NCPFS-2.2.3

Introduction to NCPFS

The NCPFS package contains client and administration tools for use with Novell networks.

Package information

Installation of NCPFS

Install NCPFS by running the following commands:

./configure --prefix=/usr --includedir=/usr/include \
    --mandir=/usr/share/man --datadir=/usr/share &&
make &&
make install &&
make install-dev

Command explanations

--prefix="": installs binaries on the root partition so that they are available at boot time. This may not be ideal for all systems. If /usr is mounted locally, --prefix=/usr may be a better option.

--includedir=/usr/include: Tells configure to look in /usr/include for header files. It also tells make to install NCPFS's headers here.

--mandir=/usr/share/man: installs the man pages in the correct location.

--datadir=/usr/share: correctly installs the locale files to /usr/share/.

Note: If you do not need to use the IPX protocol, or you use a different IPX package, you can optionally pass --disable-ipx and/or --disable-ipx-tools to the configure script to disable these options.

Configuring NCPFS

Config files

~/.nwclient

Configuration Information

A config file ~/.nwclient should be placed in the home directory of each user that intends to use ncpfs . The permissions on this file should be set to 600, for obvious security reasons. The configuration file should contain a single line per server that the user will use. Each line should contain the server name, the user name, and optionally the password. Below is a sample .nwclient file.

# Begin example ~/.nwclient config file

Server1/User1 Password
Server2/User1 
Server2/Guest1 -

# End example .nwclient config file

The syntax for the .nwclient file is simple, server_name/user_name password. Be extremely careful when creating or editing this file as the client utilities are very picky about syntax. There should always be a space immediately after the username. If this space is substituted by a tab or multiple spaces, you will not get the expected results when attempting to use the NCPFS tools. If no password is supplied, the client utilities will ask for a password when it is needed. If no password is needed, for instance when using a guest account, a single '-' should be put in place of a password.

It should be noted that the ncpmount is not intended to mount individual volumes because each mount point creates a separate client connection to the Novell server. Mounting each individual volume separately would be unwise, as mounting all volumes on a server under one mount point uses only one client connection.

If you need to set up the IPX protocol at boot, you can create the following scripts. These scripts assume IPX will be set up on eth0 and the network frame type is 802.2. You should confirm that these are the correct settings and adjust as necessary.

cat > /etc/sysconfig/network-devices/ifup-ipx0 << "EOF"
#!/bin/sh
# Begin /etc/sysconfig/network-devices/ifup-ipx0

source /etc/sysconfig/rc || exit
source $rc_functions || exit

echo "Setting up the IPX protocol on eth0..."
/bin/ipx_interface add eth0 802.2 &&
/bin/ipx_configure --auto_interface=on --auto_primary=on
evaluate_retval

# End /etc/sysconfig/network-devices/ifup-ipx0
EOF
cat > /etc/sysconfig/network-devices/ifdown-ipx0 << "EOF"
#!/bin/sh
# Begin /etc/sysconfig/network-devices/ifdown-ipx0

source /etc/sysconfig/rc || exit
source $rc_functions || exit

echo "Stopping IPX on the eth0 interface..."
/bin/ipx_configure --auto_interface=off --auto_primary=off &&
/bin/ipx_interface del eth0 802.2
evaluate_retval

# End /etc/sysconfig/network-devices/ifdown-ipx0
EOF
echo "ONBOOT=yes" > /etc/sysconfig/network-devices/ifconfig.ipx0
chmod 755 /etc/sysconfig/network-devices/ifup-ipx0
chmod 755 /etc/sysconfig/network-devices/ifdown-ipx0

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