Comparison of Novell's Fault Tolerant Options


This page shows the comparison of Novell's System Fault Tolerant solution vIII (SFT III), the Standby Server and Novell's Many-To-One (MTO) solution. The benefits of Novell High Availability Server (NHAS) is presented in the second table, giving an overview of the past-present-future features comparing Novell's and Microsoft's solutions for high availability/clustering. The features of Clustering Services for Novell are presented in the comparison table for Cluster Solutions offered by Microsoft, Novell, Unix and Linux.


Supported software - Hardware features - System requirements


Feature: Software
Novell SFT III
StandbyServer
MTO
  • NetWare 3.12 support
    		•
    No
    Yes
    Yes
  • NetWare 4.1 support
    		•
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
  • NetWare 4.11 support
    		•
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
  • IntranetWare support
    		•
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
  • Support for third party applications
    		•
    Yes
    (third-party applications must be certified as SFT III-aware)
    Yes
    (supports all certified NLMs)
    Yes
  • SnapshotServer
    		•
    No
    No
    Yes
    Feature: Hardware
    Novell SFT III
    StandbyServer
    MTO
  • Hardware support
    		•
    Supports only machines that can run EISA or PCI cards as Mirrored Server Link cards
    Supports any machine that has IPX capability
    Any machine, only the actual disk partitions need to be sized similarly
  • Failover capabilities: Automatic
    • Yes
    Yes
    Yes
  • Failover capabilities: Immediate
    		•
    Yes
    (transparent to users)
    No
    (after SYS volume mounts, reconnection is automatic for users of a 32-bit client. Other users must reconnect manually)
    No
    (need to reboot the standby, and NETX and VLM need to reconnect)
  • Native disk mirroring
    		•
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
  • Disk mirroring, protects from hardware failures
    		•
    Yes
    Yes
    Yes
  • Disk mirroring, protects from software errors
    		•
    Yes
    (in I/O engine only)
    Yes
    Yes
  • Environment for implementation
    		•
    Must be dedicated to mirroring process
    Servers running third-party NLMs, databases, tape backup engines and other applications
    NetWare version doesn't have to be identical
  • Secondary server operation
    		•
    Must be dedicated to mirroring process
    Can act as print, fax or tape backup server while mirroring primary server. Can also be configured to allow local (non-mirrored) volumes to perform any general or specific purpose
    Utility Server (e.g. backup-, print-, CDROM-server. or a data vault)
  • SMP compliance
    		•
    No
    (works in dual-processor asymmetric configuration only)
    Yes
    Yes
  • Long distance capability
    		•
    No
    (limited to distance specifications for Mirrored Server Link cards)
    Yes
    Yes
  • Many-to-one capability
    		•
    No
    (each secondary server must be dedicated to a single primary server)
    Option
    (one secondary server can be linked to multiple primary servers but can replace only one failed server at a time)
    Yes
    (up to 32 servers)
  • One-to-many capability
    		•
    No
    Yes
    (the second acts as a vault server)
    Yes
    (the second acts as a vault server)
  • Remote Disk Read Blocker
    		•
    No
    No
    Yes
  • Throttling Mechanism
    		•
    No
    No
    Yes
  • Automatic Disk Integrity Check
    		•
    No
    No
    Yes
    System requirements
    Novell SFT III
    StandbyServer
    MTO
  • Servers
    		•
    Two servers. Must be identically configured
    Two servers. Need not be identical, except partition sizes must match
    More than 2 servers. Need not be identical, except partition sizes must match
  • Dedicated Link
    		•
    Required
    Optional (recommended)
    Optional, a LAN or WAN (recommended)
  • Dedicated link card types
    		•
    Two Mirrored Server Link cards
    Two standard IPX protocol communication cards
    NetWare approved card + IPX
  • Dedicated link drivers
    		•
    Requires unique drivers which are available for limited hardware only
    Can use any IPX-compatible interface
    Can use any IPX-compatible interface


    More info can be found on the following pages:
    Novell SFT III
    VINCA StandbyServer
    MTO White Paper

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    Timeframes: Novell High Availability/Clustering vs. Microsoft Windows NT/Wolfpack
    The features of NHAS are devided in three stages, heading towards clustering: Moab, Park City and Escalante. The components are devided into four types of features or solution capabilities: functionality provided by the OS, service provided for the OS, new standard hardware support and applications that enhance networking.

