An NSS Group White Paper

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Life can be very confusing.

Take NetWare 4.1 and NDS (Novell Directory Services) for example. One minute Novell are telling us that a great deal of design effort is required to implement NDS. The next they are telling us how anyone can implement 4.1 and not to worry about NDS design at all.

So, which do you believe? The glib answer is "either, or both".

It is certainly true that you can now implement a single level tree which effectively mimics the old flat-file bindery structure, whilst providing all the benefits of NDS. The latter includes the integration of printer resources and login scripts into the database, thus simplifying management, and "Yellow Pages" search facilities.

It is also true that if you have a large, complex network which is by nature hierarchically structured, then it would be beneficial to plan the NDS implementation to reflect that hierarchy in some way - whether the it is of a physical nature, or is based around logical workgroups, or is a mixture of the two.

The real beauty of NetWare 4.1 is the inclusion of tools which allow you to chop up and merge together container objects and even entire trees. This allows your network to grow in an organic fashion without having to worry about the effect on your NDS tree, as well as allowing you to restructure a hierarchy, or impose a hierarchical structure on a single level tree at some point further down the line when you have more confidence and experience.

What is NDS?

Users of NetWare 3.x will be familiar with the Bindery, the flat-file database which stores user details and access control information. The problem with the Bindery is that it is particular to each server, and a separate Bindery must therefore exist on each and every server on the network. The problem is that certain Bindery entries - users for example - must be duplicated on every server where access is required. Unfortunately, there is no communication between the servers with regard to their Bindery contents, and this can result in a significant management headache as administrators fight to keep track of which users require access to which resources.

In contrast, the NDS Directory is a hierarchical affair which treats all NetWare resources - users, file servers and print servers - as objects. To make this possible, two type of objects exist in the directory : container and leaf. Leaf objects, represent resources such as printers, servers, PCs and, of course, users. Container objects represent organisations and departments, and contain any number of leaf objects, as well as other containers (which provides NDS with the ability to represent a hierarchical tree structure).

The NDS database allows users and administrators to see all the resources as objects within a single network-wide database, simplifying access to them. It is also the primary security mechanism within the network, as NDS contains the access control lists which identify which users may access the various resources. Users and administrators can access any network service without having to know the physical location of the server that stores the service.

Instead of logging in or attaching to individual servers , NetWare Directory Services users log in to the network as a whole. During the initial authentication process, a unique electronic "signature" is generated from the user name and password. This signature is then used to authenticate that user whenever he requires access to resources which are located on another server - but the login process which is needed to access that server is performed transparently. To the user, the network now appears as one big entity - the Directory Services "tree".

Obviously, this cohesive and global mechanism for managing and distributing information throughout the corporate network provides tremendous for the administrator. When you have hundreds of servers each containing hundreds or thousands of objects, administration becomes all but impossible - imagine the effort involved simply adding a new user who requires access to specific resources on all servers!

Through NDS, however, the administrator would be able to change a single user object and have the new information recognised and used by every directory-based application on the network. And each user would have access to any network resource (without having to know where that resource resides) with just a single login.

NDS brings problems of its own, however, in terms of initial design and ongoing administration. Unfortunately, Novell has not included many management utilities in the NetWare box, leaving it to third-parties to come up with the necessary tools.

NDS Management Utilities

DS Standard

One of the biggest problems with NetWare 4.1 as it ships is the relatively poor set of NDS management tools included in the box.

Early releases of NetWare 4 did not even provide the capability to merge trees, move sub-trees, cut and paste, or rename container objects, and so wholesale changes to the tree structure following implementation were extremely difficult - if not impossible - to make.

This led to the advice from Novell that significant time and effort be spent on designing the NDS tree prior to implementation, in order to avoid major problems at a later date. This situation has changed somewhat with NetWare 4.1 where NWAdmin provides more in the way of container and object manipulation, and a separate utility has been included to allow renaming and merging of trees. The latter is still not as simple as it should be, however, and performing any of these operations on a live NDS database is at best slow, and at worst fraught with danger.

Although it is possible to minimise or even eliminate the planning requirement by operating purely in Bindery Services mode (to emulate a NetWare 3.x server) or with a single-level tree, companies with a complex organisational structure spanning many departments, sites and even countries will want to take advantage of the NDS ability to mirror that structure within the Directory Service database. For those sites, careful planning of the proposed directory structure prior to implementation is still desirable.

