

Bottom line, there is an issue that allows for the viewing of .ncf files and NetInfo.cfg. According to Bill, tell customers not to load SURVEY.NLM until Compaq has a fix.

Great Novell Resources
Dave Kearns frequently has useful information in his Network World articles. Here is a particularly useful one:

Today's Focus: NetWare resources
---------------------------------------------------------------
By Dave Kearns

Here's a collection of useful and informative NetWare-related Web sites as compiled by my friend and fellow Support Connection volunteer (http://forums.novell.com/), Felton Green. At these sites you'll find freeware, shareware and commercial utilities and applications, as well as informational files about NetWare-specific topics.

Keep this e-mail in your inbox and click through to these sites as you have time. Then add those you feel are most worthwhile to your favorites/bookmarks for future easy reference.

Great utilities

http://nz.com/webnz/JRBSoftware/

Retail site for password recovery
http://www.accessdata.com/

A couple of shareware/freeware files
http://www.amcsoft.demon.co.uk/product3.htm

Evaluations of commercial software
http://www.avanti-tech.com/
http://www.comp-comp.com/labreport/citrixnovelle.htm
http://www.connectotel.com/netware/
http://wwwr.idg.se/natkom/english/
http://www.joenettroll.net/network.html
http://www.jrbsoftware.com

A source for older updates/patches and miscellaneous software
http://www.lss.ksu.edu/download/novell/
http://www.netwarefiles.com/
http://www.novellfans.com/
http://www.novellshareware.com/
http://www.nwconnection.com/resources/index.html
http://www.sevenlocks.com/Products/TOCPowerTools.htm

Source for older NetWare files and updates
http://www.softwar.com/files/nwupdateall.html
http://www.tung.nu/

Lots of older files
http://www.vobis.de/bbs/support/brett08/index.htm

NWAdmin
http://ca.visualclicksoftware.com/ (retail site for NDS stuff)

German:
http://www.comp-comp.com/labreport/citrixnovell.htm
http://www.vobis.de/bbs/support/brett08/index.htm

Norwegian:
http://www.novfor.no
(Norwegian language; indicates that it's a forum, but I can't read the language so I'm just including it)

Swedish:
http://wwwr.idg.se/natkom/

Novell Directory Services utilities:
http://www.bigfoot.com/~jhenderson
http://www.dreamlan.com
http://vquill.com/ndsbook/vendors.htm
ftp://ftp.rug.nl/networks/novell/updates/nds/
http://ca.visualclicksoftware.com/

Time Synchronization:
http://www.arachnoid.com/index.html
(Abouttime NIST time sync)
http://www.connectotel.com/netware/timesg.html

Novell Distributed Printing Service (NDPS):
http://www.brightwood.com/ndps

FTP sites:
ftp://ftp.kud.com/pub/
(Lots of files here for NetWare and other operating systems.)
ftp://ftp.mechnet.liv.ac.uk/pub/novell/
(Lots of miscellaneous files here.)
ftp://netlab2.usu.edu/updates/nw/
(Lots of NW files.)
ftp://netlab2.usu.edu/updates/nds/
(Lots of stuff. )
ftp://micros.oucs.ox.ac.uk/novell/
ftp://ftp.rug.nl/networks/novell *129.125.4.15*
This server is updated daily. It is also available via BITNET and BBS (indirect).
ftp://ftp.rug.nl/networks/novell/updates/nds/
ftp://ftp.rug.nl/networks/novell/updates/nw/


ZENworks for Servers EVALUATION CD
ZENworks for Servers now has an eval version available via distribution! The part number is 882-000165-001. Try your favorite reseller or Novell Account Manager (not me..)

