Novell eDirectory 8.6 or greater NDS compatibility matrix

(Last modified: 15Jan2006)

This document (10066591) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

goal

fact

Novell eDirectory 8.6

Novell eDirectory 8.7

Novell NetWare 5.1

Novell NetWare 6.0

symptom

Unknown objects after introducing NetWare 6

Auxiliary classes

Unknown Object classes

Objects appear to unknown at times and valid at other times

fix

The following lists reasons and explanations for the acceptable and unacceptable configurations when introducing eDirectory 8.6 or greater into an existing environment.

The main reason for these recommendations is because of auxiliary classes and the way the different versions of NDS handle auxiliary classes. Auxiliary classes were first introduced with NDS 8 and of course are available with eDirectory versions. With the introduction of auxiliary classes, Novell increased functionality of eDirectory, however, some backwards compatibility issues existed. For this reason, Novell has highly recommended only using auxiliary classes in pure NDS 8/eDirectory replica rings. This recommendation was made to remove backwards compatibility issues with NDS 6.x and 7.x servers.

Auxiliary class schema extensions successfully install and replicate to NDS 6.x and 7.x servers, however, those servers will see the schema extensions as an unknown object. There has been some work done on the NDS 6.x and 7.x NLMs to allow for better auxiliary class compatibility, which will keep the objects from going unknown. However this will still be only a temporary solution until all servers in the replica ring are running NDS 8 or higher.

Novell Engineering is working on new versions of DS.NLM for both 6.x and 7.x, which will help correctly display the objects in NWAdmin or ConsoleOne. Although the objects are still unknown at the database level, they will now show up as known objects in our management utilities. For more information on these new versions, see NOVL89821 - How to enable/disable auxiliary support for DS 6.x and 7.x servers.

Before eDirectory 8.6, it was possible to have -628 synchronization errors when associating auxiliary classes with objects and synchronizing them to NDS 6.x and 7.x servers. This issue has been eliminated with a modified auxiliary class synchronization algorithm. It is important to note that if NDS 8 or eDirectory 8.5 is installed into the tree with eDirectory 8.6 or greater and NDS 6.x or 7.x servers, you could see a -628 synchronization error on the NDS 8 or eDirectory 8.5 servers when synchronizing object with auxiliary classes to the NDS 6.x or 7.x servers. Therefore, NDS 8 or eDirectory 8.5 servers will need to be updated to the last patch found at http://support.novell.com.

If using NDS 6.x or 7.x with eDirectory 8.6 or greater, auxiliary classes are associated to objects and objects may show as being unknown (typically showing up as a yellow question mark with a circle in ConsoleOne) unless running the new NLMs that help remedy this issue. These NLMs will be available shortly. The reason for this is the object class attribute on the eDirectory servers adds the value for the auxiliary class and the NDS 6.x or 7.x servers do not have this value, subsequently changing the received object into an unknown class.

The objects could potentially cause confusion and would show unknown classes depending on which server is being queried. The WRONG reaction would be to delete the objects in that case.

You may use DSBROWSE to verify that the objects showing up as Unknown are related to the Auxiliary Class compatibility issue. On the NDS 7.x server, LOAD DSBROWSE | Tree Browse | Browse to and highlight the unknown object | Press F3 | View Attributes | Look for the following Attribute Names: AuxClass Object Class Backup and auxClassCompatibility.

AuxClass Object Class Backup should show the correct Object Class for the object. (Ex: If the object was a Server, then AuxClass Object Class Backup would show NCP Server.) auxClassCompatibility will show as unknown.

Once all NDS 8.x servers are running version 8.78 or higher and all eDirectory 8.5 servers are running 85.23 or higher, eDirectory 8.6 or greater can co-exist without problems in any mixed environment as long as they meet the minimum version requirements for eDirectory 8.6 or greater as referenced in TID #10063534 - Novell eDirectory 8.6 Readme Addendum - NetWare 6 or NOVL81820 - Novell eDirectory 8.7 Readme Addendum - NetWare

For additional information on eDirectory 8.6.1, please see the following solution. TID #10066455 - eDirectory 8.6.1 Readme Addendum

For additional information on eDirectory 8.7, please see the following solution. NOVL81742 - eDirectory 8.7 Readme Addendum

document

Document Title:	Novell eDirectory 8.6 or greater NDS compatibility matrix
Document ID:	10066591
Solution ID:	NOVL65448
Creation Date:	06Dec2001
Modified Date:	15Jan2006
Novell Product Class:	Beta NetWare Novell BorderManager Services Novell eDirectory

disclaimer

The Origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. Novell makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information. However, the information provided in this document is for your information only. Novell makes no explicit or implied claims to the validity of this information.
Any trademarks referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners. Consult your product manuals for complete trademark information.