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Boost your network with fully Java-integrated NetWare 5

Find out how Novell's adoption of Java in its latest network OS can benefit enterprise network developers

By Mariva H. Aviram, JavaWorld.com, 04/01/98

If you're in charge of developing and maintaining the network system in your mid-sized to large organization, chances are you're quite familiar with Novell NetWare. Despite its competition with Microsoft's NT Server, NetWare, boasting an installed base of 3.8 million servers and 79 million nodes, remains a staple as server technology in the average corporate and organizational network. Now is an important time to pay attention to Novell: Although its marketing is fairly quiet, Novell has a lot to offer to enterprise network developers, especially those who are Java enthusiasts.

Currently, NetWare 5 is in its third beta release. (Novell expects to ship the production version of NetWare 5 in mid-1998.) The advance of NetWare to a new version number represents an important leap in development to those used to the NetWare 3.xx and 4.xx server environments. As just one aspect of its advancement, NetWare 5 integrates a number of Java-enabling development resources into its server operating system.

Novell ConsoleOne is a Java-based common console framework within Novell's Open Solution Architecture (OSA) for management and administration utilities. Coupled with Novell Directory Services (NDS), ConsoleOne provides developers and network managers with an environment that is scalable to thousands of users as well as secure for individuals, workgroups, and entire organizations. The ConsoleOne graphic user interface (GUI) supports both ConsoleOne snap-ins, which are applications that extend the ConsoleOne shell (just as plug-ins extend the capabilities of a Web browser), and standard Java applets.

Another important implementation of Java is Novell's Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Integrated into NetWare 5, the Novell JVM is remarkably the fastest server-side Java environment, according to VolanoMark benchmark tests conducted by Key Labs -- clocking in at speeds twice as fast as Microsoft's JVM on the Windows NT Server and five times as fast as on a variety of Unix systems.

In enterprise arenas, NetWare traditionally has been the leader in network performance, reliably and efficiently running file-management, printing, and other server-side computing services. Steve Holbrook, product manager of Novell's Java Technology Group, admits, however, that NetWare used to fall short on "gimmicks" that aren't totally necessary but nevertheless are useful, such as convenient and intuitive GUIs. Novell developers realized that the flexible GUI-design capabilities and open-systems nature of Java make it a natural complement to enterprise server products such as NetWare. The NetWare/Java combination, for instance, allows screen rendering of often-used application GUIs to be cached on the server and then efficiently transferred to individual desktops as necessary.

On NetWare, the JVM runs as a NetWare Loadable Module (NLM). The first JVM NLM appeared on NetWare 4.11 at the end of 1996, just three months after the release of NetWare 4.11 itself. Novell upgraded this JDK 1.02-compliant NLM last august to make it JDK 1.1-compliant.

 

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