This section compares features and capabilities of Novell® Storage Services™ on the NetWare® and Linux platforms for Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 servers.
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Feature Description |
NSS for OES 2 SP1 NetWare and NetWare 6.5 SP8 |
NSS for OES 2 SP1 Linux |
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Management interfaces |
Novell iManager |
Novell iManager |
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EVMS (evmsgui) |
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Utilities in the terminal console (NSSMU, RIGHTS, NSSCON, ATTRIB, RAVSUi, RAVVIEW, nbackup(1)) |
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NSS commands in the server console |
NSS commands in the NSS Console (NSSCON) |
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Novell Remote Manager for Linux (for Dynamic Storage Technology shadow volumes and for managing NCP Server connections to NSS volumes) |
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File system trustees, trustee rights, and inherited rights filter to control access to directories and files |
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Novell NetStorage for NetWare (via Web browser only, not WebDAV) |
OES 2 SP2: NetStorage for Linux Administration Guide (via Web browser only, not WebDAV) |
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Novell Client™ |
Novell Client |
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RIGHTS utility for NetWare |
RIGHTS utility for Linux |
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File system directory and file attributes to control functions available for directories and files |
Files and Folders plug-in to iManager Novell Client |
Files and Folders plug-in to iManager OES 2 SP2: NetStorage for Linux Administration Guide Novell Client |
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Directory quotas management (requires the Directory Quotas attribute for the volume) |
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User space quota management (requires the User Space Quotas attribute for the volume) |
Storage plug-in to Novell iManager (OES SP1 and later) |
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Default mount location for NSS pools |
Not applicable |
/opt/novell/nss/mnt/.pools/poolname |
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Default mount location for NSS volumes |
Server root |
/media/nss/volumename |
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Default mount location for devices managed by EVMS |
Not applicable |
/dev/evms/ |
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File system type (as recognized and reported by the operating system) |
nss |
nssvol |
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File access protocols |
NCP Native File Access Protocols (AFP, CIFS, and NFS) |
NCP Novell AFP for Linux (beginning in OES 2 SP1) Novell CIFS for Linux (beginning in OES 2 SP1) CIFS/Samba using Novell Samba Linux NFS (version 3) Linux NFS and Samba requires users to be Linux-enabled with Linux User Management. The service must also be enabled. |
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Interface |
64-bit |
64-bit |
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Character format |
Unicode |
Unicode |
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Maximum device size recognized (physical or logical) |
2 TB |
2 TB |
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Maximum software RAID device size (combined total for all member segments) |
2 TB |
2 TB |
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Minimum software RAID segment size |
12 MB per segment |
12 MB per segment |
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Maximum partition size |
2 TB Valid Range: 10 MB to 2 TB |
2 TB Valid Range: 10 MB to 2 TB |
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Maximum number of partitions per pool |
No practical limit |
No practical limit |
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Maximum pool size (created by using at least 4 partitions of up to 2 TB each) |
8 TB |
8 TB |
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Minimum pool size |
10 MB |
10 MB |
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Maximum size of a volume |
Up to 8 TB, depending on the pool size and available space in the pool. |
Up to 8 TB, depending on the pool size and available space in the pool. |
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Maximum file size |
Up to 8 TB, depending on the volume size and available space in the volume. |
Up to 8 TB, depending on the volume size and available space in the volume. |
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Maximum number of files per volume |
Up to 8 trillion, regardless of how many name spaces are loaded. NOTE:NSS can support this. You are limited by the browser and application ability, of course. |
Up to 8 trillion, regardless of how many name spaces are loaded. NOTE:NSS can support this. You are limited by the browser and application ability, of course. |
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Maximum number of files open concurrently |
1 million |
1 million |
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Maximum number of volumes per server |
255 plus the sys: volume. You can mount NSS volumes beyond 256, but they are not visible or accessible through the normal Netware APIs. |
No practical limit on the number of NSS data volumes. |
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Time to mount a volume |
Requires only a few seconds, thanks to journaling. |
Requires only a few seconds, thanks to journaling. |
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Volume name space |
Accommodates all name spaces (DOS, Macintosh, Long, and UNIX). Long is the default name space. In OES SP1 and later, the Lookup Name Space attribute allows you to set the default name space used when mounting volumes. Directory names and filenames are case insensitive. |
Accommodates all name spaces (DOS, Macintosh, Long, and UNIX). Long is the default name space. The Lookup Name Space attribute allows you to set the default name space used when mounting volumes. Directory names and filenames are case insensitive with the Long name space. |
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Minimum server memory required to activate a volume |
Requires only 4 MB available RAM to activate a single volume of any size and any number of files. Loads a file’s metadata into memory only as you access the file. |
Requires only 4 MB available RAM to activate a single volume of any size and any number of files. Loads a file’s metadata into memory only as you access the file. |
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File access time |