DS Standard - from Preferred Systems Inc. - is a Windows-based, off-line NDS modelling tool which allows design and manipulation of an NDS tree on your local PC without affecting the live network at all.

Since 1993 Novell and Preferred Systems have been working on DS Standard under a joint business development agreement. Because of this partnership, DS Standard uses all of Novell’s icons and naming conventions.

When first entering the program you encounter a blank screen, with the usual toolbar and drop-down menus along the top. A useful "Test Drive" sheet included with the product gives you ten things to do with DS Standard to get you familiar with the basics as quickly as possible.

Starting a new "view" allows you to create a new NDS tree from scratch, adding your own organisational units, users and servers as you go. To make life easier, and to speed up the creation process, any object can be used as a template to create other similar objects, and there are excellent global search and replace facilities.

All the dialogue boxes which appear as you add and edit objects are identical to those which are contained within the NWAdmin utility, making DS Standard easy to use for those already familiar with NWAdmin, and an ideal training tool for those who are not.

Throughout the modelling process, you have access to "The Assistant". This is more than just a help system - indeed it is provided in addition to the normal DS Standard help. It provides detailed information on Directory Services and NetWare 4, and incorporates technical advice from the DS Standard designers, as well as from Novell developers, engineers and even customers. For experienced administrators as well as those new to NDS, The Assistant is a gold mine of valuable information.

You can create as many views as you like, with each containing a complete NDS tree, or different parts of a larger tree. Objects can be cut and pasted between views, and a number of views can be logically grouped together into a single "project" - ideal for constructing a large enterprise-wide tree from a number of discreet sections, each representing a separate organisation unit, perhaps. Views exists independently of a project, however, and can even be used in more than one project at the same time.

Although much faster than NWAdmin - since it is working on a local copy of the database rather than a live NDS tree - this manual method of construction is somewhat long-winded. It is, however, the only way forward for those implementing a brand new network. Sites wishing to migrate from existing Bindery-based NetWare servers, however, have an altogether more satisfactory alternative available.

DS Standard’s "auto-discovery" feature can capture information from individual file servers - each of which can be saved as a separate view and combined later - or is capable of capturing your entire network into a single view. From there, modelling your proposed NDS tree is simply a matter of dragging objects from the Bindery view to your new NDS view. For those wishing to use DS Standard as a management or consolidation tool for an existing NetWare 4.x network, it goes without saying that it is equally capable of auto-discovering NDS servers in the same way.

Objects can be copied singly or in groups, and if a container object is copied then all its contents go with it. Whenever duplicate object names are found within a container (such as when merging two Bindery servers which have a common subset of users, for instance), DS Standard offers the option to replace the original, rename one of the objects (thus preserving both of them) or merge the two together. It is this latter feature which is one of the most powerful and useful, since all the trustee rights and security equivalencies of the original objects are preserved correctly in the single new one. Performing wholesale merges of this nature manually is both time consuming and error prone, and it is minor errors such as incorrectly configured trustee rights which can cause significant downtime and inconvenience for your users following an upgrade.

DS Standard includes all the tools NetWare 4 should have provided from day one - the ability to merge trees, prune and graft branches (cut and paste) and rename container objects amongst them. Although some of this functionality is at last beginning to appear in the standard NetWare 4.1 utilities, DS Standard provides a much quicker, easier and safer way to make wholesale modification to your NDS tree. One area where DS Standard is still way in front of the Novell utilities is in auditing and reporting. DS Standard allows users to quickly prepare detailed configuration reports on over 15 different types of NDS objects. It can also print out your NDS tree design, and by pulling information form the standard log files is capable of producing security exception reports, change management logs and object audit reports.

Once your modelling phase is over, DS Standard is capable of verifying the integrity of your finished tree. It will check, for example, the number of leaf objects in a container to ensure that the tree is configured within the guidelines of your corporate standards. If everything is satisfactory, the data in the DS Standard database can be written to a live NDS tree at the touch of a button.

