lloyd@XLNVAX.EXCELAN.COM (Lloyd Spencer) (01/18/90)
I'm looking for informal input from Novell-oriented network administrators, systems integrators, and "users" regarding your interest in as well as potential needs for connecting Novell networks onto an OSI network. Since this is a very open-ended question, let me "seed" the discussion with some possible OSI networking solutions that may be of interest to you: - X.400 e-mail - FTAM file services - virtual terminal - directory services - network management - ODA/ODIF document interchange - IPX over CLNP (connectionless network protocol) routing - OSI client access to NetWare servers - OSI host access from NetWare clients Any and all comments, especially regarding relative priorities of your needs, would be helpful in our efforts to successfully deliver OSI-based networking solutions that are relevant and valuable to your organization. Finally, if there is any information that we can provide to you about relevant OSI technologies or Novell's OSI strategy, please ask. Thanks, Lloyd ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Lloyd T. Spencer Phone : (408) 473-8242 Novell, Inc. FAX : (408) 433-0775 Product Marketing Internet : lloyd@novell.com 2180 Fortune Drive CompuServe : 70020,1045 San Jose, CA 95131 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
DESCHAPEL@DAYTON.BITNET (01/18/90)
All of your possibilities will probably eventually be needed/wanted, however in my humble opinion, the X.400 email, and the directory services are the most urgent. We here are at the starting end of more complex networking, and will be using TCP/IP for a while -- my general sense is that it will be quite a while before we migrate to OSI --
wittmann@ENGR.WISC.EDU (art wittmann) (01/18/90)
> I'm looking for informal input from Novell-oriented network administrators, > systems integrators, and "users" regarding your interest in as well as > potential needs for connecting Novell networks onto an OSI network. > Since this is a very open-ended question, let me "seed" the discussion with > some possible OSI networking solutions that may be of interest to you: > > - X.400 e-mail very important. We've been waiting for X.400 mail to really go big guns into electronic mail. The more seemless the X.400 Netware mail seems, the greater the possibility that we'll continue to use netware in the long run. > - FTAM file services FTAM is essentially a type of OSI client access (right?) so it will be useful. At this point we don't have plans to use netware file servers for "non personal computers". FTAM would be useful for file exchanges. > - virtual terminal I haven't yet found a reason to want to get virtual terminal access to a netware server, unless it would be for system management. It would be useful for a netware server to act as a VTAM gateway for DOS and Macintosh workstations. > - directory services If novell's directory services were OSI compliant (thats X.500 I think), it might change the prevailing opinion here, that being that netware servers are ok for PCs, but won't be of much use for Unix workstations. (assuming that OSI will take the place of TCP/IP in 3 to 5 year time frame) > - network management Again, since we'll most likely be in a multivendor server environment, it would be useful for all servers to use the same management system. I don't know that support for OSI management would have significant bearing on our purchase decisions. > - ODA/ODIF document interchange This really depends on the rest of the market place, if good commercial applications use the facility, so will we. If no one adopts it, it won't be that important. > - IPX over CLNP (connectionless network protocol) routing CLNP support will likely be important. Our campus is considering FDDI networks on which native IPX probably wouldn't be allowed. I would guess CLNP will be allowed. > - OSI client access to NetWare servers This is important from the point of view of possible file exchanges and the like, as I said earlier, I don't think we would standardize on NetWare as a server platform for our OSI clients (I assume these will eventually be Unix workstations). Great price/performance might change this. > - OSI host access from NetWare clients The highest priority for us is X.400 mail. Next might might be IPX over CLNP, if my assumption that this would allow us to use our FDDI restricted network as a backbone for our novell servers. Some sort of global naming in definitely needed, if the ISO stuff can do what needs to be done, thats great. For ISO naming to be important it must integrate pretty well with the netware 386 naming system (what ever that may be). Assuming that ISO will be too heavy for our PCs and Macs to support, OSI host access from Netware clients will be important. Especially if the netware server does most of the processing for the client. One of the things that makes netware hard to sell around here is it's present poor (in my opinion) support for TCP/IP. As ISO becomes important, folks will look more favorably on Netware if it keeps pace with the ISO market. Art =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Art Wittmann Phone: (608) 263-1748 Network Manager Email: wittmann@engr.wisc.edu Computer Aided Engineering Center or: wittmann@cae.wisc.edu University of Wisconsin, Madison
lloyd@XLNVAX.EXCELAN.COM (Lloyd Spencer) (01/19/90)
