PCs Running Novell NetWare Server Products: Y2K Readiness Checklist

This page was last updated early during the year 2000 and some or all of its content may thus no longer be current or accurate.

PCs Running Novell NetWare Server Products: Y2K Readiness Checklist

Summary

Hardware	Many industry-standard (also known as "Intel-based" or "IBM-compatible") PCs have a minor hardware problem affecting their internal clocks: instead of rolling over normally from 1999 to 2000, these clocks will instead revert to a different year. There are a variety of methods available for finding and resolving this problem. The Y2K Hardware Problem Affecting Many PCs Novell claims that "All Year 2000 Ready Novell products require a Year 2000 Ready hardware platform ..."
Operating System	Novell claims that the newest Netware server products (Netware versions 5, 4.2, 3.2 and Netware for Small Business) are completely Year 2000 Ready. Older versions of Netware may have optional or required patches, or may not be supported.
Application programs	Check for Y2K compliance.
Data files & data sharing methods	Check for Y2K compliance.

1. Hardware

1.1. Find and resolve any hardware-level Y2K problems with your PC's BIOS.

Novell server products run on industry-standard PCs. On Novell's Year 2000 Status of Novell Products page, Novell stated (when we last checked this page on March 5, 1999) that:

All Year 2000 Ready Novell products require a Year 2000 Ready hardware platform ...

Many industry-standard (also known as "Intel-based" or "IBM-compatible") PCs have a hardware problem affecting their internal clocks: instead of rolling over normally from 1999 to 2000, these clocks will instead revert to a different year (such as 1980).

While this is generally of minor concern, an invalid date could nonetheless cause problems for certain application programs. A small fraction of these problems could potentially have serious impacts. As a result, it's preferable to find and resolve this problem before the year 2000 arrives. The Y2K Hardware Problem Affecting Many PCs describes how to do so. Here's a summary:

You can identify which PCs will be subject to this problem by checking with vendors or by using manual or automated software tests.

There are at least ten different methods you can use to prevent the problem from occurring on your non-compliant PCs. Among these:

Running an operating system, such as Linux and recent versions of Windows NT, that incorporates a date correction feature;
Leaving your PCs turned off over the century transition and using a specific procedure to manually set their dates when they are first started up during the year 2000;
Installing small software programs that automatically correct the date;
"Flash" updating the software in the BIOS chips in your recently-manufactured PCs to make these chips Y2K compliant;
Synchronizing your computers' dates over a network;
Upgrading PCs with BIOS add-in cards or other hardware.

Each of these methods has its own particular advantages, limitations, and drawbacks, which are described in the above document.

As a fallback, you can manually reset your problematic PCs to the correct date when the year 2000 arrives. After doing so, all (or nearly all) of your PCs should then continue to maintain the correct date throughout the year 2000 and beyond.

2. Operating system

2.1 Check for the latest information about your NetWare products on Novell's Web site. Novell's Year 2000 Web site has pages that offer the most current product status lists and easy access to descriptions and downloads of all Novell Year 2000 patches .	More information Novell has made a tool available to assist administrators in determining the Year 2000 readiness of their servers and all the extra Novell components and add-ons that might be installed on those servers. Running the *Novell Year 2000 Information Ferret* will inventory all of the Novell software on the servers you scan and send this inventory to Novell. Within 10 days Novell will send you a detailed report outlining the Year 2000 status of all of your Novell software and outlining the specific steps and patches available to correct any non-compliant items. Novell, however, reserves the right to use the inventory information you provided for marketing purposes, and the inventory information is sent across the Internet in an unencrypted form. More information and download instructions are available on Novell's Year 2000 Ferret page.
2.2. Based on Novell's claims, Netware 5, Netware 4.2, Netware 3.2, and Netware for Small Business are all Year 2000 Ready. Novell claims that Netware 5, Netware 4.2, Netware 3.2, and Netware for Small Business meet all of Novell's Year 2000 testing criteria as the products were shipped. No patches or updates addressing Year 2000 issues are necessary or available.
2.3. Based on Novell's claims, Netware 4.11, intraNetWare, and intraNetWare for Small Business are Year 2000 Ready with minor issues that can be fixed by applying an optional patch. Novell claims that Netware 4.11 (including SMP and SFTIII versions), intraNetWare (including SMP and SFTIII versions), and intraNetWare for Small Business (INSB) 1.1 are Year 2000 Ready except for minor issues in some utilities. Optional patches for these products are available from Novell's Year 2000 patch site . According to Novell none of the issues addressed in these optional patches pose any threat to the network or to data integrity.	More information Examples of issues dealt with in these optional patches: Unable to set deferred printing in `NWAdmin` for any dates after 12/31/1999. `Uimport` does not create account expiration dates properly if the year is greater than 1999 when importing users into Novell Directory Services from a database application. When selecting the directory scan option within `Rconsole` the file information displays file creation dates improperly (1/7/2000 would display as 1/7/100).
2.4. Based on Novell's claims, Netware 4.11 for OS/2, Netware 4.10, and Netware 3.12 require updates or patches before they will be Year 2000 Ready. Novell has identified Year 2000 issues with Netware 4.11 for OS/2, Netware 4.10 (standard version only, not the SMP or SFTIII versions of Netware 4.10), and Netware 3.12. Novell is providing free updates to these products to make them Year 2000 ready. These updates are available from Novell's Year 2000 patch site .
2.5. Novell has identified Year 2000 issues with Netware 4.x versions prior to version 4.10, Netware 3.11 and all prior Netware versions, all versions of Netware Lite, all versions of Personal Netware, and the SMP and SFTIII versions of Netware 4.10 that will not be resolved. Novell no longer supports these products and has no plans to issue any updates or patches to updates to make these products Year 2000 ready. Novell recommends upgrading these products to versions that are Year 2000 ready.	More information The campus has recently signed an educational Master License Agreement with Novell that offers significant discounts to upgrade and purchase prices for Novell products. Contact the campus Software Distribution office for details about how to order products through this discount program.
2.6. Novell client software and server add-ons may also have Y2K issues. Novell client software and server add-ons (such as Netware for Macintosh, Novell Application Launcher, and Novell Web Services) are considered separate products by Novell. You should check the status of each product that you use on Novell's Year 2000 status page .

