I am doing what you describe here at CVU. I have two Novell 4.1 (they
were 3.12 last year and it worked then too) servers. I have bound IPX to
the Novell server's Ethernet cards AND I have bound AppleTalk to these
same cards. This is done with the Novell install software, editing the
autoexec.ncf file or using the Novell network configuration NLM on the
server. Because the Novell server is actually routing between AppleTalk
and IPX you need to have all of your ducks in a row as far as network
numbers (are there any other routers on this network?). The AppleTalk
network and the IPX network do not have to have the same network
number, as they are completely different languages. I am using an
AppleTalk II network number range on my Ethernet to allow for a larger
number of Macs being connected. This is assuming that your Macs are on
an Ethernet. We have some old Plus's that I have not upgraded to
Ethernet, these are still using the old Faralon Phone Net LocalTalk
network, which is routed to the Ethernet network with a Cayman Gator box
Router. On the Novell servers you have to add the Mac Name Space to
any volumes that you wish to have accessable to your Macs. I am
assuming that you have installed the Macintosh networking on the Novell
servers... I have had good luck with the new Mac client by Novell (4.1
only) that uses IPX on the Macs. It works best on Power Macs and Mac
II's (lots of horsepower) and seems to give better transfer rates over the
network.
As far as TCP/IP, the Ethernet Macs just have MacTCP installed, and are
fully qualified hosts on the Internet. My Novell servers do not have TCP/IP
because I do not want to have to worry about hackers getting at them
through our Internet router (which only passes TCP/IP). As for the tired old
Mac +'s they can be forced to use TCP/IP by enabling KIP forwarding on
the Cayman Gator box, this allows the MacTCP on the Plus to stuff TCP/IP
packets into LocalTalk packets, which the Gator box then unpacks into
REAL TCP/IP on the Ethernet. Considering how slow the +'s are, I just tell
people that the Internet is not an option for the older Macs, so they should
just consider them for word processing, etc. All of my newer Macs, with
expansion slots, I am trying to upgrade to Ethernet (Sonic cards for LC's
$79.00 from Mac Warehouse).
I hope this helps some, please write back if you have further questions.
Craig Lyndes
Champlain Valley Union High School
Hinesburg Vermont
CRAIG@cvumail.cvu.cssd.k12.vt.us