Microsoft Furthers NetWare-to-NT Transition

Jon Udell

Microsoft continues to ease the transition for users migrating from NetWare to Windows NT Server with its File and Print Service for NetWare , or FPSNW. Currently undergoing beta testing, with a shipment date dependent on customer feedback, the FPSNW utility makes Windows NT Server look like a NetWare 3.x file and print server.

FPSNW should appeal to companies that are tapping Windows NT Server as an applications server to host mission-critical programs such as SQL Server but don't want to maintain another NOS (network operating system) server--NetWare--for file and print services. With FPSNW, companies can deploy one server to handle file, print, and applications services without having to change their current NetWare clie nt software.

FPSNW is the latest in a series of Microsoft initiatives to offer a migration path from NetWare or simply use NT Server on NetWare LANs, explains Jamie Lewis, president of the Burton Group (Salt Lake City, UT), an information services firm that specializes in network computing. Prior to Windows NT, Lewis explains, Microsoft required you to run SQL Server on its OS/2-based LAN Manager. That strategy backfired because most users weren't willing to ditch their NetWare investment just to run SQL Server. "Microsoft realized they had to accommodate reality," Lewis says.

The first step in those accommodations was Microsoft's addition of support for NetWare's IPX/SPX protocol to Windows for Workgroups and Windows NT Server, which allowed for such configurations as a computer running Windows NT Server and SQL Server on a NetWare LAN. Microsoft also added NetWare client support to Windows NT Workstation and the forthcoming Windows 95, which let those operating systems use the file and print s ervices of a NetWare server.

FPSNW, says Lewis, "is for people who want to get away from NetWare servers, period." Prior to FPSNW, eliminating NetWare servers would require LAN administrators to throw away their investment in NetWare clients. With FPSNW, when users log on to a Windows NT server, it looks the same as a NetWare server. This way, companies that want to eliminate NetWare servers can do so right away and replace the client software when they are ready.

FPSNW alone probably won't convince users to choose NT Server over NetWare. But it's easier for companies with NetWare installations to choose NT as an applications server now and replace the NetWare client later (e.g., when Microsoft releases Windows 95).

---

Microsoft's File and Print Service for NetWare

screen_link (43 Kbytes)

With Microsoft's File and Print Service for NetWare, users can log on to a Windows NT server that looks just like a NetWare server. The utility lets companies consolidate on Windows NT and upgrade their NetWare clients at a later date.