SLP is not a migratable service, however, it is a critical component of OES and must be planned for in your upgrade strategy.
SLP lets network services register their availability on the network. SLP agents then keep track of which services are available and provide that information to applications that need it.
NetWare uses a Novell customized version of SLP called Novell SLP.
On NetWare, SLP services are integrated with and configured to automatically work with eDirectory and other services.
If you have a NetWare tree, you automatically have Novell SLP on your network and you can continue to use it as the SLP service during your upgrade to OES.
Novell provides a basic level of SLP support when eDirectory is installed on an OES server. OES servers are configured with an SA that registers SLP-aware applications (such as eDirectory) with the server.
If you are running NetWare 5.1 in your tree, it must be at SP8 to have SLP version 2 functionality. Older versions are not compatible with OpenSLP running on OES.
If your workstations can connect to the server using its IP address but not its DNS name, you need to update to Novell Client 4.91 SP5 or later. See TID 3890003.
SLP relies on multicasting by default; however, most Linux systems are not configured, by default, to provide multicast support. Enter the following at the shell prompt to determine whether multicasting is supported:
route -n
If multicasting is supported, you see an entry in the routing table for the 224.0.0.0 destination.
If not:
Open a terminal session.
Change to the root user account.
At the shell prompt, enter the following command:
route add -net 224.0.0.0 netmask 240.0.0.0 dev interface
(eth0 is usually the interface parameter)
Verify that the route has been added by entering route -n at the shell prompt.
OpenSLP is included with SLES 11 SP4 and installed as part of the eDirectory support infrastructure on OES servers. Installation instructions are included in Specifying SLP Configuration Options
in the OES 2023: Installation Guide.
For additional OpenSLP setup instructions, see Setting Up OpenSLP on OES Networks
in the OES 2023: Planning and Implementation Guide.