Re: Justifying the move from Novell to AD

[Hugh Burley <Hburley () TRU CA>]

Hi Christopher,
 
We have made the decision to introduce AD here concurrently with Novell, once we find a way to have E-directory update 
AD.  We will probably move away from Novell over the next couple/few years. The primary business driver is the 
inability to easily integrate many enterprise solutions with E-Directory.  A second issue has been the continued 
decline in Novell's customer base. This second issue is almost self fulfilling as we and other Universities rush to not 
be the last Institution to have Novell. A third driver for us is the move away from in-house email solutions at some 
future date.
 
Example of problems:
-When we rolled out Eduroam ( https://wiki.bc.net/atl-conf/display/CANEDUROAM/Home ) the Novell radius service was a 
pain to try and get working.  We did getting it working though.
-Our Anti-virus solution integrates with AD by default but required effort to sort of integrate with E-Directory.  
Reports remain less than what I was hoping for.
-When reviewing other enterprise solutions vendors almost always integrate with AD and we always have to ask if they 
could integrate with Novell.  The answer almost always is "we can use LDAP with some reduced functionality".
- VMWare View which we are evaluating for thin client access integrate with AD.
-Our Windows desktop profiles are not integrated with Novell.
-Novell Certified Professionals are increasingly hard to find.
 
Some positive things to say about Novell:  
- Novell servers are very secure. 
- Our network shares and printing currently work very well.
- Novell has an excellent Identity Management suite.
- Novell has collaboration technologies that are stable and can be effective.
 
Regards,
 

> > > Christopher Jones <Christopher.Jones () UFV CA> 03/11/2009 10:03 am >>>
We're in the process of planning a migration from Novell to AD.  We currently are building a business case for 
implementing AD.  For those of you who have recently completed a Novell to AD migration, I would appreciate any 
information/documentation you may have used to support the decision, particularly from a security and TCO standpoint.  
Thanks.
 
Christopher Jones
IT Security Administrator
University of the Fraser Valley