IBM LAN Server started as a close cousin of Microsoft LAN Manager

LAN Manager

LAN Manager was a Network Operating System available from multiple vendors and developed by Microsoft in cooperation with 3Com Corporation. It was designed to succeed 3Com's 3+Share network server software which ran atop a heavily modified version of MS-DOS.-Development history:LAN Manager was...

 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

OS/2

OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...

 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

AIX operating system

AIX AIX AIX (Advanced Interactive eXecutive, pronounced "a i ex" is a series of proprietary Unix operating systems developed and sold by IBM for several of its computer platforms...

 (now called Fast Connect) and OS/400

OS/400

IBM i is an EBCDIC based operating system that runs on IBM Power Systems. It is the current evolution of the operating system named i5/OS which was originally named OS/400 when it was introduced with the AS/400 computer system in 1988....

.

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

Multimedia

Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...

 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.

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.

See also

• LAN Manager
  LAN Manager
  LAN Manager was a Network Operating System available from multiple vendors and developed by Microsoft in cooperation with 3Com Corporation. It was designed to succeed 3Com's 3+Share network server software which ran atop a heavily modified version of MS-DOS.-Development history:LAN Manager was...
  
  
• LAN messenger
  LAN messenger
  A LAN messenger is an instant messaging program designed for use within a single local area network .There are advantages using a LAN messenger over a normal instant messenger. The LAN messenger runs inside a company or private LAN, and so an active Internet connection or a central server is not...
  
  
• Server Message Block
  Server Message Block
  In computer networking, Server Message Block , also known as Common Internet File System operates as an application-layer network protocol mainly used to provide shared access to files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. It also provides an...
  
  (SMB)