Because of its comprehensive nature, DS Standard is capable of helping with all phases of NDS implementation including :

Training - Because DS Standard does not require NetWare 4.1 to be running anywhere in order to work, it makes the perfect training tool. It can be used to practice NDS administration before NetWare 4.1 is even purchased, or can be run on a laptop by the conscientious administrator who wants to review all the object properties when away from the office. And once NetWare 4.1 is installed and running, DS Standard can be used to test proposed changes without affecting the live system. Throughout the training exercise, The Assistant can be used to provide pertinent advice, and the verification feature will tell you exactly what you have done wrong.

Initial Design - Once again, because DS Standard does not require NetWare 4.1 to be running, it allows all of the initial design process to be carried out before purchasing NetWare. The design can be tested, verified and completed far quicker using DS Standard’s off-line modelling than when using a live NDS tree. When implementation time comes, the final version of your new tree can be uploaded to the live system in a matter of minutes.

Migration - Organisations contemplating the move to NetWare 4 can purchase DS Standard, and use that to facilitate all their training and modelling, before having to make the final decision on the upgrade. The ability to auto-discover all your existing Bindery servers, accurately resolve multiple occurrences of the same object, and verify the results before implementation is a huge time-saver. Once the new NetWare 4.1 servers are in place, the upload of the final tree happens very quickly, thus keeping down time to an absolute minimum. One minute your users are on a NetWare 3.12 server, the next they are logging into the NDS tree with all their trustee rights in place from the word go.

Ongoing Management - Having auto-discovered the NDS tree you wish to work on, DS Standard’s advanced tree manipulation tools make modifications a cinch - and you have the security of knowing that none of your changes are being effected on live data, since all operations are carried out in DS Standard’s own local database - this makes it significantly faster and safer than working on a live NDS database. If, therefore, your initial design begins to look as if it might cause problems when you purchase a new company or open a new office, it is a simple matter to move objects around until you are satisfied without affecting the live system. This method of working also has a beneficial impact on network traffic (which might be especially sensitive if slow WAN links are in use) since all changes to the tree are performed as a single NDS update - together with a single set of replication tasks - at the end of the operation.

Backup and Restore - Once the tree is relatively static, DS Standard can be used to store a copy off-line, providing another level of fault tolerance - particularly valuable if replication is not in use. Following a disaster (natural or otherwise), DS Standard can be used to selectively restore sections of a live tree - from single objects to entire containers.

In short, DS Standard is far more than simply a modelling tool to be used in the early NDS design stage. It can provide valuable assistance when designing, implementing and managing an NDS site, and as such should be considered an essential part of every NDS administrator’s tool kit.

One of the other major shortcomings of the NetWare 4.1 utilities is a complete lack of real time, centralised NDS monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimisation information. DS Expert, from NetPro, provides the information necessary to monitor, troubleshoot and optimise your NDS database.

When Novell’s NDS is deployed in a large, multi-server, multi-site organisation, it is inevitable that extensive use will be made of its performance and fault tolerance features - namely partitioning and replication. Unfortunately, precious little data is forthcoming from the operating system regarding the status of the replicas or the synchronisation processes going on between them, other than the daunting and distinctly unfriendly DSTRACE utility.

Unlike the standard NDS tools - which manage what's in your NDS database - DS Expert automates the monitoring and management of the NDS processes used to maintain the integrity of the database. DS Expert will alert the administrator to error conditions when they occur, identifying the error and notifying where the error exists. Identifying NDS errors early greatly reduces the amount of effort required to solve the problem, and its impact on normal network operations.

DS Expert also provides system administrators with NDS statistical information that can aid in optimising their NDS environment. Using NDS statistics gathered by DS Expert, an administrator can track how their NDS structure is performing relative to the needs of their network users.

DS Expert monitors the structure and activity of NDS by both reading the NDS tree, and by receiving information from DS Expert Agents, which are installed on NetWare 4.1 NDS servers. The DS Expert systems actually consists of a Windows client and three NLM’s : Tree Monitor, DX Agent and Nploader.

The Tree Monitor NLM runs on any server within the NDS tree, and is capable of monitoring the entire tree from a single server. Tree Monitor can build and maintain a database of servers, partitions, replicas and replica tables; configure and communicate with DX Agents which run on each server in the tree; and communicate with the Windows clients.

