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I am a rookie network engineer and I've been asked to create a secure wireless system intergrated with an existing network. So far I'd decided to use 802.1x secuity with a Radius enabled server over a Novell backbone.

My question is: does Novell still support this type of server setup? I heard rumours it is at the end of its supported life and I'd like some confirmation.

Also can I get some recommendations on better backbone / server providers.

Cheers

Massimo
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YsoL8
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1 Answers1

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If by "Novell" you actually mean "NetWare" then yes, it is at the end of its supported life. That's not the end of the world though, as the products you need exist on other, supported, platforms..

The bit on NetWare you'd be using for 802.1x auth support is LDAP, and that's provied by eDirectory. EDirectory is very well supported on Linux (or Windows, if you'd rather), so you at least have a migration path. It's even not that hard to migrate! Our own RADIUS deployment used Cisco-standard kit for the RADIUS server and used eDirectory for auth, worked just fine.

If you're actually running the RADIUS server on NetWare you also have a migration-path. Open Enterprise Server (Novell's designated replacement for NetWare, and running as an add-on to SLES10) runs FreeRadius, though you may want to run a newer version and just use eDir for LDAP.

sysadmin1138
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