Novell Storage Services

NSS
Developer(s)Novell
Full nameNovell Storage Services
Introduced1998; 26 years ago (1998) with NetWare 5
Partition IDs0x69
Structures
Directory contentsB+ tree
File allocation?
Bad blocks?
Limits
Max volume size8 EB
Max file size8 EB
Max no. of files8 trillion
Max filename length256 16-bit Unicode characters
Allowed filename
characters		Variable; depends on namespace being used
Features
Dates recordedAccess, Creation, Modified, Archived, Metadata Modified
Date rangeUnknown
ForksYes (available through the AFP namespace, which is always loaded)
AttributesReadonly, Hidden, System, Archive, Sharable, Transaction, Immediate Purge, Rename Inhibit, Delete Inhibit, Copy Inhibit, Link, Remote Data Access, Remote Data Inhibit, Compress Immediate, Data Stream Compress, Do Not Compress, No Stream Compress, Attr Archive, Volatile, Execute
File system
permissions		Netware ACLs: Supervisor, Read, Write, Create, Erase, Modify, File Scan, Access Control; POSIX (RWX per owner, group and all) when NFS namespace is loaded
Transparent
compression		Yes
Transparent
encryption		Yes
Copy-on-writeYes / snapshots
Other
Supported
operating systems		Novell NetWare, SUSE Linux
Websitehttps://www.novell.com/documentation/open-enterprise-server-2018/stor_nss_lx/data/front.html

Novell Storage Services (NSS) is a file system used by the Novell NetWare network operating system. Support for NSS was introduced in 2004 to SUSE Linux via low-level network NCPFS protocol. It has some unique features that make it especially useful for setting up shared volumes on a file server in a local area network.

NSS is a 64-bit journaling file system with a balanced tree algorithm for the directory structure. Its published specifications (as of NetWare 6.5) are:

  • Maximum file size: 8 EB
  • Maximum partition size: 8 EB
  • Maximum device size (Physical or Logical): 8 EB
  • Maximum pool size: 8 EB
  • Maximum volume size: 8 EB
  • Maximum files per volume: 8 trillion
  • Maximum mounted volumes per server: unlimited if all are NSS
  • Maximum open files per server: no practical limit
  • Maximum directory tree depth: limited only by client
  • Maximum volumes per partition: unlimited
  • Maximum extended attributes: no limit on number of attributes.
  • Maximum data streams: no limit on number of data streams.
  • Unicode characters supported by default
  • Support for different name spaces: DOS, Microsoft Windows Long names (loaded by default), Unix, Apple Macintosh
  • Support for restoring deleted files (salvage)
  • Support for transparent compression
  • Support for encrypted volumes
  • Support for data shredding

See also