When first initialised the Tree Monitor builds a list of all servers in the tree and queries each to determine if it requires a DX Agent. If one is required, it is shipped across to the server - providing there is an available software license - and started automatically to enable Tree Monitor to monitor the NDS replicas residing on the server.

DS Expert actually relies on a cut-down software distribution system to ship DX Agents around the network. The Nploader NLM runs on each server in the tree allowing for automatic version control, distribution of new Agents and database files, enforced conformance to the software license, and remote loading and unloading of DX Agents as necessary.

Because Tree Monitor and Nploader between them will update out of date Agent software with the current revision, upgrades are largely automatic throughout the network.

Once an Agent has been started on a server, it builds a database of NDS replicas and starts the standard Novell DSTRACE utility. DX Agent continuously monitors disk and memory resources, whilst interpreting Sync DSTRACE messages and collecting statistics. Data is only shipped across the network to Tree Monitor at infrequent intervals - which can be defined by the administrator - in order to keep network traffic to a minimum. Alerts and alert thresholds, NDS statistics, and NDS tree information are accessible through the DS Expert Windows console. Using this, you can view your entire NDS tree, organised by partition or server, and from a single console you can easily see if your NDS tree is up and synchronised.

The DS Expert screen is split into two panes - the navigator panel and the data display window - with a toolbar and drop-down menus along the top. The NDS tree is displayed in the navigator panel by partitions or by servers, unlike the tree displayed under NWAdmin which is displayed by container. As items are selected in the navigator panel, system and alert information for each partition, replica and server is displayed on tabbed pages in the data display panel.

NDS partitions or servers that trigger alerts are highlighted using a red "stoplight", and the minimised DS Expert icon also notifies administrators of triggered alerts. Alerts can be set with minimum and maximum thresholds, and can also be set to trigger only when the alert state has existed for a period of time. Since the NDS environment can resynchronise automatically for some network events, the ability to set duration periods for alert states can be extremely useful.

DS Expert is also the first Windows tool for NetWare 4.1 administrators that allows them to monitor the NDS DSTRACE information generated from multiple NDS servers. Prior to DS Expert, trying to generate useable DSTRACE information necessitated logging DSTRACE information to a separate file per server, and then comparing the files to each other. DS Expert allows NDS administrators to watch entire DSTRACE "conversations" between multiple servers without accessing the NetWare server console, thus allowing rapid debug of NDS error conditions from a single point.

All DS Expert views can also generate printed reports with complete, or just selected, view information.

DS Expert is currently the only tool of its kind on the market, and whilst small sites with a couple of servers will find little to commend it, those who make extensive use of partitioning and replication will find it an indispensable tool.

For quite some time now BindView has been synonymous with security auditing and hardware and software inventory in the NetWare world. Previous incarnations offered the central console with a Server Information Module (SIM) and Workstation Auditing Module (WAM), but all installation, configuration and reporting was performed using a crude DOS interface.

Whereas the unattractive interface was a purely cosmetic matter, the inability of BindView to process data from anything other than NetWare servers was a more serious restriction in today’s increasingly heterogeneous environments.

So for the last three years, the BindView Enterprise Management System has been in development. This is based on a completely new object-oriented architecture, the centre of which is the Universal Data Processing Engine (UDP). This single component gathers data from a variety of platforms via snap-in modules which cover network operating system auditing and management (NetWare 4, NetWare 3 and Windows NT), inventory and asset control for workstations (DOS, Windows 95, OS/2, NT, Unix and Macintosh), Internet services management (Web servers, security and HTML) and links to external databases (ODBC, SNMP, DMI). At present, however, only the NetWare 4 and NT Server modules are available.

It is the job of each of the snap-in modules to gather the appropriate data in the most effective manner from the specific platform for which it is written. That data is then passed to the UDP where it is processed and presented to the layers above in a consistent and uniform fashion.

Above the UDP are the feature modules, which currently comprise a report generator, spreadsheet generator, graphic engine and export engine. The system can also be extended by additional snap-ins such as the desktop manager, query builder, report scheduler and a third-party API set which opens BindView EMS to independent developers. Although only the EMS Console and NOSAdmin for NetWare 4 and NT modules are currently available, this object-oriented architecture coupled with BindView’s enormous past experience in producing server and workstation auditing software should allow the remaining modules to be rolled out in quick succession.

