# Novell

> Novell, Inc. was a Provo, Utah network-software company (NetWare, eDirectory, GroupWise, ZENworks, iPrint).
> It was acquired by The Attachmate Group in 2011, folded into Micro Focus in 2014, and passed to OpenText in
> 2023. The corporate brand is retired and novell.com is an OpenText-operated redirector, but a large part of
> the Novell developer surface is still served as readable pages on www.novell.com — including the current
> GroupWise 25 SDK documentation set. Two callable API surfaces are documented there. Both are CUSTOMER-HOSTED:
> there is no Novell-operated endpoint, no API key to obtain, no sign-up, and no SaaS to call.

Generated by API Evangelist on 2026-09-13 from the provider's own public documentation. Not published by Novell.

## What is actually callable

- [GroupWise Administration REST API](https://www.novell.com/documentation/groupwise25/gwsdk_admin_rest_api/data/bookinfo.html): REST/JSON (or XML) administration of a GroupWise system. Served by the GroupWise Administration Service that installs with the GroupWise agents, at `https://{server_address}:9710/gwadmin-service` (GroupWise 25; the 2014-era guide documents port 9999). 220 resource paths, 357 operations — 166 GET, 69 PUT, 68 POST, 54 DELETE.
- [GroupWise Web Services (SOAP)](https://www.novell.com/documentation/groupwise25/gwsdk_web_services/data/bktitle.html): server-side mailbox read/write spoken to the GroupWise Post Office Agent at `https://{poa_address}:7191/soap`. 96 documented methods. `loginRequest` must be called first and returns the session key every other method requires.
- [DSML for eDirectory (SOAP)](https://www.microfocus.com/documentation/edirectory-developer-documentation/dsml-for-edirectory-soap/): a deployable .war exposing eDirectory as a SOAP web service using OASIS DSML v2. Last build 2006-02-22; all download links 404.

## Full API reference

- [GroupWise Admin REST — complete resource listing](https://www.novell.com/documentation/developer/groupwise_sdk/gwsdk_gwadminweb/data/application.htm): the only surviving full listing of all 220 resources with per-resource methods, parameters and representations. It is the GroupWise 2014-era copy; the GroupWise 25 guide's own link to a local copy is broken (404).
- [GroupWise SOAP — method index](https://www.novell.com/documentation/groupwise25/gwsdk_web_services/data/b8cg4px.html)
- [GroupWise SOAP — schema elements](https://www.novell.com/documentation/groupwise25/gwsdk_web_services/data/b8gjrtc.html)
- [GroupWise SDK documentation set (2012/2014 era, still served)](https://www.novell.com/documentation/developer/groupwise_sdk/)
- [Novell Developer Kit A–Z index](https://www.novell.com/developer/ndk/)
- [Novell Documentation](https://www.novell.com/documentation/)

## Authentication

- SOAP: a plain-text username/password inside the `loginRequest` body, OR a GroupWise **Trusted Application** name and key — a system-wide impersonation credential the customer's GroupWise administrator mints, which reaches every mailbox in the system without user passwords. No scopes.
- REST: an administrator session via `gw-api/system/login`. `gw-api/system/login/{path}` opens a deliberately read-only "Recover" connection to a backup domain database.
- There is NO OAuth, NO OpenID Connect, NO API key issuance and NO `/.well-known/` discovery document anywhere on a Novell host — every path probed returned 404.
- HTTPS is supported on the SOAP surface but must be enabled per POA. On a POA left on plain HTTP the password travels in cleartext, because it is in the request body.

## What agents need to know before calling

- **No idempotency.** No `Idempotency-Key`, no client request id, no conditional writes. A retried `sendItemRequest` sends a second message. Implement your own at-most-once guard.
- **SOAP errors come back HTTP 200.** The outcome is in the body: `<status><code>59923</code><description>…</description></status>`. Branching on the HTTP status alone reads every failure as success.
- **Login redirection is mandatory, not exceptional.** Logging in to the wrong Post Office Agent returns code `59923` with a `redirectToHost` element naming the correct IP and port. Retry there and cache the mapping.
- **Bulk moves return 200 on partial failure.** The Admin REST bulk user move returns the count that succeeded plus a collection of per-user errors; compare the count against what you submitted.
- **Two 30-minute timers.** The SOAP session and the HTTP keep-alive each idle out after 30 minutes. `getTimestampRequest` with `noop` holds both open.
- **Deletes are soft, purges are not.** `removeItemRequest` is reversible with `restoreItemRequest`; `purgeRequest` / `purgeDeletedItemsRequest` are not. `retractRequest` pulls back a sent message. **No retention window is published for any of these** — do not assume one.
- **No rate limits and no rate-limit headers.** Throughput is bounded by the customer's own server, not by a vendor quota.
- **Async jobs vanish 60 seconds after completing.** Poll faster than `REMOVE_DELAY`.
- **No pagination on the REST surface.** SOAP paginates with an explicit server-side cursor (`createCursorRequest` → `positionCursorRequest` → `readCursorRequest` → `destroyCursorRequest`).

## Errors

- [Novell Error Codes Reference Guide](https://www.novell.com/documentation/nwec/nwec/data/front.html): 22 families, each code carrying a number, description, source, explanation, possible cause and action. [GroupWise Engine Error Codes](https://www.novell.com/documentation/nwec/nwec/data/a3wxgq9.html) is the family that underlies both GroupWise APIs; [eDirectory and NDS Error Codes](https://www.novell.com/documentation/nwec/nwec/data/al39n9y.html) covers the directory surfaces. The guide states it is not exhaustive.

## Client libraries

- `com.novell.ldap:jldap` on Maven Central — Novell LDAP Classes for Java. Latest version `2009-10-07`, published 2013-02-19.
- `Novell.Directory.Ldap` 2.2.1 on NuGet — LDAP Libraries for C#, authored by Novell Inc., published 2014-02-12. One version, ever.
- No first-party package exists on npm, PyPI, RubyGems, crates.io or Packagist.
- The live community continuation is `Novell.Directory.Ldap.NETStandard` (4.0.0, 2025-03-02), maintained third-party at github.com/dsbenghe — not a Novell release.

## What does not exist

- **No machine-readable contract.** No OpenAPI, no Swagger, no published WSDL, no GraphQL, no AsyncAPI, no `apis.json`, no `llms.txt` on any Novell host. A WSDL for the SOAP surface is referenced by name in the docs but shipped only inside `novell-gwsoap-devel-2013.01.15.zip` on `ftp://sdk.provo.novell.com`, which no longer resolves. The Admin REST API's WADL is generated at runtime by the customer's own server.
- **No MCP server, no A2A agent card, no agent skills.** Nothing agent-native exists on any Novell host.
- **No sandbox, no test credentials, no CLI for the API, no Postman collection, no status page, no roadmap, no API pricing, no sign-up.**
- **No downloads.** `ftp://sdk.provo.novell.com` and `developer.novell.com` do not resolve; `download.novell.com` returns 503; the NDK archive paths under `www.novell.com/developer/` return 404. The documentation outlived the distribution.

## Security

- [Vulnerability disclosure](https://support.novell.com/security-alerts/index.html): a live reporting form with a stated taxonomy, contact `security@microfocus.com`, and a [PGP key](https://support.novell.com/security-alerts/keypage.txt). No bug bounty, no `security.txt`, no trust center.
- [Product Support Lifecycle](https://www.microfocus.com/lifecycle/): phased Current Maintenance then chargeable Extended Support. A product lifecycle, not an API one — no Sunset or Deprecation headers on either surface.