    Feature: OS
    Novell
    Microsoft
    Solution
    Time Frame
    Solution
    Time Frame
    OS
    Kernel Fault Recovery
    intraNetWare (today)
    No solution
    N/A
    OS
    SFT III
    intraNetWare
    (since '92)
    No solution1
    N/A
    OS
    Dual Path Volume
    Park City
    ('98-'99)
    No solution
    N/A
    OS
    Flexible Mirroring I
    Moab ('97-'98)
    No solution
    N/A
    OS
    Flexible Mirroring II
    Park City
    ('98-'99)
    No solution
    N/A
    OS
    Hot Swap Driver
    intraNetWare (today)
    No solution
    N/A
    OS
    Memory Protection
    Moab ('97-'98)
    Windows NT 4.0
    (Today)
    OS
    Cluster Volume I
    Moab ('97-'98)
    Wolfpack Phase I
    ('97-'98)
    OS
    Cluster Volume II
    Park City
    ('98-'99)
    Wolfpack Phase II
    ('98-'99)
    OS
    Vinca 2.0
    Shipping for intraNetWare (today)
    Wolfpack Phase I
    ('97)
    OS
    Virtual Memory
    Moab ('97-'98)
    Windows NT 4.0
    (Today)
    Feature: Application Support
    Novell
    Microsoft
    Solution
    Time Frame
    Solution
    Time Frame
    Application Support
    Novell Mobile Services
    Today
    No solution
    N/A
    Application Support
    Smart Client
    Park City
    ('98-'99)
    No solution
    N/A
    Feature: Service
    Novell
    Microsoft
    Solution
    Time Frame
    Solution
    Time Frame
    Service
    NSS2
    Moab ('97-'98)
    No solution
    N/A
    Service
    Border manager
    Summer '97
    No solution
    N/A
    Service
    Wide Area Clustering
    Escalante
    ('99-'00)
    No solution
    N/A
    Service
    Application Load Balancing
    Escalante
    ('99-'00)
    Wolfpack Phase II
    Burden placed on Developer3 ('99-'00)
    Service
    Clustering Protocol
    Park City
    ('98-'99)
    Wolfpack Phase II
    ('98-'99)4
    Service
    NAL
    intraNetWare (today)
    ZAW
    ('97-'98)
    Service
    NDS
    intraNetWare (since '92)
    Active Directory
    ('99)
    Service
    NRS
    (today)
    future generation CRS5
    ('99)
    Service
    User Load Balancing
    Park City
    ('98-'99)
    Wolfpack Phase II
    ('98-'99)
    Feature: Hardware Support
    Novell
    Microsoft
    Solution
    Time Frame
    Solution
    Time Frame
    Hardware Support
    Hot Plug PCI
    ('97)
    Windows2000
    ('99)
    Hardware Support
    I2O
    Moab ('97-'98)
    Windows2000
    ('99)
    Hardware Support
    Support for 64-bit Hardware
    Park City
    ('98-'99)
    Windows2000
    ('99)
    Hardware Support
    SMP
    intraNetWare
    (today)
    Windows NT 4.0
    (today)
    1 IntraNetWare SFT III preserves the servers state (memory, cache, process transactions, etc.) at failover and runs on standard off-the-shelf hardware, Wolfpack will not (see LAN Times, Wolfpack gets a rough start, April 28 1997).
    2 NSS adds support for very large file sizes and a large number of files. It also provides volume journaling.
    3 The burden for Application Load Balancing will be placed upon hte Microsoft Application Developer.
    4 Microsoft hasn't articulated any information about a clustering protocol at the moment of writing.
    5 CRS doesn't perform file system replication and doesn't perform bi-directional replication like NRS.