Re: Novell share

From: Luke Matthews (luke.matthews_at_nospam.comcast.net)
Date: 08/11/04 

Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 22:23:19 GMT

P Gentry wrote:
> Luke Matthews <luke.matthews@nospam.comcast.net> wrote in message news:<EDSQc.237793$JR4.201188@attbi_s54>...
>
>>I have been looking through google archives, forum posts, etc without
>>finding any "working" examples of how to make an entry in /etc/fstab to
>>auto mount a Novell share at boot. It says something like "bad fs type,
>>bad superblock, or too many shares mounted" whenever i try to mount it.
>>Has anybody successfully gotten a Novell share to auto mount using
>>fstab? If so could you enlighten me? Thanks!
>>
>> --Luke
>
>
> A copy of your /etc/fstab attempts would be most helpful -- though be
> warned it's been a _long_ time since I've done this. Also the net
> protocol used and whether you're using DHCP and how your nics should
> be/are configured.
>
> In older days -- circa '97 -- when we were still using IPX, the ncpfs
> utils would allow Linux something like the old DOS diskless stations
> in the "computer labs" -- ie., you could script a "login" prompt. We
> did get something like this post going but never used it much:
> http://boudicca.tux.org/mhonarc/ma-linux/1999/1999-May/0222.html
> Something like this may be all you need _if_ your NetWare setup is
> pretty vanilla. Google something like:
> linux ncpfs automount novell
>
> I'm assuming you're using TCP/IP on your NetWare servers and truth be
> told, you'll need a NetWare client to use NetWare servers in a fashion
> similar to windows. I keep waiting for Novell to produce one since
> they acquired Suse and it appears they intend to extend NDS fully to
> Linux.
>
> Anyway, I just googled again (as I do from time to time) for:
> linux netware client
> and nothing much has changed. Haven't checked with Novell since
> beginning of summer, so can't say what they have to say.
>
> This one looks promising and the how-to page gives some idea what is
> involved:
> http://novelclient.sourceforge.net/howto.html
> Haven't had a chance to try it -- maybe this fall at the school where
> I work?
>
> If you would be more specific about your Netware setup and what you
> want the client workstations to be capable of, I would be more than
> happy to share anything useful my own snooping turns up -- I need to
> catch up on the latest happenings with NetWare and Linux. Right now
> it seems they are intent on pushing GroupWise collaboration, etc.
> rather than _just_ a simple, reliable client for file and print
> sharing. I'm more interested in integrating Linux servers with their
> LDAP NDS services myself.
>
> If I find something solid this weekend, I'll post it here.
>
> good luck,
> prg
> email above disabled

In case you are interested, I did get this working.

First off the ncp (Novell) filesystem wasn't compiled into the kernel
(nor was a module), so I had to recompile that and get the new kernel
working.

Then I needed to get ncpfs from here (compile and install it of course
too):ftp://platan.vc.cvut.cz/pub/linux/ncpfs/.

Then I added "ipx_configure --auto-interface=on --auto-config=on" to my
rc.local file to run at bootup.

I then used ncpmount in rc.local to mount my Novell share. I can't
remember the exact syntax, but it wasn't too hard to figure out with the
man page for ncpmount. Actually, before I did ncpmount, I added in
rc.local "sleep 10". I put that right after doing ipx_configure, but
before mounting the share. Otherwise it would try and mount the share
before the nic was configured for ipx, so it needed a few seconds for
ipx to get going. I made it 10 seconds just to be absolutely sure.

I also had an entry in fstab which did *sort of* work. Since the
interface was "initialized" in rc.local the fstab mount would fail
because startup stuff in rc.local runs after it would try to mount the
share (ipx isn't working until rc.local is run). This wasn't desirable
since I wanted it to be mounted at boot without having to worry about
remembering to login and mount it manually. However, the fstab entry
would mount the share and work after the system was up and running. I
wasn't really in the mood to create a special init script when rc.local
would do. heh

Anyways, sounds kinda wacky, but it worked like a charm. Thanks for the
info you provided! :)

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Novell share
    ... >>Has anybody successfully gotten a Novell share to auto mount using ... > utils would allow Linux something like the old DOS diskless stations ... you'll need a NetWare client to use NetWare servers in a fashion ... Unfortunately I don't work until Tuesday so I couldn't post the fstab ...
    (comp.os.linux.networking)
  • [kde-linux] Re: mounting fixed and removable devices
    ... the fixed and the removable devices are ... I only can mount the removable devices. ... It's thus likely that it's the fstab listing triggering the "ignore" ... that line in fstab should allow hal (and thus kde) to access it. ...
    (KDE)
  • RE: Machine not Booting - Continued
    ... The fstab is not to blame for this issue as i have just run mkraid /dev/md0 ... and then a mount -a and the area mounted straight away. ... it has no proper file system to mount. ...
    (RedHat)
  • Re: How to set /etc/fstab again after system has started
    ... That is the incorrect statement. ... With an appropriate entry in fstab, it takes very little, ... but without it the mount command needs more information. ... The previous poster went off on a tangent, ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)
  • Re: nfs bug & df: Can I lock up my kernel and overflow this buffer?
    ... > mount_nfs commandline switches I needed. ... You are not restricted to only the -o option with fstab. ... Since mount wasn't able to understand those switches on ...
    (freebsd-stable)