I have been requested to send some files that are generated on a daily basis from the server they are created on to a separate networked server, which I have been told is running Novell. (I'm sorry, I don't know what version - all I know is that it's referred to in-shop as the novell server.)

We already have a dedicated mount point from our main server to this novell server, but the main server is not the one that is generating the files in question, and I am doing my best to ensure that they can be delivered directly, rather than having to go through the main server. Both servers are running SuSE 9.3.

In trying to find information on how to do this, I started with the mount command, which leads me to an error: "Server not found (0x8847) when trying to find SERVER4". After googling on the error (less server name), I found a link to a post on this site which referenced the ncpmount command instead of the generic mount. This command, using -S, -U, and -P values (those represented in the sample given in the post), gives me the same error.

At one point in my web search, I ran across references to the /etc/fstab file. I opened this on the box with the dedicated mount point, and copied the only line I saw that seemed relevant (listed the top-layer directory within the mount directory for the novell server) into the /etc/fstab file on the second box. This was done after attempting the first mount, but before attempting the ncpmount; a mount command with this also threw the same error as listed above.

Another site listed as part of its steps the command "ipx_interface check eth0 802.3". On the box with the dedicated mount point, this produced the result "IPX Address for (802.3, 802.3) is 1991ABCD:00001A191C6E.", albeit on eth1 rather than eth0. It has produced "ipx_interface: No such IPX interface eth0 802.3." on the new box, which only had eth0 and lo show on ifconfig.

I'm finding myself at a loss, and uncertain as to where I should go after this. What is the best next step for me to take on this issue?

How is the network directory shared? The two most common methods are NFS and Samba/CIFS. I must admit that I didn't follow your post entirely, but it seems likely to me that you will need to change the configuration on the Novell server to allow this other computer to access it.

An alternative might be to use rsync: if the Novell server has an ssh server running, you could set up a passkey for a particular account, and then use rsync to do the copying via a cron job or something similar.