Novell Client for Linux Problems

ostrowlaw · March 24, 2009, 12:28am

Hi,

Running OpenSuse 11.0 with Novell Client 2.0 on Netware 5.0. Several issues:

Network is mounted at \var\opt
ovell
clmnt\admin\SERVER2 - and when I check properties, all of the mounted volumes have 0 bytes free space.
I have the mirror versions in my \home\admin\server2 directory. These volumes are also showing 0 bytes free space.
When I turn off the machine, the volumes will not umount, and
I get an error message and the computer locks: “turning off swap files” and nothing further.
Unable to open user login scripts.
Unable to write to any of the mounted drives using the GUI.

I think these are all interrelated problems. Anyone have a clue here?

Thanks
Alan

ostrowlaw · March 25, 2009, 3:22pm

Nobody had a clue on this, so I kept digging and found an analogy at another post using ncpfs and Nautilus, and it is located here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...us/+bug/224760

So, I installed KDE and it works just fine! So, the lesson is, Gnome (Nautilus) does not work with the Novell client, KDE does work.

Now, the umount problems persist, I guess I will post them separately.

ewaibel · April 22, 2009, 12:43pm

THANK YOU for posting this!!

I am experiencing the EXACT same set of symptoms on a Dell D620 with OpenSuse 11.0, NWC 2.0, and connecting to Netware 6.5 servers.
I thought I was going nuts (the hanging on shutdown at “turning off swap files” has been especially driving me crazy).

I’ll have to try creating a user that uses the KDE desktop.

ostrowlaw · April 23, 2009, 3:53pm

Glad to have helped. Somewhere along the line, I received a post from someone, indicating that it wasn’t necessary to use all of KDE, just Nautilus was the problem. KDE uses Konqueror (or something like that) which can run on top of Gnome.

Now that I’ve been using KDE for a while, I prefer it, so it hasn’t been painful.

Cheers.

ewaibel · April 23, 2009, 5:30pm

So are you implying that I can simply remove the nautilus packages and install the Konquerer ones (of course including the specific required dependent KDE packages) and fix these issues? I actually prefer Gnome and would like to stay with it as my GUI (although I do prefer some of the KDE apps - I like a hybrid desktop)

Thanks for your response

ostrowlaw · April 23, 2009, 5:44pm

Yes, that was what was told to me in the Novell SLED forum. Here’s the post for your review.

Netware Client 2.0 Gnome- not enough space - NOVELL FORUMS

Please let me know how you make out, I’d be interested because I am setting up this machine under 11.1 and I may like Gnome’s Yast version better.

Thanks

ewaibel · April 23, 2009, 6:11pm

Well I’ll be… I need to pay more attention to usernames accross forums. I read the Novell forums and had already read that thread - i just didn’t make the connection that you had started it until you just pointed it out (I feel stupid now). Anyway - before I try “pulling the plug” on nautilus, i noticed that there is a newer Novell Client available than the one I have currently installed. I am updating to the the client labled “Netware Client 2.0 SP2 for SLED 11” and will try that first.

ostrowlaw · April 23, 2009, 8:04pm

Well, let me know how you make out. I used the Netware Client 2.0 for 10.2 – Nautilus didn’t work with that one.

ewaibel · April 27, 2009, 5:15pm

Well, it didn’t work out. I finally got around to some testing late Friday afternoon. The upgrade did appear to finally allow me to loging with hanging my entire machine, but the login script would hang mapping drives, I still could not write to netware volumes through nautilus, and it would still hang on shutdown at “turning off swap space”. Perhaps I didn’t give the new client a “fair chance” though. I have had so many versions of the client installed/uninstalled on my openSUSE 11.0 laptop that I cannot be certain of the stability or residual config files settings.

I should rebuild and try with a fresh build of 11.1 (which I want to do) - the problem is finding time to accomplish this. Perhaps sometime in the summer once school lets out and I am not quite so busy I’ll try this.

ostrowlaw · May 6, 2009, 5:30pm

Well, a lot of water has gone under the bridge since I last posted this question. I have installed the Novell client 2.0 under OpenSuse 11.0 on a new machine, and it still has the same problem – it hangs when I shut off the computer “shutting down swap files”.

Any thoughts on this anyone?

Thanks

user · May 29, 2009, 3:41pm

BTW, does anyone know if the current (ver. 2 ?) Linux client supports NMAS (Novell Modular Authentication Service) which is a requirement for our Identity Manager setup here at work ?

Thanks