This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

IBM LAN Server started as a close cousin of Microsoft LAN Manager and first shipped in early 1988. It was originally designed to run on top of Operating System/2 Extended Edition. The network client was called IBM LAN Requester and was included with OS/2 EE 1.1 by default. (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 Windows.) 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 (now called Fast Connect) and OS/400.

[edit] Version history

• 1.0 - 1988 - for OS/2 EE 1.0
• 1.2 - 1990 - for OS/2 EE 1.2
• 1.3 - 1991 - for OS/2 EE 1.3
• 2.0 - 1992 - related to LAN Manager 2.0
• 3.0 - 1993 - Entry / Advanced (no LAN Manager "cousin" from here on)
• 4.0 - 1994 - Entry / Advanced - new OO user interface
• 5.0 - 1996 - included in OS/2 Warp Server
• 5.1 - 1999 - included in OS/2 Warp Server for e-business

Predecessors included IBM PC LAN Program (PCLP). Variants included LAN Server Ultimedia (optimized for network delivery of multimedia files) and Workplace On-Demand. Add-ons included Directory and Security Server, Print Services Facility/2 (later known as Advanced Printing), Novell NetWare for OS/2, and LAN Server for Macintosh.

[edit] Innovations

LAN Server pioneered certain file/print sharing concepts such as domains (and domain controllers), networked COM ports, domain aliases, and automatic printer driver selection and installation.

[edit] See also

• LAN Manager
• LAN messenger
• Server Message Block (SMB)