
-------------------------------------------------------------
NWUFAQ.DOC -- 19930918 -- A well-aged FAQ on NetWare for Unix
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[ Forwarded to me by: Gabor Borsodi					]
[ Original Filename:  NWUFAQ.TXT					]
[									]
[ This file is a copy of a message reply on 18 September 1993 from Doug	]
[ Kaye, Rational Data Systems,  CIS: 75156,2415, email: dkaye@rds.com	]

> Does Portable Netware run reletively trouble free?

That's going to vary implementation by implementation, but it general it's
pretty good.  The OEMs who support it have their butts on the line for
this. Remembering that it's a "hybrid" implementation, I would not say
that it's as bug-free as native NetWare, however.  My personal feelings
are that the only "risks" have to do with potential Bindery corruption.
It is imperative that you back up the Bindery and Trustee databases on a
regular basis since errors there may not be recoverable.  If you adopt an
adequate backup strategy, I believe you'll find NetWare for Unix (NWU) to
be adequately reliable for a production environment.

> How does OS response time compare with that of a NW3.11 or 3.12
> dedicated 486DX2 based server @ 66MHz.

If you run NWU under UNIX on an Intel box, you'll find it runs somewhere in
the range of .25 to .50 times the speed of native NetWare on the same box.
Results will vary *greatly* depending upon the benchmark.  You've got to
remember that everything NWU does requires translation into UNIX concepts
then going through UNIX for implmentation.  Hardly the same as native
NetWare which has been described by someone else as a LAN driver with a
disksubsystem :-)

Reading large files makes NWU look good.  Once you're reading sequential
records, the overhead of UNIX is barely noticeable.  At the other extreme,
if you make a DOS "DIR" request on a UNIX directory with many files, you
may see a performance hit.  These "DIR" operations will, in fact, be done
implicitly for many other NCPs such as opening files, etc.

> How does disk response time compare with that of a  NW3.11 or 3.12
> dedicated 486DX2 based server @ 66MHz.

The above attempts to answer this, too.  On the other hand, consider that
there are many RISC machines which are much faster than Intel chips.  I
have seen NWU running much *faster* on some of these systems than native
NetWare on 486s.  If you need very high performance, NWU may be able to
provide it, but you will not be at the same point on the price/performance
curve.  I strongly suggest you develop your own benchmarks and get the OEM
provider of NetWare for UNIX to run them on the target configuration.  Also
take into consideration the impact of UNIX apps on NetWare services and
vice versa.

> What programs are necessary to load a functional Netware Shell on a
> DOS workstation, how much memory do they occupy, and can they be loaded
> into upper memory?

NWU uses *exactly* the same client software as native NetWare.  That's the
whole point of it.  The current release of NWU (based upon 3.11) does not
support some of the 4.x-specific features such as directory services, etc.

> What programs are necessary to load a functional Unix Terminal on a
> DOS workstation, how much memory do they occupy, can they be loaded into
> upper memory, and once loaded into memory can they all be effectively
> removed from memory?

NWU includes a protocol called NetWare Virtual Terminal (NVT) which is
similar to telnet in the TCP/IP family.  NWU includes NVT.EXE, a TSR which
can be loaded on a DOS workstation and which redirects INT14 requests from
many common emulators.  NVT.EXE can be loaded between 640k and 1mb, and
requires (something like) 35kb.  That's in addition to the emulator, of
course.

(Commercial ON)
Rational Data Systems, supplies a line of terminal emulators named
PopTerm/NVT for DOS and PopTerm/NVT for Windows.  These products
include an enhanced implementation of NVT builtin to the emulators
themselves.  The DOS product is about 80k (including NVT) and can be loaded
as a TSR.  The Windows version is much superior to other approaches which
require loading NVT.EXE before running Windows or running NVT.EXE within a
DOS box for DOS-based emulators.  PopTerm/NVT for Windows directly calls
the Windows-specific IPX/SPX DLLs.  It is also typically much lower cost
than any other emulator and is designed specifically for emulation-only in
the NVT environment.  You can reach RDS at 415/499-3354 or 800/743-3054 or
(FAX) 415/499-8115.  Working copies with 10-minute/session copies are free
to anyone with an NVT server.
(Commercial OFF)

> Can you 'Hot Key' out of the Unix Terminal mode to an active DOS prompt?
> If so, are there any limitations to DOS or Netware at that point?

PopTerm/NVT (see commercial above) allows hot-key operation with no DOS or
NetWare restrictions.

> When you have loaded all of the programs into memory necessary to have
> active connections to the Novell Partition and a functional Unix
> terminal, realistically speaking how much conventional memory do you have
> left over?

Again, standard NetWare stuff plus 80k for PopTerm/NVT.

====================

In summary, I would not recommend NetWare for UNIX for use as a primary
file server.  The most successful implementations are those which include
a native NetWare server and rely upon NWU to provide access to UNIX-based
files and applications.

NWU is an excellent product, but because its positioning has not been
well expressed by Novell or the OEMs, it is often misunderstood.  This
misunderstanding causes inappropriate expectations and hence undue
criticism of the product.

    ...doug

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