Alan Frayer, CNE, CNI, CIW CI, Net+, MCP

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Q. Could I impose upon you to give me a syntax example of Novell's resource mapping? I am studying the CNA-5 now and hit a roadblock when it comes to understanding Novell's mapping syntax.

I completely understand Microsoft, but the examples I have seen do not make sense to me.  Any help will be appreciated.

A. Drive mapping exists these days for two reasons: support of legacy software and user convenience. Modern software gets network location information as part of its Windows object; only older, DOS-based software, for the most part, needs to have a drive letter associated with it.

Under Windows, the creation of drive mappings is very simple. The Novell mapping utility replaces that provided by Microsoft when the Novell Client is installed, but its function is essentially the same. The use of mapping in NetWare that causes the most difficulty is when drive maps are created at the DOS prompt, or more commonly when the mapping must be created in something like a login script. In these circumstances, the user must execute a command-line utility called MAP, and the syntax of this command is what usually causes the most trouble.

The basic syntax of the MAP command goes like this:

MAP [option] drive:=volume_object:directory\subdirectory

For example, to assign the drive letter F: to the root of volume SYS on server FS1 in NDS context .Corp.NYC.EMA (where the volume object's name is FS1_SYS), the command would read:

MAP F:=.FS1_SYS.Corp.NYC.EMA:

This mapping makes no assumptions; a user from anywhere in the NDS tree can use this mapping, if appropriate rights exist. If the user is in the same context as the volume object, however, we can use the relative distinguished name to simplify the command:

MAP F:=FS1_SYS:

The colon (:) after the volume object name signifies the preceding name is indeed a volume.

One of the most common options used with the MAP command is to produce a fake root directory. This tricks the system into acting like the mapped location is at the root of the volume, giving a root directory prompt and denying use of the CD.. command in getting below the directory. The command is used like this:

MAP ROOT G:=FS1_DATA:USERS\JSMITH

and produces a prompt that reads:

G:\>

instead of one that would read without the ROOT:

G:\USERS\JSMITH>

Other options don't follow the basic syntax, but are equally important. For instance, if you wish to create a drive mapping, but do not care which drive letter is assigned (the letter is still reported back to you when executing the command), you may wish to use the MAP NEXT command, like this:

MAP NEXT FS1_SYS:PUBLIC\WIN32

This command would assign the next unused drive letter to the WIN32 directory under PUBLIC on the SYS volume.

Another variation on mapping is the creation of search maps, which reaches beyond the scope of this answer, and is left for another discussion.

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