UNC Linux Users Group

["David B. Rankin" <david.rankin AT unc.edu>]

I will forward this to Novell to get their official answer. However, I 
will take a shot at answering some of your questions.

> - What does Novell offer that Red Hat does not, especially in terms
>   of applications?

http://www.novell.com/products/linux/
http://www.suse.com/us/business/products/index.html
http://www.novell.com/linux/index.html

Also SuSE uses RPMs as a packaging/installation mechanism so a search 
for RPM, SuSE and package_name should be helpful in locating 
applications.  This is Linux so you can always make, configure, etc.

- We want to get rid of NIS for distributed user passwd/home directory
>   location. Does Novell come with a "turn key" solution for this, like
>   ldap etc.

Novell did a great job at their Brainshare Conference this past March 
with providing ID card-based login ID/password, home directory space, 
roaming profiles, etc., as a part of their Brainshare Network. Hundreds 
of workstations were available in a kiosk configuration using SuSE 
Enterprise Server 8 with Ximian Desktop. It was impressive!

http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/nds/features/a_bs2001_01_nds.html

Hope this helps.

John W. Sopko Jr. wrote:

> Hey David,
>
> Unfortunately I will not be able to attend today but I am very 
> interested in the Novell/SuSe Linux. We have been a Red Hat shop for 
> sometime and are migrating to Red Hat Enterprise. I am open to the Novel 
> Linux. A few questions that you might ask are:
>
> - What does Novell offer that Red Hat does not, especially in terms
>   of applications?
> - Does Novel plan on distributing Open AFS as a supported application?
>   Red Hat currently does not and this would help us out immensely.
> - We want to get rid of NIS for distributed user passwd/home directory
>   location. Does Novell come with a "turn key" solution for this, like
>   ldap etc.
>
> It would be great if some minutes could be posted about the meeting.
> Thanks for putting this together.
>
> David B. Rankin wrote:
>
> > All,
> >
> > The UNC Novell Users Group will meet today, April 14 from 3:30 pm to 5 
> > pm at the Carolina Population Center (CPC). The CPC is located at 516 
> > University Square East. I'm certain this will be an exciting UNCNUG 
> > meeting that you will not want to miss! The UNCNUG is also encouraging 
> > UNC Linux enthusiasts to attend. The reason this meeting may be 
> > relevant to the UNC Linux Community is that Novell recently purchased 
> > SuSE Linux and had integrated it into our existing Novell Academic 
> > Licensing Agreement (ALA). This makes SuSE Linux Enterprise Server, 
> > Novell Nterprise Linux Services, eDirectory for Linux, iFolder for 
> > Linux and access to Novell Technical Support incidents for Novell and 
> > SuSE products available to the UNC Linux Community through the ALA.
> >
> > Kip Meeboer from Novell's Atlanta office will be available to answer 
> > questions about Novell, Linux and the role Novell is playing in the 
> > Open Source Community.  For information on that please go to 
> > http://forge.novell.com/modules/news/
> >
> > I look forward to seeing you all there.
> >
> > AGENDA
> >
> > 1. UNC Academic Licensing Agreement update - Kip Meeboer, Novell Atlanta
> > 2. Brainshare 2004 Update - David Rankin, AIS, and Paul Fowler, UNC-P&A
> > 3. Novell, SuSE Linux and Ximian Desktop. What does it mean for us? - 
> > Kip Meeboer, Novell Atlanta
> > 4. Question and Answer - NUG/LUG members

--

===========================================
David B. Rankin, CCNA, MCSE, CNE
Associate Director of Distributed Computing
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Administrative Information Services
440 W. Franklin Street CB 1150
Chapel Hill, NC  27599-1150
Office Phone = 919.962.2435
FAX Phone = 919.962.0900
Internet Mail Address = david.rankin AT unc.edu
============================================