Merge NDS and eDirectory for Groupwise

OK, some general advice. First, preen both eDirectory Trees and GroupWise Systems. For the former, use the eDirectory repair tools to insure all replica rings are synched and healthy. For the latter, perform a Top-Down Rebuild on both GroupWise Systems. Have everybody happy and singing from the same sheet of music before you start. Also make sure both eDirectory Trees use the same TimeSync source.

I'd probably Merge the Trees first, then move the Site 2 GroupWise System into the Site 1 GroupWise System as a Secondary Domain. This TID is a bit dated, but will give you a starting point --> http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?10008198.htm

Here's another TID that has some good background info --> http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?10009631.htm

I'm trying to find one more-specific to GroupWise v6.5.

Here goes a TID for marging the eDirectory Trees --> http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?10011011.htm

I note in passing that if the NetWare v5.1 server was installed with NDS instead of eDirectory, you may need to upgrade Directory Services on the NetWare server before starting this. You haven't specified the version/level of DS on the NetWare server, nor the Support Pack level of NetWare, nor the Support Pack level of the GroupWise Systems. So getting into a very specific level of detail is impossible.

I'm curious as to the switch in platform - why not simply move to OES-Linux and avoid all the per-server and per-CPU charges associated with W2K3?

Well the "main" Groupwise system and eDirectory tree have always been on Windows 2000/2003.  The NDS tree on the Netware server is dated and was thrown together by an administrator that serviced that site before we bought them.

All of our clients log into Active Directory so the 2003 CALs already exist for other systems.  The only difference is the 2 licenses for 2003 server (1 for eDirecotry server, and 1 for Groupwise server).

Groupwise 6 SP6 (both sites)
Netware 5.1 SP ? with NDS
eDirectory 8.7.3

Thank you for your quick comments.  Give me a day to review the TIDs and I will award points.

If I want to move the main eDirectory tree from one server to another are there any special roles that have to be moved like Active Directory's FSMO roles?

I'm not familiar with AD FSMO. However, you're free to add/remove/promote/demote eDirectory Replicas on servers in the eDirectory Tree. You don't have to re-install the OS (like you had to when making a member server into a DC, or a DC server into a member server). You can change a Master Replica into a Read/Write with a few mouse clicks in the appropriate tool - it's really not much of a change, because eDirectory is a true multi-Master environment, where AD is a Master-Slave environment claiming to be multi-Master.

Thanks again for all your assistance!

Side note: re "2 licenses for 2003 server (1 for edirectory server and 1 for groupwise server) - that's not entirely accurate.  

You do need a Win2K3 server license for the server GW is on now - and unless it has everything else on it too (file/print/web/db/etc.) it is actually costing you a W2K3 server license for your email system.  If you house it on Linux, it doesn't cost you a W2K3 server license.  If you have it on W2K3 and you're not using that server for anything other than GW, you don't need W2K3 CALs unless you have other W2K3 servers that need to be accessed (unlike Exchange/Outlook, which requires server CALs in addition to Exchange CALs.)

Also, GroupWise is licensed per user mailbox, not per server instance, so you can have as many GroupWise servers as you need for your system.  eDirectory comes with GroupWise, since it's needed to interface it with AD and act as a metadirectory, so unless you use it for other purposes, you don't need to buy an additional eDirectory license.

Also, if you buy GroupWise 7, it ships with a copy of SuSE Linux Enterprise Server, so you don't have to buy any additional licensing at all - server or "cal" - to set up a GroupWise system.  You can have a SLES server for your main domain/POA/MTA and another SLES server in your DMZ with a secondary domain/GWIA/GWWA, or you can split it any way you want - an MTA server, a POA server, a GWIA(smtp) server, a GWWA (web access) server, or any combination you need... all for just the price of the mailbox licensing (and the hardware...)

Like I said, it's costing me 1 server license for the Groupwise server and 1 for eDirectory.  I know that Linux would save me about $1400 in server licenses, however, since I am the only Administrator here that knows Linux/Unix it would end up costing me around $4000 per person to get others trained.  Our main direcotry is AD and all servers are either W2k or W2k3 so every client already has a per-device CAL for 2003.  It just makes more sense on all fronts for us to run our Groupwise system on W2k3.

You mean you have a w2k3 box just for GW plus a w2k3 box just for eDirectory, so you were counting W2K3 server licenses in that statement and not GW and eDir licenses?  My mistake, apologies.

And here I thought all those two-page ads in the trade rags were saying how W2K3 server can save you money and resources through consolidation.  Silly me, for assuming that they were telling the truth.  I should know better than to take anything Redmond says at face value. ;)

Question - way off-topic, but since you're in the thick - why device CALs and not user CALs or a mix?  Does that just work better for your environment, or was it to simplify what Microsoft chose to complicate?

Yes, I was counting W2k3 licenses, not GW and eDir.  I used to run GW and eDir on the same box but eDir kept dying and with no other replicas GW would stop processing mail, so I'd have to restart the server.  I moved eDir to it's own server (it's actually a VMWare Virtual Server) and put Novell Messenger on that server as well.  Groupwise has been running like a champ ever since.

We have 23 W2k and W2k3 servers here (at my site) and another 15 across 3 other sites that users connect to for everything from SQL, Printing, Files, AD, Terminal Services for our ERP system, and many other things.  Since almost all of the computers connect to at least 5 servers it was much cheaper to to per-seat licensing than to do per-server licensing.  We have more users than computers so I opted for device CALs over user CALs.

And yes, Microsoft has made it's licensing model so complicated recently it is much easier to spend 20 bucks to order a CAL with every new computer than to risk a user not being alowed to connect to a server because it's concurrent connections are maxed out.

If Novell would do something with that gawd awful Client 32 of theirs I might consider moving away from AD and using eDir for user management.  Since it doesn't seem like they are going to do that anytime soon I guess MS is what I'm stuck with.  Sr. Management wants me to move to Exchange and I told them they better find a new Network Administrator if they want that, because I refuse to move away from something that works for something that breaks :)

Good for you, I hope they REALLY like you and stick with your recommendations regarding GW vx EX.

Believe it or not, Novell HAS improved client32.  When was the last time you looked at it?  
Other than in a NetWare or OES environment, I don't know what it would be required for any more, except for the PC that's running ConsoleOne, unless you want to use multi-tiered NMAS authentication.

At any rate, it's not really necessary in a predominately Windows environment.  Even if you decide to bring in ZENworks 7, you can run that on a couple more Windows servers :) and only have the small workstation manager agent loaded on the client PC.