Thanks for your comments. I have some brief responses to some of your questions that Novell has already addressed, however the message may not have been delivered to the NetWare community-at-large as clearly or widely as it should have been. ----- > > - X.400 e-mail > > very important. We've been waiting for X.400 mail to really go big guns > into electronic mail. The more seemless the X.400 Netware mail seems, the > greater the possibility that we'll continue to use netware in the long run. > Novell has made a strong commitment to support X.400 mail services on the NetWare 386 platform. Novell has announced and discussed an X.400 gateway that allows PC LAN electronic mail systems to exchange mail messages with X.400 compliant systems. Additionally, Novell has announced their support of a standard X.400 API. > > - FTAM file services > > FTAM is essentially a type of OSI client access (right?) so it will be > useful. At this point we don't have plans to use netware file servers for > "non personal computers". FTAM would be useful for file exchanges. > FTAM is essentially an OSI-based file transfer protocol. Although FTAM does provide record level access to files, many implementations only provide simple file transfer capabilities. Given that OSI-based networks and solutions are still in their early phases of establishment, this is not really a limitation at this time. > > - directory services > > If novell's directory services were OSI compliant (thats X.500 I think), > it might change the prevailing opinion here, that being that netware > servers are ok for PCs, but won't be of much use for Unix workstations. > Novell has also made a firm commitment to support X.500 directory services on the NetWare 386 platform. Novell announced that NetWare Directory Services will be based on X.500, although NetWare Directory Services is intended to be protocol independent. It was also announced that it would support the currently defined X/Open X.500 API proposal. > > - IPX over CLNP (connectionless network protocol) routing > > CLNP support will likely be important. Our campus is considering FDDI > networks on which native IPX probably wouldn't be allowed. I would guess > CLNP will be allowed. > Some corporate facilities are either planning or considering the use of OSI (and hence CLNP) over FDDI to interconnect their multi-campus LANs. > One of the things that makes netware hard to sell around here is it's > present poor (in my opinion) support for TCP/IP. > Please direct your concerns over TCP/IP to Rick Bohdanowicz; his internet mail address is 'rick@novell.com'. At any rate, I will be sure to pass your comment onto Rick. ----- As a final note, nearly all of the info above was previously delivered in Washington, DC and Western Europe in October '89 when Novell announced its OSI Strategy to trade press, industry analysts and "major account" representatives. To get a pretty good high-level summary of the OSI announcement, I can send you a copy of 'Novell's OSI Strategy'; the December 1989 issue of LAN Magazine (page 14) also discussed Novell's OSI strategy, but in less depth than our OSI strategy documnent. Also, if you want a reasonable summary of currently relevant OSI technologies, I can send you our 'OSI Technology Overview' document or 'OSI Tutorial' MAC hypercard stack. Regards, Lloyd ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Lloyd T. Spencer Phone : (408) 473-8242 Novell, Inc. FAX : (408) 433-0775 Product Marketing Internet : lloyd@novell.com 2180 Fortune Drive CompuServe : 70020,1045 San Jose, CA 95131 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
lloyd@XLNVAX.EXCELAN.COM (Lloyd Spencer) (01/19/90)
Thanks for your comments. I have some brief responses to some of your questions that Novell has already addressed, however I don't think the message was delivered to the NetWare community-at-large as clearly or widely as it should have been. ----- > > - X.400 e-mail > > very important. We've been waiting for X.400 mail to really go big guns > into electronic mail. The more seemless the X.400 Netware mail seems, the > greater the possibility that we'll continue to use netware in the long run. > Novell has made a strong commitment to support X.400 mail services on the NetWare 386 platform. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the details or the release timeframe for Novell's X.400-based mail products. > > - FTAM file services > > FTAM is essentially a type of OSI client access (right?) so it will be > useful. At this point we don't have plans to use netware file servers for > "non personal computers". FTAM would be useful for file exchanges. > FTAM is essentially an OSI-based file transfer protocol. Although FTAM does provide record level access to files, many implementations only provide simple file transfer capabilities. Given that OSI-based networks and solutions are still in their early phases of establishment, this is not really a limitation at this time. > > - directory services > > If novell's directory services were OSI compliant (thats X.500 I think), > it might change the prevailing opinion here, that being that netware > servers are ok for PCs, but won't be of much use for Unix workstations. > Novell has also made a strong commitment to support X.500 directory services on the NetWare 386 platform. Once again, I cannot comment on the details or the release timeframe for Novell's X.500-based directory service product(s) at this time. > > - IPX over CLNP (connectionless network protocol) routing > > CLNP support will likely be important. Our campus is considering FDDI > networks on which native IPX probably wouldn't be allowed. I would guess > CLNP will be allowed. > Many corporate facilities are either planning or considering the use of OSI (and hence CLNP) over FDDI to interconnect their multi-campus LANs. > One of the things that makes netware hard to sell around here is it's > present poor (in my opinion) support for TCP/IP. > Please direct your concerns over TCP/IP to Rick Bohdanowicz; his internet mail address is 'rick@novell.com'. At any rate, I will be sure to pass your comment onto Rick. ----- As a final note, nearly all of the info above was previously delivered in Washington, DC and Western Europe in October '89 when Novell announced its OSI Strategy to trade press, industry analysts and "major account" representatives. To get a pretty good high-level summary of the OSI announcement, I can send you a copy of 'Novell's OSI Strategy'; to get a pretty reasonable summary of currently relevant OSI technologies, I can send you our 'OSI Technology Overview' document or 'OSI Tutorial' (Macintosh hypercard stack). Thanks, Lloyd ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Lloyd T. Spencer Phone : (408) 473-8242 Novell, Inc. FAX : (408) 433-0775 Product Marketing Internet : lloyd@novell.com 2180 Fortune Drive CompuServe : 70020,1045 San Jose, CA 95131 -----------------------------------------------------------------------