PPPRNS.LAN missing on NetWare 5.1 CD
In order to install the "NetWare Connect" services for a NW 5.1 server, PPPRNS.LAN must be obtained from the BorderManager CD. It's also in the NIAS 4.1 download here: http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/tidfinder.cgi?2948901&header=no

The Novell Support Connection Forums are changing!
On Monday, December 18th, (TODAY) around 1:00 PM MST (8:00 PM UTC) the following things will begin to happen:

  1. Our current web interface to our forums (http://novell.remarq.com) will be permanently shut down. (Be aware that any messages posted to that web interface after that time will not make it to our server.)
  2. The current news (NNTP) server will be set to read-only mode so our customers can still reference the data that currently exists.
  3. Our new integrated web/news server will be brought online. We will be posting the new URL to the web interface and the new news server name to use Monday morning. This means if you are using a news client to read our forums, you will need to define a new news server.
One of the questions we anticipate is "Why didn't you feed the data from the old server to the new server?" The reason is that the new server will have an entirely new group structure that will better fit Novell's product offerings and support needs, and there wasn't a one-to-one match between groups. Of course you, being an IT professional yourself, are 100% confident that a sweeping implementation of new technology such as this *always* goes without a hitch. ;-) See ya when the dust settles and keep watching the Novell Support Connection home page (http://support.novell.com) for informational updates on this project. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this will cause.

DirXML Now on ALA!!!
The academic pricing for DirXML is now official. The pricing and terms that were approved are as follows:

  1. DirXML pricing used on the MLA price list will be added to the academic price list used for Academic License Agreement and School License Agreement customers.
  2. The maintenance fees on the MLA will be changed to upgrade protection fees on the academic price list (the price of technical support will be taken out so the upgrade protection charges from the MLA will be the same as on the academic price list).
  3. The upgrade protection for DirXML will not be optional for ALA or SLA account purchases.
  4. The upgrade protection prices will not change for subsequent year purchases (dropping the 15% renewal surcharge).
  5. For ALA customers the following prices would also be available as a site licence option:
    • DirXML single user $1.00 per FTE or $4.75 per workstation (includes AD driver and NDS driver)
    • Exchange driver $0.15 per FTE or $0.70 per workstation
    • LDAP driver $0.15 per FTE or $0.70 per workstation
    • Notes driver $0.30 per FTE or $1.40 per workstation
    • NT driver $0.15 per FTE or $0.70 per workstation
    • PeopleSoft driver $0.60 per FTE or $2.80 per workstation

DirXML Sessions
We're looking at providing a DirXML Tips series of sessions. They will be a two-part format. The morning sessions are solution-focused. I'll be introducing DirXML and how it changes everything you do with directories and identity management with corporate and internet applications. You really don't want to miss this. The afternoon sessions will be much more technical. You'll learn about XML and the mechanics of tying NDS eDirectory to Active Directory, Notes, Netscape and other directory-like environments. Register and come for either the DirXML Solutions seminar in the morning, the DirXML TIPS in the afternoon or both. More details on both series with locations, dates and seminar IDs later. Please note that there will be separate Seminar IDs for the morning and afternoon session in each city. Registration will be online or over the phone. If you are interested, please send me an e-mail with 'DirXML' in the subject line, and let me know which of the two sessions or both you would attend. Based on demand, we will start setting up the sessions...

GroupWise Customers
Here is an excellent opportunity for you. Novell Consulting is currently in the process of creating a GroupWise Tuning and Proactive Analysis (TPA). We are looking for a few customers to complete this TPA with. The benefits for a customer are:

  1. Investigation of their GroupWise environment.
  2. Report generated outlining the Design, Mechanics, Performance, and Optimization their GroupWise system.
  3. Multiple Novell Consultants for basically the price of one.
  4. Gives you great information to prepare for your migration to the next version of GroupWise.
If you would be interested please contact me ASAP. We have Consultants available for January.

NetWare 4.1 In Your Tree??
Please be aware that support will not and cannot fix DS sync issues between NW 4.1 servers in a tree with NDS8. Please be aware of this BEFORE installing NDS8 in a tree that includes NW 4.1 or earlier.

Tech Support
At the end of this e-mail I always have an area that discusses how to get Novell Tech Support. Did you know there is a very inexpensive way of having Tech Support readily available? Novell has program called Premium Services. The options range from Premium 100 to Premium 700, 700 being the most support and of course the most expensive. But at the level of Premium 100 or Premium 200, the support times are limited to normal business hours, but you can solve one of the biggest tech support complaints- either sitting on hold for HOURS or tech support not calling back for days. Some of the benefits of the Premium Support 100 level are: target response time of 4 hours (support available for 12 hours a day, 5 days a week (normal business days)), 10 Tech Support incidents, and a copy of LogicSource... Premium 100 is available at a list price of $5500/year; Premium 200 provides 24x7 support and is available for $15000/year.. More information can be found at: http://www.novell.com/services/premium/americas_feature.html or contact Steve or me to get more information....

