I took a look at NetWare 6.x when time came (fall, 2003) for me to update to CNE 6. I started with a demo version of NetWare 6 first.
Server: Pentium III 600MHz, 192MB RAM, 2 NICs (one built-in, one PCI), 2 hard drives (10GB, 10GB)
As a test server, I used this slightly souped-up computer from a batch of old PCs which had lived their useful lives as production desktop PCs.
At that time, I was using it to boot between DOS, RedHat Linux 8 and Windows 2000 Server. DOS was on the first primary partition with a size of 500MB, Windows on the first hard drive and RedHat was on the second drive on various partitions. Before installating NetWare, I deleted Windows 2000 Server to make room for it. I wanted to able to boot to DOS (using it as the NetWare DOS partition) and launch NetWare from there. This would allow me to multi-boot between Linux and DOS / NetWare.
Client Workstation(s): Pentium III 600MHz, 126MB RAM, with Windows 2000 Professional and Novell Client for Windows 2000 4.38
Installation:
The installation was relatively easy. Basically I was able to install NetWare 6 without using any documentation. (I checked out books later.)
NetWare 6 install was able to figure out that the DOS partition was okay to boot NetWare, and I proceeded to use it as the booting partition. I chose not to have the OS automatically booting up upon when the machine was powered up. This meant that on the DOS prompt, I can change the directory to nwserver and type in the command: server to run server.
I used up a 4GB partition for the SYS volume, leaving space on the first hard drive for other NetWare volumes.
New features:
I was impressed by the new features:
IPrint Web-based printing tool to allow printing through IP
Web Access Java servlet application to enable secure access to the network resources from a web browser
Native File Access Pack (NFAP) Server support for Macintosh, Windows and Unix / Linux workstations to access NetWare
servers without having to install Novell clients
iManage Usually referred to as iManager, this allows administrators to do network management through a web browser. It is
being touted as the future replacement for NetWare Administrator and ConsoleOne.
iFolder File and storage tool that allows users to access their files on a server through a Java-enabled web browser. With a special
iFolder client, they can also synchronize their “iFolder” on any machine with their folder on the server.
NetStorage Allows secure file access from any web browser. This is the second of Novell’s new three-pronged Internet-based file
access strategy (iFolder, NetStorage, NetDrive).
NetDrive Using a special client, users can map drives to web or FTP servers through an Internet connection.
In NetWare 6, Novell has also updated and enhanced the features for eDirectory, Migration to NetWare 6, NSS (NetWare Storage Services), Clustering, management for network services, and Web Services.
I also installed an evaluation copy of NetWare 6.5 on another computer, but the full story seems to be for another occasion.
Interesting tidbits: NetWare 6.5 refuses to install on less than 512MB RAM, Apache is now the default web server, more Open Source stuff like MySQL and PHP included, there’s Novell exteNd for J2EE application development.