NCP volumes are NCP shares on Linux POSIX file systems such as Ext3, XFS, and Reiser. Novell Storage Services (NSS) volumes are a special type of NCP volume.
The directory and file access is controlled with the NetWare trustee model for file system trustees and trustee rights. Users access data on NCP volumes by using the Novell Client software on their Windows, Vista, or Linux workstations. This document refers collectively to those workstations as Novell clients
.
To give eDirectory users access to the files via Samba, you can Linux-enable users with Linux User Management. NCP authenticates users and enforces the trustee settings. For information about Linux-enabling users with Linux User Management, see the OES 11 SP3: Novell Linux User Management Administration Guide.
You create NCP shares by specifying mount points on any Linux POSIX file system by using the NCP Server Console (NCPCON, ncpcon(8)) utility or Novell Remote Manager for Linux.
When NCP Server is installed, an NCP volume named SYS is automatically created and mounted. Its NCP share mount point is /usr/novell/sys. This NCP volume contains the same login and public directories that exist on NetWare. These directories let Novell clients run commands for logging in, mapping drives, and so on, as well as the means for client commands to be run from login scripts.
Creating an NCP volume for Linux POSIX file systems adds the NCP volume mount information to /etc/opt/novell/ncpserv.conf and creates a Volume object in NetIQ eDirectory. Volume names can be up to 14 alphanumeric characters. Underscores are allowed.
If the server is in a Novell Distributed File Services management context, you must run VLDB repair to create a DFS GUID (globally unique ID) to add as an attribute of the Volume object, and to add the volume information to the VLDB database. For information about using DFS junctions for NSS volumes, see the OES 11 SP3: Novell Distributed File Services Administration Guide for Linux.
By default, NSS volumes created with NSS management tools are NCP volumes. You create and manage NSS volumes by using the NSS Management Utility (NSSMU) or the Storage plug-in for Novell iManager, just as you do on NetWare.
In order to create an NSS volume on your OES 11 SP3 server, you must install the Novell Storage Services component of OES 11 SP3 Services.
IMPORTANT:For information about creating and managing NSS volumes on Linux, see Managing NSS Volumes
in the OES 11 SP3: NSS File System Administration Guide for Linux.
Novell clients can access NSS files on a Linux server if the following requirements are met:
NCP Server is installed and running on the server.
The administrator user has created NSS pools and volumes with NSSMU or the Storage plug-in to iManager.
The administrator, or a user with sufficient file system rights, has made the appropriate volume, directory, and file trustee assignments for users of the data (that is, for non-administrator users).
NOTE:The DOS namespace is not supported on the NCP volumes. If the namespace is changed to DOS, NCP volumes might not be mounted and might not be accessible from the clients.
If the server is in a Novell Distributed File Services management context, a DFS GUID is automatically created when you create an NSS volume with NSSMU or iManager. Its DFS GUID is added as an attribute of the volume’s Volume object in eDirectory, and an entry is added to the VLDB. For information about using DFS junctions for NSS volumes, see the OES 11 SP3: Novell Distributed File Services Administration Guide for Linux.
In NCPCON and in the Novell Remote Manager for Linux, you can make your selection based on three time stamps:
Last Time Modified: Time of the last data modification for the selected file.
Last Time Accessed: Time of the last access.
Last Time Changed: Time of the last file status change.
These time stamps are defined by POSIX and supported by Linux. Many operations change more than one time stamp. The change time is controlled automatically. NCP can modify the access time and the modify time, but cannot control whether the change time is reset. For example, if you copy a file from one location to another, NCP can preserve the access and modify times, but the change time is reset because the file’s path changed. That is, it had a status change but the file was not opened for access and its data was not modified.