Novell Client for Linux finally rears its head

This time last year, there were speculations about what the consequences of Chris Stone's departure from Novell would mean (the answer in retrospect: not much) and the topic of the moment was a NetWare client for Linux. That is, client software that would allow a Linux desktop to access a NetWare server on an even footing with a Windows desktop.

Last October I reported that Novell had told me it would deliver a fully functional client for Linux along with Open Enterprise Server (OES) when that shipped. Well, OES has started shipping but there is no client for Linux included. I was assured by the OES product team that a client for Linux would follow soon after the release of OES, though. An early beta version was released at the beginning of February, and I was assured by Novell that the final product would be available in "late May, early June" of this year.

Independence Day, Fourth of July, came and went, and there was still no shipping product. A new beta version did get released in late July, however. A reader dropped me a note last week asking if I'd heard any more about the client, so I dutifully spoke to my contacts at Novell and asked. The initial response was that, "Oh, yes, that's available. You can download it here http://download.novell.com/." Well, only in the most roundabout way!

It seems that the release of the Novell client for Linux had now been targeted for inclusion in the release of Service Pack 1 (SP1) for OES. There was a public beta version of SP1 available for download that, on closer inspection, included Novell Client for Linux (new). While this was a beta of SP1, though, it was actually the fully baked, Version 1.0 release of the client.

You still can't download the client separately. But you can get SP1, or the evaluation version of OES with SP1 which includes the client http://download.novell.com/Download?buildid=ppIBUh_8JW0. Whether it's worth all the download time as well as the effort to untangle the client from the rest of the software might depend on how important attaching Linux clients to your older NetWare servers is to you. I'll just leave you with Novell's description of the Novell Client for Linux' capabilities:

"The Novell Client for Linux will enable Novell's Linux desktop to access older versions of NetWare as well as OES. It will allow users to login to the network and execute their existing login scripts. It will translate login script commands into their Linux counterparts. For instance, 'map' commands will be seamlessly translated to mount points, giving users the same convenient access to the various areas in the network they've become accustomed to when using a Windows PC. This Client for Linux will support NCP and a number of advanced capabilities such as cluster failover reconnect."

Now it's up to you to decide.