In use, the new EMS Console could not be further removed from previous versions - the new graphical interface is extremely slick and easy to use. When firing up the program you are presented with a tabbed workspace, with the tabs headed "Getting Started", "NetWare 4", "NetWare 3", "Windows NT" and "Workstation Auditing". Naturally, only the tabs for the modules you have installed are populated, and you can create your own to store custom reports or existing reports which are used frequently. If you dislike the tabbed folder approach, you can have a tree display similar to the Windows Explorer/File Manager, and an iconised toolbar along the top of the screen makes it easy to create and manage your reports.

The Getting Started folder does just that, presenting you with a few basic reports such as Disk Space Analysis, NLM Versions and Admin-Equivalent Users. Within the NetWare 4 folder are 50 pre-defined reports groups into sub-folders covering areas such as file servers, security, disk space analysis, users, organisational roles, NDS objects, containers, groups and printers.

But these reports provide much more than just server-system performance statistics and disk-space parameters. For example, NOSAdmin for NetWare 4 can keep track of user access to specific objects on the NDS tree, and you can now scan NetWare 3.12 bindery objects in NOSAdmin as well as extended schema objects placed into the NDS tree by other management applications. Security auditing is a particular strong suit. It is possible, for instance, to log the number of times a particular user was denied login to a server, to monitor user password changes, to detect duplicate and "weak" passwords (those that are too small or too common), and even to run password-cracking tests of your user and print accounts. All reporting is performed on an enterprise-wide basis, with BindView automatically collecting and collating data across any number of servers in a tree.

If you wish a subset of these reports to be available to group administrators, or even end users, you can create individual desktops containing a selection of reports, each secured by password-protected access to the BindView EMS Console.

Existing reports are run by simply double clicking on the appropriate icon in a folder. Reports can also be modified, duplicated or sent to the printer by right-clicking on the icon and selecting the appropriate menu option. When a report is run to the screen, it is presented as a grid, which is a spreadsheet format - though you are not simply restricted to the top level presentation. By double clicking on any line in the grid - say the Admin user in an NDS Object listing - you are presented with a detailed "form" view of that particular item which is similar to the property pages within NWAdmin. Data items which do not fit within a single spreadsheet "cell" - such as a login script or list of groups a user belongs to - can also be displayed in this way, after which they can be copied to the Windows clip board or printed out. This ability to "drill down" below the surface of a report is one of the most useful and powerful new features of BindView EMS, and makes it particularly useful for ad hoc troubleshooting situations.

The final means of presenting data is using the built-in graphical engine. Data which lends itself to numerical comparison can be quickly and easily converted into graphical form and presented in 3D on the screen. Graphs can be rotated, scaled and viewed from any angle once on the screen.

Although the pre-defined reports are extremely useful, the real power of BindView EMS lies in its ability to create your own customised reports within minutes. All that is required to create a new report is to specify the data source (file servers, NDS objects, users, printers, etc.), list the fields to wish to be included, enter some selection criteria if required, specify the sort order and perhaps restrict the scope of the report to a specific section of the NDS tree.

This report can then be saved to a folder, or run immediately and then discarded. Creating new graphs is just as easy, and one or more grids or graphs can be grouped together into a batch process. This is called a "Schedule" and allows you to run a number of reports together in one go either immediately or, as the name suggests, at a later date and time.

In the past, whilst always impressed with the power of BindView NCS, I could not help but be critical of the dated and less than intuitive DOS-based interface. Now that is no longer with us, I can find little to fault the new EMS product. Be aware, however, that BindView EMS is a powerful piece of software which is clearly designed for large enterprise networks. If your network is small and easily managed, the power of BindView EMS is overkill. For those of you with mixed environment, multi-server implementations to manage, however, BindView EMS is a must.

In a completely different vein to the other products reviewed here is NetBasic Pro (Integrated Development Environment) from Arizona-based HiTecSoft.

NetBasic Pro is a programmer’s tool kit and development environment. With NetBasic, it is possible to develop NLM’s using a familiar, high-level language, and without resorting to C or assembler programming.

