If you are a user of a mixed technology network that comprises both IP and IPX protocols it is likely that at some time or another you have wanted to have your Linux machine access data stored on a Novell fileserver on your network. Novell have long offered an NFS server package for their fileservers that would allow this, but if you are a small site or have only a small number of people interested in doing this it is difficult to justify the cost of the commercial package.
Volker Lendecke <lendecke@namu01.gwdg.de> has written a Linux
filesystem kernel module that supports a limited subset of the Novell NCP
that will allow you to mount Novell volumes into your Linux filesystem
without requiring any additional products for your fileserver. The software
causes Linux to emulate a normal Novell workstation for file services. It also
includes a small print utility that allows you to print to Novell print
queues. Because this is a limited subset it does not work very well with any
of the Novell fileserver emulators described later in this document.
Volker has called the package ncpfs and derived the necessary
information mainly from the book "Netzwerkprogrammierung in C" by
Manfred Hill and Ralf Zessin (further details of the book are contained within
the README file in the ncpfs package). Volker also used the IPX tools
written by Greg Page <greg@caldera.com>.
The latest ncpfs package was designed to be built against the version
1.2.13 kernel or kernels later than 1.3.71 so you if you are
not using a kernel in either of these categories it then you should obtain
one and use it.
You can obtain the ncpfs package by anonymous ftp from
Volker's home site at:
ftp.gwdg.de
or
sunsite.unc.edu
or mirror sites. The current version at the time of writing was:
ncpfs-2.0.6.tgz
The first thing you
need to do is ensure that your kernel has been built with IPX support enabled.
In the 1.2.13 version kernel you need only ensure that you have
answered Y to the question: 'The IPX protocol' as
illustrated:
... ... Assume subnets are local (CONFIG_INET_SNARL) [y] Disable NAGLE algorithm (normally enabled) (CONFIG_TCP_NAGLE_OFF) [n] The IPX protocol (CONFIG_IPX) [n] y * * SCSI support ... ...You will also need to ensure that you include an appropriate driver for your Ethernet card. If you do not know how to do this then you should read the Ethernet-HOWTO.
You can then proceed to build your kernel. Make sure you remember to run lilo to install it when you have finished.
# cd /usr/src # tar xvfz ncpfs-2.0.6.tgz # cd ncpfs
If you intend to use kerneld to
autoload the ncpfs kernel module then you must uncomment the
line in the Makefile that refers to: KERNELD. If you
are unsure what this means then you should read the
Kernel-HOWTO to familiarise
yourself with kernel module configuration.
The software should compile cleanly with no configuration necessary:
# make
After the make has completed you should find all of the tools
you need in the ncpfs/bin directory. You can use make install
to install the tools in Volkers choice of directories. If you are running
on an ELF based system then you will need to rerun ldconfig -v to
ensure that the shared library is able to be found.
If you are compiling for a 1.2.* kernel then you will find a file
called ncpfs.o in the ncpfs/bin directory after the
make has completed. This is the ncpfs kernel module.
You should copy this somewhere useful. On my debian system I have
copied it to the /lib/modules/1.2.13/fs directory and added
ncpfs to the /etc/modules file so that it will be
automatically started at boot time. If you are using some other distribution
you should find where it keeps its modules and copy it there, or just copy it
to your /etc directory. To load the modules manually you need to use
the command:
# insmod ncpfs.o
For the latest version of ncpfs you must use kernel 1.3.71
or newer. If you want to use older 1.3.* kernels then you must locate
a version of ncpfs like ncpfs-0.12.tgz.
If you intend using a kernel that is version 1.3.71 or newer then the
ncpfs kernel code has been included in the standard kernel
distribution. You need only answer Y to:
...
...
The IPX protocol ?
...
...
NCP filesystem support (to mount NetWare volumes) ?
...
...
You will still need to follow the instructions for building for kernels
1.2.* so that you can build the tools but there will not be a module
file for you to install.
There are two ways of configuring the IPX network software. You can manually configure all of your IPX network information or you can choose to let the software determine for itself some reasonable settings. In most installations the automatic method will work ok. If it doesn't work for you then read the 'IPX tools' section below to configure your software manually:
# ipx_configure --auto_interface=on --auto_primary=on
After your IPX network is configured you should be able to use the slist command to see a list of all of the Novell fileserver on your network:
# slistIf the slist command displays a message like:
ncp_connect: Invalid argument then your kernel probably does not
support IPX. Check that you have actually booted off the appropriate kernel.
If the slist command does not list all of your fileservers then
you may need to use the manual network configuration method.