3. Application programs

3.1 Check custom-written programs for Y2K compliance.

Custom-written (or "customized") application programs have been written "from scratch" or else extensively modified to perform a customized set of tasks for a specific customer. Some campus departments are running such applications, which typically have been created by departmental programmers or outside consultants. Often, these programs were built using programming or scripting languages, database management systems, or client/server tools.

Custom-written programs are at considerable risk for Y2K problems. Some of these programs may not work properly in the year 2000, or may encounter problems when handling dates from the year 2000 and beyond. If one or more of these programs are of significant importance to your campus department, it is essential that you find and resolve their Y2K problems. It is also imperative that you begin your work as early as possible, as the process of identifying, fixing, and testing fixes to custom applications can often be very time consuming.

Custom Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems can direct you to resources to help you find and resolve Y2K problems in custom applications. In particular, you can obtain a great deal of assistance from the Web pages of the UC Berkeley campus's Year 2000 Departmental Customized Applications Subcommittee, which has identified a phase-by-phase process that can guide you in carrying out this work.

3.2. Check off-the-shelf application programs for Y2K compliance.

It appears likely that most commercial off-the-shelf application programs will work fine in the year 2000. However, some application programs are known to have Y2K problems or issues, ranging from minor to severe. If some of these application programs are important to your department or to your own research or instructional work, you'll need to resolve their Y2K problems before the year 2000 arrives. To do this, we suggest that you:

Identify your critical application programs.

Prioritizing: Identifying Your Critical Computers & Software lists representative examples of critical tasks that your computer might be performing, which may help you identify your critical application programs.

To ensure that you're not overlooking any critical programs, Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems describes how you can use automated software tools to generate an inventory list of all of the programs installed on your computer.
Determine which of these applications are not Y2K compliant.

You can do this in a variety of ways, including:
- Viewing a list of the Y2K Compliance Status of Selected Off-the-Shelf Applications Used at UC Berkeley .
- Checking vendor Web sites, as well as lists and searchable databases of product Y2K compliance available on the Web.
  
  You can find a summary of these resources in Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Resources for Identifying Y2K Compliance .
- Using automated software tools which report on the Y2K compliance status of your applications.
  
  Software Tools for Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems lists some of the tools you might use for this purpose.
  
  The section on Inventory & compliance status tools in the document Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems discusses limitations you might encounter when using such tools.
Resolve problems with non-compliant applications.

Commercial Off-the-Shelf Applications: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems includes general checklists that can guide you through the process of resolving Y2K problems in non-compliant application programs.

If some of your programs have only minor Y2K issues, you might in some cases be able to continue to use these applications. However, most non-compliant programs will need to be patched, updated, upgraded, replaced, or retired.

4. Data files & data sharing methods

4.1 Check data files for Y2K compliance.

Data files, including spreadsheets and database files, can harbor Y2K problems. If some of these files are important to your department, or your personal research or instructional work, you'll need to resolve their date-related problems before the year 2000 arrives.

The Berkeley Computing and Communications article Checking your data for Y2K problems

provides a overview, and the document Data Files: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems

describes in somewhat more detail how to check your data files to find and resolve Y2K problems. The following are some key points mentioned in both of these documents:

The primary areas of Y2K-related concern in data files are:

Custom macros, scripts, and user-defined functions.

Some spreadsheet and database files may incorporate custom-written macros, scripts, or user-defined functions which improperly handle dates.
Standard date functions.

Many spreadsheet and database programs provide standard date-related functions which are known to have Y2K-related "usage issues." Examples include Microsoft Excel's =DATE(), Microsoft Access's =DateSerial(), and Lotus 1-2-3's @YEAR().
Dates stored as text or numbers.

Dates stored in spreadsheet cells or database fields as text (e.g., "02/21/15") or integers (e.g., "990405"), may present risks when these values are converted to dates, or when they are compared or sorted.

In addition, we encourage you to take four specific steps to help keep Y2K problems out of your data files

in the future.

4.2. Check data sharing methods for Y2K compliance.

Data shared between application programs could in some cases present Y2K problems. You can find guidance on finding and resolving these problems in Data Sharing Methods: Finding & Resolving Y2K Problems

.

Methods of sharing data which are at risk include documents exchanged via disks, e-mail attachments, and file servers; data copied and pasted via the Clipboard; and programmatic data streams between programs.

To find situations where you'll need to check your data sharing methods for potential Y2K problems, ask yourself three questions:

Do you export data containing century-ambiguous dates, such as "05/13/29", from any of your programs?
Do you import data containing century-ambiguous dates into any of your programs?
Do you share any files (such as spreadsheet or database files) containing dates stored as text or numbers, rather than as dates?

Find something unclear? Missing? Incomplete? Inaccurate? Or even praiseworthy? Send us feedback about this Web site!

This site is provided by the campus Year 2000 Departmental Computers and Administrative Equipment Subcommittee at the University of California, Berkeley.

Copyright 1999 by the Regents of the University of California.
Disclaimer: The University assumes no liability if the information on this page is used for other than University purposes.