In September 1995, Novell announced an initiative (code name Net2000) to develop an open set of APIs (Applications Programming Interfaces) to expose all the functionality of network services to developers building distributed network applications. The new breed of client-network (as opposed to client-server) applications which are beginning to appear are far more distributed in nature. This allows the user interface logic, business logic and content logic can be partitioned and perhaps even located on separate servers to more efficiently utilise the available network resources.

As more and more applications are written to take advantage of network services, components and applications become much smarter, having the ability to register to the network, discover other services and logic dynamically, perform distributed tasks, be shared, and more easily managed. This is the ultimate vision of Novell’s "Smart Global Network", and one of the key components of this is Net2000.

The Net2000 NMX engine provides a standard way in which NLM’s and Basic components can register and execute within the NetWare operating system. It allows the loading and unloading of components - whether NLM’s or Basic scripts - on demand, thus handling libraries on an "as needed" basis, maximising free cache memory, and thus improving performance. Just one example of how this could be used to good effect is where an administrator could write a simple Basic script to load the backup NLM at a specific time, rather than leave it loaded all day. This obviously frees up vital memory for normal processing until the backup routine is actually required, perhaps overnight. All the necessary security required to control and access components is also handled by the NMX engine.

Although HiTecSoft provides NetBasic with which to write scripts and NLM’s, the NMX engine is open to a range of desktop application tools - including Visual Basic and Java - as well as supporting the CGI interface to Novell’s Web server, which opens up access to Net2000 components over the Internet. It is interesting to note that the Net2000 NMX engine and the NetBasic API’s - both developed by HiTecSoft - have now been licensed back to Novell for inclusion in NetWare 4.11.

In the past, writing NLM’s for NetWare has required detailed knowledge of C or assembler. What HiTecSoft has done is to create a much higher level abstraction of the NetWare C library, making all the standard functions available to NetBasic programmers.

NetBasic itself is a high-level scripting language which is very similar to Visual Basic, with the result that the writing of complex or custom server-based tools and utilities is now within the reach of a whole new section of the programming community.

Anyone who is familiar with Visual Basic will feel instantly at home with both the NetBasic language and the Windows-based Integrated Developer Environment (IDE). The language itself needs no explanation or introduction, since generations of programmers have cut their teeth on it before moving on to more "grown up" languages. And just when everybody thought Basic was dead, along came Microsoft with Visual Basic, which has gained a place in many a programmers tool kit in recent years.

NetBasic follows in a similar vein, whilst adding a great many custom extensions to handle the Net2000 APIs. These extensions are grouped logically and prefixed with identifiers such as NDS, NET, PORT and WIN to indicate their general usage (access to NDS, networking, communications, and server console screen handling functions respectively). The screen handling functions, together with a large number of pre-built modules, make it a simple matter to build utilities with the standard NetWare "C-Worthy" interface. Included in the package are also a huge number of sample scripts demonstrating access to most of the language functions, and some of them duplicating dearly departed 2.x and 3.x utilities such as FCONSOLE.

Any of these scripts can be run from the server console using the NetBasic Open Interactive Shell. This provides a similar environment to the standard DOS prompt, as well as offering a consistent shell interface on all platforms. A number of NetBasic utilities (which can be examined, edited and changed if required) duplicate most of the standard DOS commands such as CD, DIR, COPY, TYPE, CLS, REN, as well as a number of the DOS-based NetWare utilities such as VOLINFO, USERLIST and SLIST. This provides you with an almost perfect DOS environment at your NetWare console, allowing you to copy, move, type and rename files without having to dash to and fro between server and workstation.

Whilst NetBasic programs can easily be written using any text editor and run under the Shell, HiTecSoft recommends the use of the Visual NetBasic system, a Windows-based IDE. This provides a much more structured approach which is especially useful when building large projects.

Toolbars and button bars along the top of the screen provide rapid access to file and print functions and the help system. The help system can be interrogated separately (from your Program Manager or Windows 95 Desktop) or is linked tightly to the IDE. For instance, you can select any section of your own code and ask for help on the functions and syntax. In the main work area you can have a number of windows open simultaneously, and can drag and drop modules of code between them.