Are You a CIO? Want to Help Your CIO Get More Accurate Info About Novell?
The CIO Forum is an email sent out the first of every month. It consists of press releases, industry articles and a success story each month. To check out the current issue go to http://www.novell.com/company/cio/index.html

We will also be having a State and Local Government session in Des Moines... Topic will be Identity Management and Web Enabling Local Communities....

Des Moines, IA - TBD
      Hoover Building

BrainShare 2001 Sessions Defined
Check here for the session and presenter lists... The Brainshare portal is at http://www.novellbrainshare.com/portal/controller/home

Brainshare 2001 will be held in Salt Lake City on March 18-23, 2001. Prices will be $1395 before February 16th, and $1595 after February 16th. Registration is open. Sign up at http://www.novell.com/events/Brainshare/index.html.

Speaking of Brainshare- Discount?
NUI Local Group Members Discount to BrainShare Salt Lake - Limited offer Plans are underway for the biggest, best BrainShare yet in Salt Lake City, Utah March 18-23 2001.

Novell has offered NUI a special discount of 20% for the first 100 NUI Local Group Members to sign up for BrainShare Salt Lake (20% off of the Early Bird Registration price of $1395 by February 15)

If you are a member of a local NUI group and would like to take advantage of this special offer, use the RSVP code NUIMEMBER. Registration begins December 1, 2000 http://www.novellbrainshare.com/portal/controller/home

You must be a member of a local NUI group and you must use this code in order to receive the 20% discount. The discount cannot be made retroactive if you have already registered for BrainShare.

REMEMBER, ONLY THE FIRST 100 NUI MEMBERS REGISTERING UNDER THIS CODE ARE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE THE 20% DISCOUNT.

More On-Line Information
Novell RedPlanIT What is RedPlanIT? It's the online ability to get live information, or attend seminars all over the web - now, tonight, whenever! All you need to participate is a web browser. For details visit http://www.redplanit.com.

Login 15 minutes prior to online registration for complete instructions on how to register and to view this upcoming event. Check out the site for upcoming events.


Some Upcoming Training Classes at Novell Authorized Education Centers (NAECs) close to you:

Help Desk, Des Moines, Iowa

995: Directory Service Technologies:
     January 29-31 (learn and implement DirXML!!)
350: GroupWise Administration
     January 8-10
Certified Directory Engineer "Boot Camp" (intended for existing CNEs)
     February 19-23
Contact Brian Clarke at brian@hdesk.com or www.hdesk.com.

Advanced Network Technologies, Omaha, NE

354: GroupWise 5 Net Connectivity
     December 20-22
529: NetWare 4.11 to 5.1 Update
     January 15 - 19
Contact Katrina Foster at kfoster@advancednettech.com.

Novell Education Updates
Newly Released Courses
NetWare 5.0/ 5.1 CNE Training Self-Study Kit - Self-Study Training      November 2000

Courses in Development*
781 Desktop Management with ZENworks for Desktops 3 (version 1.0)     January 2001

*Disclaimer: The "Courses in Development" are being announced with tentative availability dates. No classes should be scheduled until final dates are announced under "Newly Released Courses." Novell will not consent to any special arrangements made to accommodate a course which has been scheduled prior to the announcement of a definite courseware ship date.

Novell Advanced Technical Training
Advanced Technical Training (ATT) Series is a NovellŪ program that delivers in-depth, up-to-date information about Novell products and technologies. The advanced instruction from Novell engineers and hands on labs provide an excellent learning environment.

ATT -- Border Manager     $1195 per person or 5 Education Vouchers
This course covers Installation, Firewall design and configuration, Network Address Translation, Web proxy cache concept, configuration and tuning, Cache hierarchy design and tuning Application layer proxies, Logging, Monitoring, and Alerting Socks server and IP-Gateway, Virtual Private Networking Troubleshooting tools & techniques.

