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Lesson 8Configuring Mars
Objective Configure Mars.

Configuring Linux Mars

The /etc/nwserv.conf file contains configuration for all NetWare services, including volumes, server names, internal network addresses, NetWare version, password handling, and print queues.
Though the default configuration file is a good starting point and you can use many of its settings as-is, you should pay attention to the following sections. It's possible that your situation may require some slight variations.

Section # Title Description Examples and advice
1 Volumes Map server directories to shared volumes The directory /var/mars_new/sys is set up as the SYS volume.
2 Server name Use this section to list your own server name The NetWare SLIST command, which lists servers, will return this value.
3 Internal network number Set the server's IPX network number Default is the IP address of the host; but is changeable Do not use a number that is in use on your internal network.
6 Server version Configure the NetWare version you are using Some clients respond better to particular server versions. Check your client's documentation, but a good number is 3.11.
12 Supervisor Specify the supervisor's password After the first login, you should change the supervisor's password; it will be stored encrypted once changed.
15 Automatic mapping of logins Define user accounts explicitly; map logins with /etc/password If you map logins with a password, you have to choose a common password for users, and then log in as each user and set his or her password to something else.
21 Print queues Map queue names to printers on your system Use this to map your different Linux printers to NetWare volumes. For example, you could map SYS:/PRINT/L to lpr -Plaser.
The next lesson concludes this module.

Novell's Networking Scheme

Novell's networking scheme was developed with DOS in mind, and later Windows. As such, it does not include support for Unix-style permissions or file ownership. The Novell setup is very efficient, however; it is often possible to achieve faster file transfers using Novell networking than using SMB/CIFS or NFS. Linux includes support for Novell networking protocols. To turn a Linux computer into a Novell server, you must use one of two packages:
  1. mars_nwe or
  2. lwared.
Most Linux distributions ship with at least one of these packages. You can use Linux as a client on a Novell network by using the ncpfs kernel module. In both configurations, you must also include IPX networking support in the Linux kernel. It is possible to bind SMB/CIFS to the Novell network stack, but only in Windows. Linux does not support this option.