Could NAS = Novell As Storage?

Some people refer to Novell's NetWare as a legacy system, while others hope the Utah-based company can revitalize their stake in the networking market by leveraging their file-handling and directory technologies. Now, Novell has a product that will take some of your legacy hardware and turn it into something useful for a modern network.

Novell NetDevice NAS is, to say the least, a clever product. The premise is that with one CD, you can take pretty much any computer and turn it into a dedicated Network Attached Storage (NAS) device in 20 minutes.

To be specific, the machine needs to have an Intel or clone chip-set, 600 MHz or better, 384 MB of memory, 9 GB of storage, a CD-ROM drive, and a Network Interface Card (NIC). Beyond that, all that is required is the software. The installation is pretty much a set-and-forget deal. We found the ease of installation very powerful, and were able to get the appliance up and running without any specific expertise or problems.

Configuration and administration can be conducted from any workstation with access to the same subnet as the appliance, with Internet Explorer 5.x or better that has the Java Virtual Machine enabled. Alternately you can also use a console-based interface (so long as the device includes a monitor and keyboard), or Telnet in and use a Command Line Interface.

Administration Panel

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The Administration panel provides access to shut down or reboot the appliance, configure IP addresses, file access protocols, and user authentication. File Access Control is where you set file attributes and user, group, and trustee access rights. Similarly, User Accounts lets you create, delete and import users.