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7.4 Configuring the Network Card in NetWare Directory
Services
NetWare Directory Services (NDS) offers a different, more advanced approach to
network management than previous NetWare versions. Generally, it stores and tracks
all network objects. As a rule, all 4.x or 5 servers must have NDS loaded in order to
function. In this way, every NetWare 4.x or 5 server is a Directory server, because it
services named Directory objects such as printers, print servers and print queues.
With the appropriate privileges, you can create a print server
object, which, once
configured in its
context (or location) on the network, eliminates the cumbersome
setup of print servers on
every network server. NDS provides true enterprise
networking based on a shared network database rather than an individually defined
physical site. The result is greatly improved print server setup and management.
The Directory Information Base (DIB) is used to store information about servers and
services, users, printers, gateways, etc. It is a distributed database, allowing access to
data anywhere on the network wherever it is stored.Pre-4.x NetWare versions provide
the same data found in the DIB but the data is stored in the NetWare Bindery. The DIB
was designed with more flexible access, more specific security, and, since it is
distributed, it was designed to be partitioned. The Directory uses an object-oriented
structure rather than the flat-file structure of the Bindery, and offers network-oriented
access, rather than server-oriented access found in the Bindery.
The Directory is backward-compatible with the NetWare Bindery through Bindery
emulation mode. Section
7.3 describes Print Server Operation with a 4.x or 5 NetWare
system in bindery emulation mode. When Bindery emulation is enabled, Directory
Services will accept Bindery requests and respond just as if a Bindery existed on the
NetWare server being accessed. Be aware that information obtained from the Bindery
query may not be stored in the server since the Directory is a partitioned and
distributed database. Even though the NetWare 4.x or 5 server is not operating from a
Bindery, the applications making Bindery requests will not know the difference.
You may use NWADMIN to configure the printer in NDS. Prior to printing, NDS must
be set up as follows and the Network Card must be set up with NDS Context and Tree.
See section
7.5 on
page 121
. The steps below describe the use of NWADMIN
configuration to create printer, print server, and print queue objects. Then, you will
assign, or associate, those objects with each other. If you wish to keep Bindery
resources on any server, you can under NetWare 4.x or 5 if you declare a SET
statement in your AUTOEXEC.NCF file.
For those who prefer, NetWare does offer PCONSOLE as an alternative to
NWADMIN. PCONSOLE can be used to set up static information about print servers
such as: which queues to service, and whom to notify in the event of a problem. See
Novell NetWare documentation for more information about the use of PCONSOLE for
NDS.