One of the windows which will always be open is that containing all the external modules and include files - pre-developed code that can be used in your own applications. A double mouse-click brings up a detailed description of the modules together with examples of their syntax and use, and the appropriate calls can be included in your own programs by simply dragging and dropping them into the appropriate window. In general, both the documentation and the help system are excellent, providing a wealth of useful reference material in a logical manner.

Code management is excellent using the IDE since you start off seeing only the top level code in the main window. Subroutines are added via a button on the toolbar, and this spawns a new editing window. Once the subroutine is complete the editing window is closed, and all subroutines are then available via a pull-down menu. If you need to work on more than one subroutine at the same time, separate editing windows can be spawned, each containing a different block of code. This keeps things nice and tidy, allowing you to work on discrete sections of your project without having to wade through several thousand lines of code on screen at the same time.

Unfortunately there is no means of running a program within the IDE, making it difficult to debug code - the "Run" command on the toolbar simply starts up a copy of RCONSOLE so you can run your programs at the server. The only other drawback at present is the lack of a compiler. All NetBasic programs currently are run interpretatively under the NetBasic shell, although a compiler is in development which will produce royalty-free EXE and NLM files for execution at the workstation or on the server.

Although NetBasic Pro stands on its own as a development environment, there are a number of additional modules available or planned to further enhance the possibilities of such a tool. These include database modules (for Oracle, Btrieve and dBase), backup modules (for ARCserve and Backup Exec), fax module (for FAXserve), UPS modules (for APC and Exide), SNMP module, and Internet module.

NetBasic Web Pro is one of the first to be released, and provides the ability to create secure Internet and Intranet applications on your NetWare server, as well as manage your NetWare network remotely via the Internet.

NetBasic Web Pro naturally included the standard NetBasic Pro, but adds to that a whole host of Internet API extensions together with the Database Module for Btrieve. The Internet functions - which are an extension of the NetBasic language, each with a "DOC" prefix - simplify the generation of HTML code from an application, allowing Web pages to be built on the fly using dynamic data. An interface component then connects the Web Server's CGI interface to the Net2000 architecture.

Coupling this with the Btrieve module provides access to Btrieve databases using any Web browser either on the Internet or the corporate Intranet. Up-to-the-minute data can be retrieved from corporate databases and placed directly on to Web pages in real-time. Customer and order data can be gathered using NetBasic programs, transmitted to your company via the Internet and stored in Btrieve databases.

In order to facilitate business transactions over the Internet, the final component of the package is the NetBasic Secure Web Server. This is the first secure web server for NetWare, which secures all transactions using RSA encryption and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology. Included in the package are scripts which demonstrate how easy it is to create a simple order entry application, and access corporate Oracle database files. A standard Web Server is also included for those who do not require secure transactions, and a version of the software is available which includes the standard Web Server only.

Since we now have a logical link between the Internet and our NetWare server, it is a relatively simple matter to allow network management over the Internet via NetBasic. Included in the Internet module are a range of sample utilities which allow secure login to a NetWare 4 server, followed by the ability to browse the NDS tree listing user and container details, load and unload NLM’s, view a snapshot of the contents of any of the current monitor screens, edit configuration settings and AUTOEXEC.NCF files, and much more. Even for those who are not interested in doing business over the Internet, the NetBasic for Internet module is well worth a look for the remote management capabilities alone.

NetBasic Pro and NetBasic Web Pro are both extremely powerful and flexible products. NetBasic Pro on its own is unlikely to have such widespread appeal as the other management utilities reviewed here due to the programming requirement - it is, in effect, a programmer’s tool kit. However, NetBasic Web Pro provides the secure Web server (if required), plus a number of useful utilities which can be used to access and manage your NetWare server over the Internet. This will make it attractive enough for many organisations to purchase it whilst having no intention - initially at least - to make use of the development capabilities. For those wishing to develop secure Internet applications to run on their existing NetWare networks, it is a must.

For any organisation that already has in-house programming expertise at any level, NetBasic provides the perfect opportunity to do what you have always wanted - write your own NLM’s.

Top         Home

NSS Awards

Group Test Reports

Articles/White Papers

Contact

Home

Send mail to webmaster with questions or 
comments about this web site.
Copyright � 1991-2005 The NSS Group Ltd.
All rights reserved.