Windows Not Terribly stable
Windows NT is almost a natural server to a mac environment. With its seamless long filename support, resource fork ability, and built in postscript RIP, there isn't much more that a mac user would need. Macs can access Windows NT resources in one of two ways- One server side and one client side. On the server side, Windows NT Server comes with SFM, or services for Mac. It allows the server resources to appear as Appletalk resources on the Mac chooser- complete with a basic (300dpi B&W) postscript interpreted to most Windows laser printers. The pros of this solution are quite simple- there is no need for an administrator to even touch the Mac. All administration can be handled on the Server, and there is a special authentication utility that NT propagates automatically for, you guessed it, authenticated logins (Appletalk's security is very minimal- certainly not sufficient to maintain server integrity.) The downside of this method is simple- Speed. Appletalk is much slower than NetBEUI or TCPIP, and with the added translation overhead it becomes, well, inefficient. In addition, the NT SFM implementation is a horrible pig, and is not really recommended on a small server with more than a few clients.

There are some software workarounds the speed issue. AsantÈ's Netdoubler, for example, works wonders on improving transfer rates over ethernet, but it must be running on the clients AND the server to function. Speed Doubler's networking acceleration helps with smaller files, too. In addition, OS8.5 supposedly has a completely rewritten network layer (I don't know, I haven't tested it) and may render this issue moot.

A more elegant solution (and more expensive) is to use Thursby's DAVE software. DAVE runs on the mac side, and allows the mac to access NT natively through TCP/IP, including full Windows security. It allows for potentially faster throughputs, and the administrator can treat the Mac clients no differently than any other. The downside is that its expensive- at $149MFR per seat, having a small mac workgroup can run a few thousand dollars. For the most part, both of these solutions are fairly trouble free. However, due to SFM's high resource requirements, I have found that the server is much more finicky and requires more attention from the administrator when SFM is implemented (read: more crashes.) If your network has a dedicated administrator who isn't afraid of maintaining the equipment, then SFM is for you.

Novell Netware and Intranetware
To be perfectly honest, I have not dealt with Novell based networks for about 2 years now. My focus has shifted in my consulting career from the big, multi client client/server networks to smaller, more powerful networks with servers acting more like a superfast collective storage and RIP processors. This does not mean that Novell isn't around- last I checked, there are still more Novell based networks than any other brand. Its ridiculously easy to log into a Novell NetWare server from a Mac- go to http://www.novell.com/catalog/bg/bge14360.html, for IntraNetware, or http://support.novell.com/Ftp/Updates/mac/Date0.html
for NetWare 3.x-4.x, download the client, install- and you're ready to run.

Administering Mac users is no different than any other client, so this can actually be done with no administrator intervention. The problems that Mac users run into with NetWare is the file system itself- unlike NT, which stores the resource fork per Mac file, NetWare has no long filename support and it ignores the resource fork. Mac users on a Novell network will need to learn PC file nomenclature, and have to adhere to the 8.3 convention. So long as you remember how to name your files, and keep an up-to-date PC Exchange pref file, this should really pose no problem.

Intranetware is a somewhat different animal. Being more modern and robust, the Mac has full access to NDS objects and trees natively. The client is very complete, with drag and drop abilities, and even a remote management client. I have very little experience with NDS; While I know that the Mac can access NDS without issue, I'm not sure how it handles Mac files. I presume this works automatically through the client. For more information, visit http://www.novell.com/intranetware/products/clients/clientmac/.

There really isn't any magic or mystery to connecting macs to a network- if memory serves, the Macs were the first consumer products EVER to incorporate networking into the operating system.

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