ATT - Windows NT and 2000 Solutions     $1195 per person or 5 Education Vouchers
This course covers architecture, troubleshooting, and solutions for NDS4NT 2.1 (now called Account Management), the latest NT client, Terminal Server and Citrix MetaFrame integration, and the whole range of NT server integration products shipping as part of TAO, including DirXML for ADS, eDirectory 8.5, and SLP DA on NT.

For detailed information and immediate registration call: 1-800-228-7613 or go on line at https://www.wes-scs.com/pep/pepcalendar/main.asp

For more information about the ZENworks for Desktops 3 and NT/Win2000 ATT courses check the ATT site at http://www.novell.com/education/pep/

Certified Directory Engineer Bootcamp
Novell Education is pleased to announced the Certified Directory Engineer Bootcamp. This is a five day intensive Bootcamp that combines the 991 - Advanced NDS Tools and Diagnostics and the 995 - Directory Technologies. The bootcamp is being offered only for a short time, and space is limited to 12 people per camp. To find out more information and/or register go to: https://www.wes-scs.com/pep/pepcalendar/main.asp.

NOVELL PARTNERNET 2001
Novell's new PartnerNet 2001 program is intended to build and strengthen business relationships with all Novell partners, whether they are solutions developers, traditional product resellers, system engineers, or integrators providing services to their customers. By providing the programs, support and tools that partners need to succeed in the eBusiness economy, PartnerNet 2001 will allow partners to attain higher benefits and rewards from Novell through their revenue performance and influence on Novell's one Net vision. For more information, please visit http://www.novell.com/partners. If you are a Novell Reseller, we will be having a session in Omaha and Des Moines in December to explain the new program and answer any questions... For some of you resellers, please take a chill pill prior to coming, although your Reseller Rep James Slack will have his flak jacket undies on...


Cool URLs

NIMS version 2.6
We have made a new evaluation build (expires March 1, 2001) available on http://www.nimsinfo.com. Eval builds are for installation at customer sites.

ZENworks for Desktops Support Pack 1
The ZfD3.0 Support Pack 1 is now available for public download: http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/tidfinder.cgi?2958163

Cool New ZEN stuff
at http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/zenworks/

Cool URL for LDAP-enabled Directories
http://www.ldaps.com/vendors.asp

Learn more about Novell's Net Services Software
http://www.novell.com/news/onenet/index.html

Novell Users WebCasts

Clustering and XioTech
We would like to invite you to view our latest webcast featuring XIOtech's and Novell's Clustering and SAN technologies at http://www.novell.com/community/nui/videos/index.html Downtime, in most companies, is an expense that is no longer affordable. To address this critical issue XIOtech, Novell and NUI are pleased to present this webcast on Server Clustering, Storage Area Networks (SAN) and More! This webcast is intended to show you Novell's new award-winning clustering technologies combined with XIOtech's Magnitude storage area network (SAN) using Gadzoox switches and routers. Novell & XIOtech will demonstrate how clustering solutions running on the fibre-based MAGNITUDE will increase the availability of applications and data and provide supreme fault tolerance and exceptional redundancy.

This presentation is case study-based and powerfully demonstrates the strong synergy of Novell and XIOtech's technological solutions. Presenters will include Dan Lawyer of Novell's Product Management Team and Dan McCormick, XIOtech's Vice President of Technical Marketing.

After you watch the webcast send a quick email to nuiwebcast@novell.com telling us:

  1. how many hospitals the St. John's Medical network includes
  2. how long the St. John group has been using Novell Clustering and the XIOtech Magnitude
and you will be registered to win a Palm Pilot PDA!

This is an excellent opportunity to hear where the world of data storage and management is going from the developers of the technology. Don't miss out!

Users Groups:

Be sure to visit and support your local NetWare/Network users group-

NNUG, Nebraska NetWare Users Group, Omaha,
meets second Tuesday of each month (except Jul, Aug)
     www.nui-omaha.org
LANUG, Lincoln (NE) Area NetWare Users Group
meets third Tuesday of each month
     members.aol.com/thomstarr/lanug
CINUG, Central Iowa Network Users Group, Des Moines,
meets third Tuesday each month
     www.cinug.net
Mississippi Valley NetWare Users Group, Dubuque (IA)
Meetings will usually be held on the first Wednesday of the month... Next Meeting TBD. Contact Skip Hefel (skipper@myrealbox.com) for more information.