If your IPX network software is working ok you should now be able to mount a Novell fileserver volume into your Linux filesystem. The ncpmount command is used for this purpose and requires that you specify at least the following information:
An example command to mount fileserver ACCT_FS01, with a login id of
guest with no password, under the /mnt/Accounts directory
might look like the following:
# ncpmount -S ACCT_FS01 /mnt/Accounts -U guest -nNote the use of the
-n option to indicate that no password is
required for the login. The same login specifying a password of secret
would look like:
# ncpmount -S ACCT_FS01 /mnt/Accounts -U guest -P secretIf you don't specify either the
-n or the -P options you
will be prompted for a password.
If the mount is successful you will find the volumes accessible to the userid used for login listed as directories under the mount point. You should then also be able to traverse the directory structure to find other files. Because NCP does not provide uid or gid ownership of files, all of the files will have the permission and ownership assigned to the mount point directory, keep this in mind when sharing mounts between Linux users.
You can test to see if printing works using the nprint command. The nprint command allows you to print to a file to a NetWare print queue. The pqlist command allows you the list the available print queues on a NetWare server. Both commands require that you supply username and password so you might normally consider building some shell scripts to make the task of printing easier. An example might look like:
# pqlist -S ACCT_FS01 -U guest -n
# nprint -S ACCT_FS01 -q LASER -U guest -n filename.txt
ACCT_FS01 has a guest account
with no password, that a print queue called LASER exists and that
guest is allowed to print to it.
If you have some
need to permanently have an ncp mount then you will want to configure the
commands above into your rc files so that they occur automatically
at boot time. If your distribution doesn't already provide some way of
configuring IPX like debian then I recommend you place them in your
/etc/rc.local file if you have one. You might use something like:
#
# Start the ncp filesystem
/sbin/insmod /lib/modules/1.2.13/fs/ncpfs.o
# configure the IPX network
ipx_configure --auto_interface=on --auto_primary=on
# guest login to the Accounting fileserver
ncpmount -S ACCT_FS01 /mnt/Accounts -U guest -n
#
$HOME/.nwclient file. This file contains details of temporary
or user specific NCP mounts that would be performed regularly. It allows
you to store the details of mounts so that you can recreate them without
having to specify all of the detail each time.
Its format is quite straightforward:
# The first entry is the 'preferred server' entry and is
# used whenever you do not specify a server explicitly.
#
# User TERRY login to DOCS_FS01 fileserver with password 'password'
DOCS_FS01/TERRY password
#
# Guest login to the ACCT_FS01 fileserver with no password.
ACCT_FS01/GUEST -
$ ncpmount /home/terry/docs
$ ncpmount -S ACCT_FS01 /home/terry/docs
Note: for this mechanism to work the permissions of the
$HOME/.nwclient file must be 0600 so you would
need to use the command:
$ chmod 0600 $HOME/.nwclient
# chmod 4755 ncpmount
a utility to send messages to Novell users is also included in the package, it is called nsend and is used as follows:
# nsend rod hello therewould send the message "hello there" to a logged in user "rod" on your "primary" fileserver (the first one appearing in your
.nwclient
file. You can specify another fileserver with the same syntax as for the
ncpmount command.
Recent versions of Volker's package include a range of user and administration commands that you might want to use. Detailed information is available in the supplied man pages. A brief summary of the commands is as follows;
Network Copy - allows efficient file copies to be performed by using a Netware function rather than a copy across the network.
Network Print - allows you to print a file to a Netware print queue on a Netware server.
Network Send - allows you to send messages to other users on a Netware server.
List Bindery Objects - allows you to list the bindery contents of a Netware server.
List Properties of a Bindery Object - allows you to the properties of a Netware bindery object.
Set Bindery Property - allows you to set the properties of a Netware bindery object.
Print Netware Bindery Objects Property Contents - allows you to print the contents of a Netware bindery property.
Fileserver Information - prints some summary information about a Netware server.
Netware Password - allows you to change a Netware users password.
Netware Rights - displays the rights associated with a particular file or directory.
Userlist - lists the users currently logged into a Netware fileserver.
Print Queue List - displays the contents of a Netware print queue.
Server List - displays a list of know Netware fileserver.
Create a Bindery Object - allows you to create a Netware bindery object.
Remove Bindery Object - allows you to delete a Netware bindery object.
Add Bindery Property - allows you to set the value of an existing property of a Netware bindery object.
Create Bindery Property - allows you to create a new property for an existing Netware bindery object.
Remove Bindery Property - allows you to remove a property from a Netware bindery object.
Grant Trustee Rights - allows you to assign trustee rights to a directory on a Netware fileserver.
Revoke Trustee Rights - allows you to remove trustee rights from a directory on a Netware fileserver.