NetWare

NetWare
Logo of NetWare, this variant introduced with NetWare 4.x. The symbol is a tilted rendition of Novell's "teeth" logo used until 1996.
DeveloperNovell, Inc.
Working stateDiscontinued
Source modelClosed source
Initial release1983
Final release6.5 SP8 (last) / 6 May 2009; 15 years ago (2009-05-06)
Available inEnglish
Platformsx86, MIPS, DEC Alpha, SPARC, PowerPC[1]
Kernel typeHybrid kernel
Default
user interface		Command-line interface, text user interface
LicenseProprietary
Succeeded byOpen Enterprise Server
Official websitenovell.com/netware

NetWare[2] is a discontinued computer network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. It initially used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, using the IPX network protocol.

The original NetWare product in 1983 supported clients running both CP/M and MS-DOS, ran over a proprietary star network topology and was based on a Novell-built file server using the Motorola 68000 processor. The company soon moved away from building its own hardware, and NetWare became hardware-independent, running on any suitable Intel-based IBM PC compatible system, and able to utilize a wide range of network cards. From the beginning NetWare implemented a number of features inspired by mainframe and minicomputer systems that were not available in its competitors' products.

In 1991, Novell introduced cheaper peer-to-peer networking products for DOS and Windows, unrelated to their server-centric NetWare. These are NetWare Lite 1.0 (NWL), and later Personal NetWare 1.0 (PNW) in 1993.

In 1993, the main NetWare product line took a dramatic turn when version 4 introduced NetWare Directory Services (NDS, later renamed eDirectory), a global directory service based on ISO X.500 concepts (six years later, Microsoft released Active Directory). The directory service, along with a new e-mail system (GroupWise), application configuration suite (ZENworks), and security product (BorderManager) were all targeted at the needs of large enterprises.

By 2000, however, Microsoft was taking more of Novell's customer base and Novell increasingly looked to a future based on a Linux kernel. The successor to NetWare, Open Enterprise Server (OES), released in March 2005, offers all the services previously hosted by NetWare 6.5, but on a SUSE Linux Enterprise Server; the NetWare kernel remained an option until OES 11 in late 2011.

The final update release was version 6.5SP8 of May 2009; NetWare is no longer on Novell's product list.[3] NetWare 6.5SP8 General Support ended in 2010; Extended Support was available until the end of 2015, and Self Support until the end of 2017. The replacement is Open Enterprise Server.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rodriguez-Willett_1993 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Peter H. Lewis (1989-05-14). "A Link for All Operating Systems". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-09-14.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Novell_Products was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Novell_Lifecycle was invoked but never defined (see the help page).