Question : Basics about Novell Netware

I want to learn some basics of Novell Netware OS. I would like to know more about NDS. How to prepare a client computer in Novell Network?

Could you please send some links which show the screen shots of client log on?

What are the basic things that I want to know about Novell to Support users in a network where Novell implemented?

 I don’t have the time for practical and deep study.

Because I am facing a job interview from a company where Novell plays a vital role with Windows Network.  So I should expect some basic questions about Novell.

I have a good background in MS. Windows network.

Answer : Basics about Novell Netware

Yes, "there are so many reasons." Here are a few, in addition to answering your question about eDirectory structure.

NDS has evolved to eDirectory.  It is an x.500-based directory service.  The heirarchy (simplistically) is tree.o.ou.cn.  It is also LDAPv3 compliant and acts as an LDAP server.
Physically, it is a distributed database, with time synchronization key to keeping updates between the replicas synchronized.  It is fully fault-tolerant when configured properly with at least 3 read/write or master replicas of each partition.

The partition boundary is a container.  You choose which containers are partition boundaries.   It is not arbitrary like AD partitions, where each "domain" has a partition.

Replication traffic is minimized because of dynamic inheritance, and directory database sizes are kept small because of dynamic inheritance.  Rather than the entire ACL for each object having to be fully populated whenever an inherited right is changed or added, the rights are calculated at access time.  Windows AD inheritance fully populates the ACL for each object, resulting in massive AD traffic.  This also results in a lot of orphaned ACL data when the object rights are inherited from gets removed in AD, while no such orphans exist in eDirectory.  The AD database can get quite large because of its static inheritance, as well.  This does not happen with eDirectory.  Because time synchronization is important with eDirectory, changes are resolved based on the order in which they occurred.  In AD, changes to the same object from different locations within the tree/forest, when replicated, can cause one admin's change to override another admin's change inappropriately.

Repair of eDirectory is done "on the fly" and does not require any servers to be shut down or taken offline.  Repairs do not adversely affect logged-in users; users attempting to log in during the brief times the database is locked might have a delay in logging in, but that's it.

eDirectory also has the NetWare NAMED fully integrated - DNS is not a separate database.  This improves resiliency and portability of DNS services by making DNS available to any server in the tree - all you have to do is create a new DNS server object, start NAMED, and make it an NS server for your zone.  Using dynamic DNS in conjunction with DHCP also makes all of your DHCP devices (clients or whatever) DNS-addressable, making for easier administration and support of your DHCP-addressed users.

NetWare uses the IETF standard SLP to locate services, rather than addding a non-standard tag to DNS packets like AD does.  Some may find that a problem, but that's only if you don't have SLP configured properly.  

NetWare has used PKIS and fully-encrypted authentication for years.   You can only do that in Windows with their version of Kerberos.

NetWare filesystem rights inheritance is also dynamic, and is not ACL-based.  NTFS's security model is a crude subset, based on the NetWare 2 filesystem security, and is ACL-based.
The rights mask for NetWare is SRWCEMFA.  S=Supervisor - these rights CANNOT be blocked from inheritance.  All other rights can be blocked at any directory level through use of an IRF (Inherited Rights Filter).  R=Read.  Allows the user to see the contents of a file.  W=Write.  Allows the user to write to a file.  C=Create.  Allows a user to create a new file or directory.  E=Erase.  Allows a user to delete a file or directory.  M=Modify.  Allows the user to change the attributes of a file or directory.  F=Filescan.  Allows a user to "see" a file or directory.  Without Filescan rights, you can have the ability to read,write,whatever a file without seeing it in a directory display.

These rights are separate from the file attributes.  NetWare file attributes are an extended set:  Read-only, Archive, Hidden, Transactional, Shareable, Copy Inhibit, Delete Inhibit, Rename Inhibit and Purge Immediate.

That brings up another topic - deleted files.  If the "salvage" option is turned on for a NetWare volume, all deleted files are recoverable until "purged."  Much unlike the "recycle bin" which doesn't apply to network-based files.

Also, the Traditional NetWare File System and Novell Storage Services, the current NetWare filesystem, are journaling filesystems.

There's more. That's all for me for now.