Question:
With multiple Novell 4.x servers on a common backbone, once a user has logged into his/her home server and needs to map a drive to another accessible server on the same backbone, does this mapping require an attachment? Does this mapping use a licensed connection on the mapped server and therefore reduce the number of available connections on the mapped server?

Sample: Servers “A” “B” and “C” each have 10-user licenses. Servers A and B each currently have 10 users logged on, all of whom need to access data located on server C. Therefore 20 users external to server C need access to it, in addition to any users already logged on to server C. Does server C need to be licensed for more than its 10 local user limit?

Answer:
On a multi-server Novell NetWare 4.X environment with a Novell Directory Services Tree context, users can access resources on any server that is part of the tree. Authentication and security are provides by NDS replicas that can be stored on multiple servers, so the user needs to log in to his or her home server only once. Then, each user can map a drive to the desired volume on the desired server. This will, however, take up a connection license on the target server, because effectively the user is attached to that server as well. This can be verified with the “Whoami” command, which will show that the user is attached to multiple server. You can also use the “Rconsole” utility to remotely attach to the target server’s console (for administrative users) and verify the number of licensed connections.