Re: Justifying the move from Novell to AD

[Timothy Payne <tpayne1 () MACALESTER EDU>]

Hugh, et al...

We use Novell IDM to one-way sync our eDirectory to our AD.  It works
like a champ!  Very little config, and no issues to speak of.

We are using AD as the authentication source for a few systems,
including Citrix.

I agree that the future is AD as our Directory, it is just a matter of
when we leave eDirectory all-together.

Tim Payne, CISSP, CISM, CCNA
Network Administrator
Macalester College



On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 3:47 PM, Hugh Burley <Hburley () tru ca> wrote:
> 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