Novell BorderManager

Novell BorderManager

File:NetWare console screenshot.png The NetWare console screen
Developer(s)	Novell, Inc.
Initial release	August 25, 1997
Stable release	3.8 SP4 / 26 September, 2005
Platform	NetWare
Type	Network Access Control/Network security
License	Proprietary
Website	www.novell.com

BorderManager is a multi purpose network security application developed by Novell, Inc. BorderManager is designed as a proxy server, firewall, and VPN access point.

History

BorderManager was designed to run on top of the NetWare kernel and takes advantage of the fast file services that the NetWare kernel delivers. Aside from the more easily copied firewall and VPN access point services, Novell designed the proxy services to retrieve web data with a server to server connection rather than a client to server connection as all of the prior proxy servers on the market had done. This retrieval method along with NetWare's fast file IO and other proprietary code made BorderManager's proxy engine one of the fastest in existence. NetWare has a fast and robust file engine, which makes BorderManager a fast proxy service.

In 2003, Novell announced the successor product to NetWare: Open Enterprise Server (OES). First released in March 2005, OES completes the separation of the services traditionally associated with NetWare, i.e. file and print. This makes it possible for the customer to choose which NetWare or Linux kernel the services will run on.

At this time Novell all but announced the end of development for the NetWare kernel (numerous public and private statements that there is no 64-bit future for NetWare and that Linux is the path to 64-bit computing for OES). To follow through on this migration path, Novell began porting all applications to Linux. The company began looking at alternate ways to deliver these same services, as firewall and VPN access point services of equivalent functionality are readily available in the free/open-source community and there are also basic proxy services as well (i.e. Squid). The desire to deliver a functional equivalent could not be done by a full software code port as much of the cache engine was sold as part of the Volera Excelerator and Novell holds a great desire to use or create open-source software for basic services such as this. To solve the conundrum, Novell entered an agreement with Astaro to relabel Astaro Security Gateway and license it as Novell Security Manager. This relationship has apparently fallen on hard times, as Novell and Astaro have announced that effective with the next major release the product will not be rebranded.

Future

In the late summer of 2006 Novell announced, that — contrary to their BrainShare 2006 announcement, there will be a BorderManger 3.9 release. However, the long-term future for the product is uncertain. It is currently theorized by many that Novell is looking to extend the functionality of Novell Access Manager, the Linux-based replacement for iChain. At the same time many BorderManager customers choose to migrate to Astaro, which continues its technology partnership with Novell.

Third-Party Filtering Solutions

Third-party filtering solutions are available for Novell BorderManager, from the following companies:

• Connectotel - LinkWall Suite
• Secure Computing - N2H2/Bess
• SurfControl

Further reading

• Pan, Laura Y. (1999). Novell's BorderManager Administrator's Handbook. Novell Press. ISBN 978-0-7645-4565-8.
• Gaskin, James E. (1997). Intranetware BorderManager. Sybex Inc. ISBN 978-0-7821-2138-4.

External links

• Novell BorderManager home page
• BorderManager Cool Solutions - tips & tricks, guides, tools and other resources submitted by the BorderManager community
• Novell Connection article on BorderManager
• Craig Johnson Consulting - BorderManager and NetWare hints, tips, and files
• Novell Security Manager home page
• Novell Access Manager home page
• NovellBlog.com