InformationWeek

November 17, 1997

Beyond Clustering

Novell adding more to Wolf Mountain

olf Mountain, Novell's technology for making servers more scalable, will extend beyond clustering to include location-independent file storage and a more powerful network directory, says Glenn Ricart, Novell's chief technology officer.

The first phase of Wolf Mountain, which Novell plans to start testing in late 1998 and to ship by the end of that year, is clustering technology that will run on the next release of IntranetWare. This technology, code-named Orion, will allow two to 16 servers with multiple processors to work together as a single system. "In theory, the technology can support up to 32 processors per server, but we've been testing with four processors," Ricart says.

By 2000 or 2001, Ricart says, Novell plans location-independent storage, so that users can seamlessly access files stored anywhere on the LAN or WAN. Novell also is developing a dynamic directory that lets users find network services, manage objects, and get personalized views of the network.

Currently, Novell Directory Services provides a way to map system resources and create hierarchies of users or groups with access rights and privileges. The goal for the future product is to provide more sophisticated functions aimed at using resources on the Internet and intranets.

NetWare hasn't been a strong applications platform. Novell hopes to change that with a series of incremental initiatives, including changes to the IntranetWare kernel, support for virtual memory and native IP, and a commitment to Java and other distributed technologies.

"People will be dealing with NetWare servers for a long time," says Peter Burris, an analyst with the Meta Group. "Where [Wolf Mountain] works well is in the traditional Novell environment-it lets you consolidate management, subject to constraints like network latency."

Back to News in Review