Diary of a Network Geek

Does that mean, Novell servers?

When I read this news story on Forbes.com about how Gateway is going to be selling servers with SUSE Linux on them, it struck me as odd. First of all, Novell just announced that they were going to buy SUSE just a couple of weeks ago. Second, Gateway selling servers? Well, okay. I don’t think I’ve ever run one, but their PCs are okay. Third, just as everyone else seems to be dropping Linux support, SUSE and Gateway are just starting to push it.
Okay, so, I’m no pundit, but this seems a little strange to me. I mean, these guys aren’t neccessarily “top of the line” in the industry, but they’re not light-weights, either! I can’t put my finger on it, but there has to be something going on here that I’m missing. Is there some kind of behind-the-scenes deal going on? Did Novell know about this deal before they made their move? Did Novell orchestrate this deal? And, what the devil will it all mean to the industry? Will it mean anything? I don’t know, but I’ll be watching this as it develops!!

Hey, did you know you can run PERL on Netware?

Yeah, it’s been there since Netware 4, actually, though no one really mentioned it at all until Netware 5. I started paying attention to that fact about two years ago when I started getting into PERL for my websites. But, now, it’s a default component in the standard install! So, why don’t I hear about anyone leveraging this? Well, I’m not sure about anyone else, but I intend to get some use out of PERL on my Netware servers.
Two weeks ago, I bought PERL for System Administration with the idea that I would use it, and code from the PERL Cookbook, to make my life easier. Why not, I thought, make a set of scripts that I can use or adapt for Linux, Netware and Windows? Sounds like a great idea, right? Well, we’ll see. I hope it’s a great idea, anyway. At the very least, I should be able learn a bunch more about PERL!
And, while I’m working on it, here’s a German site(in English) that has all kinds of scripts for PERL on Netware. Enjoy!

With subpoenas this time, not just FUD.

(That’s Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, by the way.) Well, according to this article on ZDNet, SCO has filed subpoenas with the U.S. District Court in Utah, targeting Novell; Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel; Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation; Stuart Cohen, chief executive of the Open Source Development Labs; and John Horsley, general counsel of Transmeta.
The article said that IBM responded to the Linux-related lawsuit by asking a federal judge to order SCO to identify illegal source code and serving four other companies with subpoenas of its own. Though it wasn’t clear if they filed before or after SCO. In either case, I hope this gets resolved soon. I’m tired of hearing about it and anyone who knows Linux knows that they have no leg to stand on. Oh, well, at least it gets Linux in the news….

Time to brush up your security skills!

And, NMRC, Nomad Mobile Research Centre, is the place to do it. At least, for Novell it is.
Simple Nomad has been around for a long, long time and is one of the few hackers pounding at Novell security to make sure it’s good. He has a great website and killer tools to check your systems with, not to mention recover passwords “lost” by disgruntled former admins. But, lately, he’s also had articles on security and been adding Windoze and Unix security stuff, too. I have to admit, it’s been a little bit since I visited NMRC and I was pleasantly surprised at the progress that’s been made.
If you’re worried about network security, NMRC is a site to add to your list of links!

Wow, this has generated a lot of buzz!

The Linux news sites are burning up with talk about what this will mean to Linux, SUSE, KDE, Gnome, and Novell. The traffic on this is just HUGE. Personally, I think it’ll be good for everyone involved. People aren’t too familiar with Novell, so they don’t know just how good a company it is. I was suprised at how many people didn’t realize that Novell has an enormous cash reserve. These are some pretty frugal guys. And, they’ve always had good products with minimal bugs. So, while I sit here wearing the Gnome “hoof” on my shirt, I smile at the thought of Novell revitalizing themselves with Linux, even if it means that they’ll be supporting the KDE interface.
But, what do I know about this stuff? I mean, I’ve only been Novell certified for over TEN YEARS and been running Linux, in one form or another, for at least four years. Take a look at what the folks at News Forge have to say about it. Or, if you’d like another, more “mainstream” source, check out the article on ZDNet Australia. I think they’ll both back up what I’ve been saying. (I know that ZDNet Australia confirms what I’ve been saying about the CNE for years.)

WOW!

It looks like I did a good thing by getting my Linux+ cert and then also updateing my CNE to version 6. This announcement from Novell came out yesterday afternoon about how Novell is buying the well known German Linux distro packager SUSE. Cool.
Of course, there are some hard-core Linux people who are afraid of another SCO scam, but, based on what I’ve seen of Novell, I doubt that will happen. More likely they’ll just become more like RedHat. Of course, considering RedHat’s new support policy, that may not be the best thing. Still, it’s nice to see Linux grow up and enter the enterprise big-time. And, hopefully, this will keep Novell competitive. Hell, I just hope it keeps them alive!
In any case, I’m sure this will be all over the geek news, so I’ll keep an eye on it.

I passed my test this time!

So, now, I’m fully certified to work on Netware 6. What a shame that the place I work at now won’t be doing that. *sigh* The worst thing is that I’ve been a CNE since 1993 and now, after ten years of certification, when my next CCR rolls around, I’ll have to decide if it’s worth updating. It always has been so far because I’ve always worked with Netware, but now… Well, frankly, there’s less and less Netware out there, compared to, say, Linux and Windows. I don’t know that I’ll keep working with Netware anymore. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but there’s just not a big market for it anymore. Or, at least, there’s not a big market for Certified Netware Engineers anymore. Heck, I get more calls for my Citrix experience than my Netware certification!
Ah, well, at least I passed this time, so I shouldn’t have to worry about it for a couple of years. Next up, though, is Security+. Then, maybe, CISSP, or, heaven forbid, a Microsoft certification.

But, that was what happened.

I took my CNE 5 to 6 Update test today, and failed. Just barely, but still, I failed. I was just too stressed out about not haveing the money to take the test again, which I really can scrape together. And, I was worried about a recurring plumbing issue that I’m having a hard time resolving. I’ll give it one more shot before I call a plumber.
In the mean time, I’ve updated my Self Test Software quiz engine and tests for Novell’s 5 to 6 update. And, I’ll start studying again. I need to really bust my butt on this, though, because I only have until the end of October to get this done. *sigh* It’s gonna’ be a long month.

SCO is at it again!

According to this article on Computer Business Review, SCO is going after Linux end users. The article only mentions servers, so I assume they’re going after corporate end users, but still, the insanity is the same.
First of all, these bottom-feeders haven’t even proven their case in a court of law, much less the court of public opinion.
Second, they have no case!
Third, they’re violating copyrights that belongs to Novell.
Fourth, I’m fairly sure that they’re breaking the law by charging people for something they haven’t proved they own.

Man, I’ll sure be glad when this gets settled and SCO goes away.

Can it be true?

Well, according to this story on CNet News, Novell is seriously thinking about moving to an all Linux platform. Is this good, bad, or does it make any difference at all?
I don’t know, but I know it’s interesting. Not too long ago, Novell said they’d “support” Linux. Then, last week, they bought Ximian. Now, this news. I don’t know what it means, but it sure is interesting.
But, this story on eWeek would seem to indicate differently. Two conflicting stories about where Novell is going with Linux. Well, at least they’re in the news!!
But, again, it makes me really, really glad that I’ve been focusing on my Linux skills lately!