IBM LAN Server
Operating system
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IBM LAN Server is a discontinued network operating system introduced by International Business Machines (IBM) in 1988. LAN Server started as a close cousin of Microsoft's LAN Manager and first shipped in early 1988. It was originally designed to run on top of Operating System/2 (OS/2) Extended Edition.[1] The network client was called IBM LAN Requester and was included with OS/2 EE 1.1 by default.[2] (Eventually IBM shipped other clients and supported yet more. Examples include the IBM OS/2 File/Print Client, IBM OS/2 Peer, and client software for Microsoft Windows.[3]) Here the short term LAN Server refers to the IBM OS/2 LAN Server product. There were also LAN Server products for other operating systems, notably AIX[4]—now called Fast Connect[5]—and OS/400.[6]
| IBM LAN Server | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | |
| OS family | OS/2 |
| Working state | Discontinued |
| Source model | Closed source |
| Initial release | 1988 |
| Final release | 5.1 / 1999 |
| Marketing target | Local area networks |
| License | Proprietary |
| Preceded by | IBM PC LAN Program |
Version history
| Version no. | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 1988 | for OS/2 EE 1.0[1] |
| 1.2 | 1990 | for OS/2 EE 1.2[7] |
| 1.3 | 1991 | for OS/2 EE 1.3[8] |
| 2.0 | 1992 | related to LAN Manager 2.0[9] |
| 3.0 | 1993 | Entry and Advanced versions[10] (no LAN Manager "cousin" from here on[11][12]) |
| 4.0 | 1994 | Entry and Advanced versions, new object-oriented user interface[13] |
| 5.0 | 1996 | included in OS/2 Warp Server[14] |
| 5.1 | 1999 | included in OS/2 Warp Server for e-business[15] |
Predecessors included IBM PC LAN Program (PCLP).[16] Variants included LAN Server Ultimedia (optimized for network delivery of multimedia files) and LAN On-Demand.[17][18] Add-ons included Directory and Security Server,[19] Print Services Facility/2 (later known as Advanced Printing),[20] Novell NetWare for OS/2,[21] and LAN Server for Macintosh.[22]
Innovations
LAN Server pioneered certain file and print sharing concepts such as domains (and domain controllers), networked COM ports, domain aliases, and automatic printer driver selection and installation.[citation needed]