Choosing a network operating system

Which nose is right for your network? Usually, this is not an easy question. The answer depends on the needs of your users and on how much money you are willing to spend. You may also need to consider other factors, such as familiarity with a particular system, connectivity with mainframes or other systems, and the software that users will be running. We will now examine several of the alternatives, starting with the subject of this site.

Cost Considerations

For new Netware installations, the cost per user of Netware is similar to that of Netware 3 xs, so Netware is the obvious choice. When you are upgrading existing networks, however, the cost can be higher because the user license for your earlier version of Netware does not carry over to Netware.

In Netware 3x license were issued for set amounts of users. Netware allows only that many users to accuse the network at any time. For example, if your company purchased a 25 users version of Netware 3 xs initially and later needed to add two or three more users, you would have no choice but to jump to the next level- in this case 50 users. It's hard to justify the cost of 25 additional users when you only need a few.

The additive licensing feature of Netware provides a solution to this problem. This system lets you upgrade your network in increments of as few as free users. The license is provided on a license diskette, which is included with your copy of Netware. If you have more than one copy of Netware, you can add the license to the same server. For example, if you have a 5 user license and a 25 user license, you can install both license and make room for 30 users. This is where Netware can really save your money.

If you have several servers on your network, you can even remove a license from one server and install it on another. This makes it easy to modify your network for changing user loads without a great deal of expense. In a large corporate network, it may be useful to have few extra 5 user license handy. Then you can add license to whichever servers need them as the company expands.

Warning

You can’t install the same license on more than one server. This would be illegal, and not very nice. In addition, Netware includes copyright protection features that make it impossible to use the same license on multiple servers in a network. Also, needless to say, you can’t add the same license diskette to a server twice.

Choosing a network operating system

Choosing a network operating system