Same for each file, regardless of its location on the volume. |
Same for each file, regardless of its location on the volume. |
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Error correction and data recovery time on system failure |
Journaling file system logs changes. On system failure, replays the most recent transactions to confirm validity, then repairs errors or rolls back to the original condition, typically in 15 to 60 seconds, unless the volume is corrupted. |
Journaling file system logs changes. On system failure, replays the most recent transactions to confirm validity, then repairs errors or rolls back to the original condition, typically in 15 to 60 seconds, unless the volume is corrupted. |
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Repair of corrupted pools and volume |
Ongoing journaling of the file system; if the pool metadata structure is corrupted, use the NSS verify and rebuild functions. |
Ongoing journaling of the file system; if the pool metadata structure is corrupted, use the RAVSUI utility to verify and rebuild the volume. |
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Time to repair corrupted volume |
From a few seconds to several hours, depending on the volume size. |
From a few seconds to several hours, depending on the volume size. |
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Multiple connection paths to storage media |
Yes, Media Manager multipath I/O |
Use a native Linux multiple path I/O solution. |
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Software RAID support |
RAID 0 (striping) RAID 1 (mirroring) RAID 5 (striping with parity) RAID 10 (mirroring RAID 0 devices) RAID 15 (mirroring RAID 5 devices) |
RAID 0 (striping) RAID 1 (mirroring) RAID 5 (striping with parity) |
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Volume encryption |
Yes |
Yes, for OES SP1 and later You must mount encrypted volumes only from NSSMU on the first mount after a system reboot so that you can enter the password. The NSSCON utility does not support entering a password from the command line. |
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Data shredding |
Yes, up to 7 times |
Yes, up to 7 times |
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File compression |
Yes |
Yes |
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Data migration |
Yes |
Yes |
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Directory quotas |
Yes |
Yes |
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User space quotas (user space restrictions) |
Yes |
Yes, for OES SP1 and later |
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Salvage or purge deleted files, directories, or volumes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Transaction Tracking System™ (TTS™) |
Yes |
Not supported. If you need content tracking and trustee support, use NCP volumes on Linux reiser or ext3 file systems, then set the file system’s journaling mode to the Journaling option. |
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Read ahead blocks |
Yes |
Yes |
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File save time |
Provides the Flush Files Immediately attribute for NSS volumes to write files to disk on save instead of waiting for the next disk write cycle. This helps prevent possible data loss between disk write cycles. |
Provides the group write options and timers. For information, see Section 31.3, Configuring or Tuning Group I/O. |
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File-level snapshot (make a temporary snapshot copy of an open file for backup) |
Yes |
Yes |
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Modified File List |
Yes |
Yes |
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Pool snapshot (retain point-in-time version of a pool using block-level copy on write) |
Yes; allows backup of block-level changes only, without deactivating the volume. Uses a brief freeze-release process to capture information for last remaining open files. |
Yes, for OES 2 Linux and later. The stored-on pool must be on a separate partition. Pool snapshots are not supported for clustered NSS pools on Linux. |
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Backup systems support |
NW 6.5 SP8: Storage Management Services Administration Guide |
NW 6.5 SP8: Storage Management Services Administration Guide For an overview of backup resources on Linux, see Section 29.0, Managing Backup and Restore for Data and Trustee Information. |
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Distributed File Services for moving and splitting NSS volumes |
Yes |
Yes, for OES 2 Linux and later |
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Novell Archive and Version Services |
Yes |
Yes, for OES 2 Linux and later |
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Device maintenance support |
Activate and deactivate devices by pool. |
Activate and deactivate devices by pool. |
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CD and DVD device recognition |
Automatic process with full support for UDF, ISO 9660, and Macintosh HFS formats. Use CDs and DVDs as read-only NSS volumes. |
No; use Linux POSIX file system options instead. |
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CD and DVD image files |
Activate as read-only NSS volumes. |
No; use Linux POSIX file system options instead. |
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Ability to access DOS partitions on the NetWare server |
Load dosfat.nss to treat the partition as a standard NSS volume |
No; use Native Linux file system options instead. |
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Operating system version detection |
Default process |
Default process |
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Cache balancing for NSS cache buffers |
Yes; for information, see Tuning NSS Performance on NetWare. |
Yes; for information, see Tuning NSS Performance on Linux. |
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Tuning I/O write behavior |
Set I/O tuning parameters for NSS on NetWare. For information, see Setting the File and Buffer Flush Timers. |
Set group I/O write parameters for NSS on Linux. For information, see Configuring or Tuning Group I/O. |
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Dynamic Storage Technology (DST) For information about NSS volume attributes and features that are supported in DST shadow volumes, see |
DST supports using NetWare iSCSI target devices to store NSS volumes in the shadow volume pair. The target devices are attached to the OES 2 Linux server by using the Linux iSCSI initiator software. For information, see |
DST supports NSS volumes on OES 2 Linux servers as the primary or secondary volume in the shadow volume. For information, see the OES 2 SP2: Dynamic Storage Technology Administration Guide. |