Chapter 15. IPX and the NCP Filesystem

Long before Microsoft learned about networking, and even before the Internet was known outside academic circles, corporate environments shared files and printers using file and print servers based on the Novell NetWare operating system and associated protocols.^[1] Many of these corporate users still have legacy networks using these protocols and want to integrate this support with their new TCP/IP support.

^[1] Novell and NetWare are trademarks of the Novell Corporation.

Linux supports not only the TCP/IP protocols, but also the suite of protocols used by the Novell Corporation's NetWare operating system. These protocols are distant cousins of TCP/IP, and while they perform similar sorts of functions, they differ in a number of ways and are unfortunately incompatible.