Novell to AD

[kju1]

I have a question we have an old Novell 5.x server here that nobody knows much about. Its part of a larger tree at the Uni. We are trying to migrate our part of the tree into AD and keep file permissions.

When I use the MSDSS tool I cannot see the NDS tree. When I select Bindery I am able to see the server. However everytime I try to authenticate I get the error that it cannot and that "more information is available". I believe its something to do with the way I am typing the username in. However I havent been able to find much information.

This is the edirectory path to the object containing everything we want to migrate:

\\UNIVERSITY_OF_PITTSBURGH\.GSPIA.Provost.Pitt.EDU

And its context is: OU=GSPIA.OU=Provost.OU=Pitt.O=EDU

So I thought for username i sould use: username.gspia.provost.pitt.edu but this doesnt work...am I missing something?

[MorfiusX]

First off, are you using a Windows 2000 domain or a 2003 domain?

For NDS, are you part of a larger context, or are you your own context?

MS Services for Netware will work with Windows 2000, but not 2003. I completed a NDS to AD migration last year. We used BindView to complete the task. I would HIGHLY recommend you use this product. You will save yourself an enormous amount of time and hassle.

Also as a note, any server that will communicate with NDS will need the Novell client. It's best to use the one from Novell and not the one that comes with Windows.

[kju1]

We are using 2003 which could be part of the problem I guess. I thought it would work with 2003 as its listed for it: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/techinfo/overview/sfncd.mspx

For NDS under the tree we are part of the EDU -> Provost then us.

I took a screen shot and hosted it.
http://www.pitt.edu/~kju1/nwadmin.jpg

This is one of the reasons we are trying to get rid of novell - nobody here really maintains it anymore nor knows much about it. I am doing my best to learn as I go but I would much rather work with just AD.

Id love to use some commercial product but I dont think we can convince them to buy it. They spent a lot of money recently to purchase a new file server to replace the Netware box (its a 400mhz and is slowly dying and out of HD space).

I have installed and configured the Novell Client on the server and it is able to authenticate with my credentials.

Thanks for the help. :)

[big daddy fatsacks]

this has been 3 years now and it was a novell 4.11 migration to windows 2000 so take this with a grain of salt. but what i think we did was run a full backup of our novell file server. then run a script using xcalcs to collect the file permissions. then restore the files. then use xcalcs again to reapply the permissions.

again, this is something we did 3 years ago and i'm completely trying to pull this from memory (aka- out of my butt). sounds like MorfiusX could tell you whether i'm making any sense though.

[SJConsultant]

Do a few searches on MS website for Novell Migration (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/migrate/novell/default.mspx) docs. MS also has a few virtual labs that you can get your feet wet without touching your production network.

[MorfiusX]

When I was testing MS Services for Netware, the only way I could get it to work with 2003 was to first build the domain as 2000, set up Services for Netware, then upgrade the domain to 2003. If I started with 2003, it just would not work.

Also, when you are specifing a name to connect to NDS with, you have to give the full conext and username, not just the username. I can remember the exact synax, but it would be something like "CONEXT.Username" or "Username.CONTEXT".

Once you get directory sync set up, Services for Netware has a way to migrate a file system and set up the permisions.

Quest Software also makes a migration utility. I prefer the BindView one though. Both offer trial version that you could use to make the case to purchase it.

The problem ultimatly came down to Services for Netware was written for Windows NT, they then ported it to 2000. It works OK with 2003. But, they haven't updated it in years. While they might state it's compatible with 2003, I find the truth to be a little different.

[kju1]

I did start up as a straight 2003 domain. I will try to do the upgrade like you specified. I might just use this as an excuse to migrate all the files by hand and redo the directory structure.

We already have all the users in place in our current AD forest. We were just hoping to do a migration into a temp forest for the FMU list...

Thanks again for all the help.