Getting started, general navigation

Working with groups

Working with print queues

Working with directories and files

Getting Started, Basic Navigation

NetWare Administrator is a utility that allows you to see and (given appropriate rights) manipulate all of the objects in the NetWare NDS [Novell Directory Service] tree--users, groups, print queues, profile login scripts, etc.

To start NetWare Administrator, go to the SYS volume of any NetWare server (Nobel, Pulitzer, Nebula--whatever happens to be conveniently available in your Network Neighborhood). Open the folders "Public", then "Win32"; double-click on the Nwadmn32.exe icon. If you get an error message about a missing DLL (NDPSsomething-or-other.DLL), you may safely ignore it. You may want to drag the icon to your desktop or a convenient folder to make a shortcut for future use.
You may also start it by entering "\\Pulitzer\sys\public\win32\nwadmn32.exe" at a command prompt or from the Start Menu / Run...
NOTE: It does not matter which server you run NWAdmin from--you will always get the same view of the NetWare NDS tree; running NWAdmin on Pulitzer, you can edit users & groups that are used on Nobel (or Nebula, or Hugo, or whatever) since the groups aren't really "on" either server--they are part of the NDS system which exists independently of any one server and is shared across all of the NetWare 4/5 servers.

NetWare Administrator will start up displaying a window with all of the objects in your current context--usually someplace incovenient like the context you logged in with, but in some cases it will go to your department's context (depends on your login script, if any).

Assuming you started in a user context (e.g. .j.ids.cwru in my case), hit the Backspace key twice to move "up" the tree:

hit Backspace ->

hit Backspace again ->

Once you reach the "CWRU" level, find your deparment/workgroup and double-click to open it.

General Navigation Hints:

• The Organizational Units ([icon]--the "branches" in the NDS tree) generally behave like folders in Windows Explorer; double-click them to expand or collapse them, or hit the '+' or '-' keys on the numeric keypad.
• Leaf objects--users, groups, print qeueus, etc.--will display a "Details" window when double-clicked.
• Keyboard shortcuts: generally, anytime you have a list of objects in NWadmin, you can avoid scrolling around long lists by typing the first few characters of the item you are looking for. The list will auto-scroll as needed, and highlight the first item matching the characters you type.
• The usual Windows keyboard conventions apply: you can select multiple items by shift-clicking (contiguous group of items) or control-clicking (discontiguous items). You can move from one part of a dialog window to another with [Tab] or [Shift]-[Tab]; [Enter] selects the the default button (usually "OK"), [Esc] selects the "Cancel" button.
• Where to look: not all departments/groups are found in the CWRU context; some are grouped under Medicine or Dentistry. CIM isn't under CWRU at all, it can be found one level higher at the root of the tree. Printers & their associated queues are not always in department/workgroup contexts; for compatibility reasons, many can be found in the same context as the servers (LIT.CWRU, or Printers.LIT.CWRU).

Working with Groups

Workgroup administrators can use NWAdmin to add users to or remove users from any groups they have the appropriate rights to (usually--but not always--every group in your workgroup's context). To edit group, find it in NWadmin, double-click to get the Details window, then click the "Members" button.
Deleting group members should be fairly obvious; adding users is only slightly more difficult due to the additional step of having to navigate around the NDS tree to find the users in question.

To add a user to a group:
[example: adding users "jan3" and "jar" to the Registrar_Users group]

1. Find the goup in your workgroup's context



2. Double-click the group to open the Details... window, then click the "Members" tab on the right



3. Click the "Add..." button. The "Select Object" window shows:
--the current context in the upper left corner of the window
--a list of objects that can be selected (user objects in this case) in the list box on the left [usually blank, since there generally aren't any user objects in a workgroup's context]
--a list of sub-contexts that can be opened in the list box on the right.


4. Double-click on the "up-dot-dot" icon () until you have moved up to the "CWRU" context:


5. Select the user(s) and click the "OK" button:

Working with Print Queues

Queue operators (generally, members of the <Workgroup>_Admin group) can use NWadmin to view jobs in a print queue, delete jobs, or change order in which jobs will be printed. To do so, find the print queue object (sometimes in your workgroup's context, sometimes in LIT.CWRU or Printers.LIT.CWRU), double-click it to get the Details window, then choose the "Job List" tab.

Working with Directories and Files

Normally, you will not use NWAdmin to work with directories or files (just use Windows Explorer, or the Mac Finder), but there are a few operations that can only be done in NWAdmin or are easier in NWAdmin.

To work with folders (directories) and files in NWAdmin, go to the context where the servers are (LIT.CWRU) and find the object for the server volume where your files are (e.g. my group, LIT, is on \\Pulitzer\Vol1, so I would look for the PULITZER_VOL1 object). Double-click to open the volume object, then you can see folders & files exactly like Windows Explorer. You cannot open or edit files from NWAdmin, but you can delete them and create new folders (select a folder and hit the [Ins] key to create a new sub-folder). You can see all directory information (name, date, size, etc.) and all NetWare information (trustee rights, owner, flags, etc.) in the Details window for any file or directory (in the case of folders, you may have to right-click and choose Details... in the pop-up menu, since double-clicking expands and collapses folders).

First, checking your disk space usage. Each deptartment or workgroup has a disk space quota set on their folder. Unfortuantely, Windows (or MacOS for that matter) will only show the total amount of free space on the disk (which includes free space belonging to other groups), not the amount remaining in the quota for your group. Also, using Windows Explorer to check the amount of space used by a folder (right-click, choose "Properties...") is not accurate--it shows the total of the real sizes of the files, but Pulitzer and Nobel both compress some files, and only the compressed size counts against your quota. To find the real amount of space remaining for your files, use NWAdmin to find your main folder, right-click & choose "Details...", the click the "Facts" tab on the right. At the top of the "Facts" window is the "Space available"(???), given in kilobytes (KB--divide by 1000 to get the approx. size in megabytes (MB)).

Second, setting rights. If you have ever tried to use Windows Explorer to grant a user or group Supervisor rights to a folder or file, you will have found that the 'S' box in the Properties.../NetWare rights windos is greyed out (even if you have Supervisor rights to the folder in question). You can only grant supervisor rights by using NWAdmin--although you should rarely or never need to do so. Rights (including the Supervisor right) can be edited in NWAdmin by using the 'Trustees of this File/Directory' button in the Details... window for any file or folder.