Seeking Information
We are looking for customers who are using Novell Products to do the following functions. If you are, would you send me an e-mail describing what you are doing? Also, unless you explicitly state in the e-mail that you wouldn't mind if other customers contact you, your information WILL NOT be shared with anyone... Thanks...

And More Feedback Requested...
Do you want to integrate BroadVision's one-to-one solution with eDir? ...or/and... Do you want to integrate eDir with the Vignette solution suite? Purpose: We're currently engaging with these ISV's and we need to convince them that there are customers that want to do this type of integration - this feedback from you would be extremely valuable!

If you want to do this, please reply to me directly.. - I need company name, contact and tel nor, and your details - thanks!

And Once Again
At present, there are NO plans to support Solaris in the Bulletproof release of GroupWise. Reason why? We have had no recorded revenue in the last 12 months for it AND we know of NO customers currently running it.

Let me know ASAP if you have a need to run GW on Sun Solaris.


Sales Stuff----

Best Products: User Picks
www.nwfusion.com/best2000/best-user/best-user.html
Network World - November 13, 2000

Career Opportunities for Novell Engineers Look Promising
http://www2.itworld.com/cma/ett_article_frame/0,2848,1_3313,00.html
ITworld.com - November 3, 2000

Top 10 Companies: Novell -- What a Long, Strange Trip...
http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?NWC20001030S0030
Network Computing - October 30, 2000


Administration Information:

Subscribe to news listservs at:
For GroupWise list: http://www.ngwlist.com
For Syracuse U NetWare list: listserv@listserv.syr.edu with 'subscribe novell' in message body

Trouble Incident Escalation
If you have an open support incident and it has been open for an unusually long period of time, one of my functions is to help escalate the issue inside Novell Tech Support. I will decide what the 'unusually long period of time' is... If you have a support contract, your issue should be resolved within days (resolved; depending on the level of the support contract, someone should contact you within minutes/hours to start working on it.) Without a support contract, you might face hours/days of waiting before tech support can address your call. So, if you feel you need assistance, send me an e-mail describing the incident, the incident number, and who to contact. If you don't have an open incident, don't get me involved until you do.

How to Get Tech Support

Want to see how some of our solutions work?
Check them out at the on-line demo city... http://democity.novell.com/staticindex.html

Due a Software Upgrade?
Here is how the process works.... You should receive an e-mail from Novell Sales Operations stating you are entitled, as an upgrade protection customer, the next upgrade for product XYZ... You should then go to the upgrade request site at www.novell.com/licensing/upgfulfill and fill in the appropriate lines and information. Your upgrade should then be shipped second day.... BUT turnaround time is dependent on when the product is actually available for FCS (First Customer Ship), which could be days or weeks after the actual product announcement. If you are then having problems, please let your IA/NE Novell team know so we can get involved.

Previous Editions of this E-Blast
Have you missed previous editions of this newsletter? Want to read them? Thanks to the CINUG (Central Iowa Network Users Group), they have posted them all at http://www.cinug.net/nov_blast.html...

Unsubscribing
If you do NOT want to continue to receive this e-mail blast, please send an e-mail to jbezy@novell.com, with 'unsubscribe e-mail blast' (without the quotes) in the subject line, and you will be removed from the list.

Subscribing
If other people in your organization not directly receiving this e-mail blast wish to do so, have them send an e-mail to jbezy@novell.com, with 'subscribe e-mail blast' (without the quotes) in the subject line, and they will be added to the list.

Changing Addresses
If you need to change your e-mail address, send an e-mail to jbezy@novell.com with 'change e-mail blast' (without the quotes) in the subject line, and your address will be changed. We like to keep track of Novell users. We recognize there is frequent turnover in the networking business, so if you are changing jobs, please drop me a line....

Disclaimer:
Information contained herein is provided as-is. Opinions are those of the author and may or may not be the same as those of Novell, and are definitely NOT attributable to Novell unless otherwise noted.

John Bezy
Novell Systems Engineer
Iowa/Nebraska
ph: (402) 291-1808
eFax: (561) 760-6149
fax: (402) 291-4529
Novell-the leading provider of
     Net Services Software
     www.novell.com
jbezy@novell.com



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