Each version of Windows handles the NetWare client software differently and refers to these clients in somewhat different terms, but they all allow you to access the resources published on a NetWare file server. Windows NT Workstation refers to its NetWare client software as Client Services For NetWare, or CSNW.

Installing CSNW on a Windows NT machine is simple. First, right-click the Network Neighborhood icon on the Desktop, then click properties. CSNW requires that a compatible Internetwork Packet Exchange/ Sequenced Packet Exchange (IPX/SPX) protocol be loaded.

This is the native transport protocol of NetWare networks and is necessary for Windows NT to talk to the NetWare server. If you do not have one loaded, don't worry. When you install CSNW, it will install the protocol for you.

Click the Services tab located near the top of the window. Next, click the Add button and select Client Services For NetWare. Windows NT will prompt you for the Windows NT installation disc. Insert it into the CD-ROM drive and Windows NT will copy the needed support files to your hard drive. After all the files are copied, select Yes when asked if you want to reboot the machine. This is necessary in order for the changes made to the network setup to take effect.

Configuration.

When Windows NT installs CSNW, it adds an icon to the Control Panel. To configure CSNW, just open the Control Panel and double-click the CSNW icon. Microsoft's CSNW will work with either NetWare versions 3.x or 4.x. The configuration for each of these is slightly different because of the way the different server versions handle logging in.

NetWare 3.x is simple. First, click the Preferred Server box. This enables it to log in to the NetWare 3.x server using bindery emulation. Enter the name of the server to which you will be connecting in the Select Preferred Server field. If you are going to be attaching to a NetWare 4.x server, check Default Tree And Context. Just enter the default tree name in the Tree field, then enter the context in which your user account exists in the Context field. This NetWare Directory Service (NDS) support is new in Windows NT Workstation 4.0.

CSNW allows you to configure various printing options in the event you are going to be printing to a NetWare print queue. In the Print Options section, you can specify whether or not to include a form feed to a job by clicking the check box. A status notification can be sent to the originator of a print job after the job has been sent to the NetWare server. To enable this option, click the Notify When Printed box.

The last option for printing deals with the banner page. Just put a check in the box to enable the NetWare banner page to print job-owner information before each print job.

Below the Print Options section is an area that controls the processing of the NetWare login script. When this box is checked, Windows NT processes the NetWare login script. This can be useful if you want to allow the login script to set up the environment on the Windows NT machine. If all you want is access to the NetWare file server's file system and print queues, there is really no need to run the system login script, and you can leave this box unchecked.

Resource Browsing.

After configuring CSNW, you should be able to use any of the NetWare resources you have rights to on the NetWare file server. Windows NT does a great job of making these resources easily accessible from the Network Neighborhood icon on the Desktop.

Network Neighborhood allows you to browse to the desired resource as if it were a native Windows NT network resource. This is true when mapping both drives and printers. To map a drive, simply browse to the desired NetWare resource and right-click the resource, then move down to access Map Network Drive.

Next, the Map Network Drive window will appear. Here, you can choose the drive letter you want to assign to the NetWare resource. If you want Windows NT to automatically map this drive every time you reboot or log on, make sure you check the Reconnect At Logon box at the bottom of this window.

The first time you map a drive or attach to a print queue located on the NetWare file server, Windows NT will ask you for a username and password. This represents the user account that exists on the NetWare file server. After you enter it, Windows NT will remember your username and password the next time you try to attach to the same resource, or when you reboot your machine for permanent connections.

by Kimberly Maxwell and Scott Jones