generated: '2026-09-13'
method: searched
source: https://www.microfocus.com/lifecycle/
name: Novell API lifecycle
description: >-
  Versioning, deprecation and support posture for Novell's published API surfaces. Novell's own corporate
  lifecycle ended in stages - acquired by The Attachmate Group in 2011, absorbed into Micro Focus with the
  2014 Attachmate acquisition, and carried into OpenText when OpenText bought Micro Focus in 2023 - and the
  brand is retired. The PRODUCT lifecycle did not end with it: GroupWise is still shipping, its SDK
  documentation set is published per release on www.novell.com up to GroupWise 25, and both API surfaces are
  still the supported integration path for it. The developer PROGRAM, by contrast, is dead: the NDK download
  hosts no longer resolve and the last first-party SDK release on any package registry is 2014-02-12.
corporate:
  status: brand-retired
  operator_of_record: Open Text Corporation
  evidence: >-
    The TLS certificate served for novell.com is CN=redirector.novell.com, O=Open Text Corporation. Every
    novell.com root path 301s to www.microfocus.com/en-us/products/novell/overview and on to
    www.opentext.com/about/brands/microfocus, which lists "Attachmate Group (Attachmate, NetIQ, Novell, SUSE)"
    among the companies Micro Focus had acquired before OpenText acquired Micro Focus in 2023.
  chain:
    - event: Acquired by The Attachmate Group
      year: 2011
    - event: Attachmate Group acquired by Micro Focus
      year: 2014
    - event: Micro Focus acquired by OpenText
      year: 2023
versioning:
  scheme: product-release
  in_url: false
  version_header: null
  note: >-
    API versions track GroupWise product releases rather than the API itself. Each release publishes its own
    SDK guide under www.novell.com/documentation/<release>/, and feature availability is stated against the
    product version ("the features in GroupWise Web Services work with GroupWise 8 and later versions"). The
    POA advertises its build in the HTTP Server response header, e.g. "Windows GroupWise POA 12.0.0".
  published_release_docs:
    - release: GroupWise 25
      url: https://www.novell.com/documentation/groupwise25/
      status: 200
      current: true
    - release: GroupWise 18
      url: https://www.novell.com/documentation/groupwise18/
      status: 200
    - release: GroupWise 2014 R2
      url: https://www.novell.com/documentation/groupwise2014r2/
      status: 200
    - release: GroupWise 2012 (SDK set)
      url: https://www.novell.com/documentation/developer/groupwise_sdk/
      status: 200
deprecation:
  policy_published: true
  policy_url: https://www.microfocus.com/lifecycle/
  policy_http_status: 200
  sunset_header: false
  deprecation_header: false
  note: >-
    A real, phased product-support lifecycle policy is published - Current Maintenance, then Extended Support
    available for two years at the end of Current Maintenance (chargeable), with technical support, critical
    patches and new releases per roadmap defined per phase. It is a PRODUCT lifecycle, not an API lifecycle:
    it names no API version, no operation and no sunset date for either surface, and neither surface emits an
    RFC 8594 Sunset or Deprecation response header.
  deprecated_operations: []
  deprecated_operations_note: >-
    None could be derived - there is no machine-readable contract to read a deprecated flag from. The SDK
    guides mark features by the product version they first appeared in, not by removal.
  observed_removals:
    - what: GroupWise Administration REST API resource listing copy
      note: >-
        The GroupWise 25 Admin REST API guide links a local copy of the full resource documentation at
        ../../gwsdk_rest_api/ and that path returns 404. The only surviving complete listing is the
        GroupWise 2014-era copy at gwsdk_gwadminweb/data/application.htm, which is still served (200,
        615 KB). Current callers are directed to the listing their own server generates at
        https://{server_address}:9710/gwadmin-service/static/apidocs/index.html.
      evidence: https://www.novell.com/documentation/groupwise25/gwsdk_rest_api/
      status: 404
    - what: Admin REST API port change
      note: >-
        The GroupWise 2014 guide documents the Administration Service on port 9999; the GroupWise 25 guide
        documents 9710. A breaking change to the base URL, published only as differing prose in two release
        guides - no changelog entry, no deprecation notice.
    - what: NetWare platform support
      note: >-
        GroupWise Web Services ran on Linux, NetWare and Windows; the docs record NetWare as "Not available
        for GroupWise 2012".
    - what: TrustedApplication username element
      note: Removed as no longer valid in the November 2012 revision.
support:
  developer_forums:
    url: https://forums.novell.com/
    status: tls-error
    note: >-
      The NDK pages still link per-component developer forums (GroupWise SOAP is forum 813). The host no
      longer presents a certificate valid for forums.novell.com, so it cannot be reached over HTTPS.
  support_portal:
    url: https://www.novell.com/support/
    status: 302
    note: Redirects into the OpenText SAML SSO at extlogin.opentext.com - customer-only.
  knowledgebase:
    url: https://www.novell.com/support/kb/
    status: 302
    note: Redirects to portal.microfocus.com customer search.
  community:
    url: https://community.opentext.com/
    status: 200
    note: The Novell Cool Solutions community now resolves to the OpenText community.
status_page:
  present: false
  note: >-
    No status page exists and none could exist in a useful sense - both APIs run on infrastructure the
    customer owns and operates (their own Post Office Agent, their own Administration Service). There is no
    Novell-operated endpoint whose availability could be reported. Recorded as not-applicable rather than
    missing; no StatusPage pointer is emitted.
sla:
  published: false
  note: >-
    No API SLA. Support entitlements are sold as maintenance and support plans under the product lifecycle
    policy above.
developer_program:
  status: dead
  evidence:
    - what: NDK distribution host
      url: ftp://sdk.provo.novell.com/
      status: nxdomain
    - what: NDK archive mirrors under www.novell.com/developer/
      status: 404
    - what: download.novell.com
      status: 503
    - what: developer.novell.com
      status: nxdomain
    - what: Newest first-party SDK release on any package registry
      value: '2014-02-12'
      url: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Novell.Directory.Ldap
  note: >-
    The Novell Developer Kit A-Z index and every component page are still served and readable, but nothing
    on them can be downloaded. The documentation outlived the distribution.