unable to log into novell from linux client

i'm not quite certain this is the proper category for this particular topic, so feel free to direct me elsewhere if appropriate.

we have an installation of edirectory 8.8.6, on three different computers - two sles and one netware [which will be shortly replaced with sles]. this is for the purposes of a groupwise system. as part of the upgrade from netware to sles, i'd like to also use sled and consoleone for groupwise management tasks.

to that end, i've installed sled on a computer, and have installed consoleone and the novell client. however, i am unable to login with the novell client. i have gone through the novell client setup wizards, and have done basic configuration. in the novel login window, i provide the username, password, tree, context, and server, but when i click ok, i get a novell security message "user.GroupWise.company is not a user object". i've tried a number of combinations for the various fields, but without success. it appears that the string "GroupWise" is being inserted for some reason, but i don't know why, and am having trouble figuring this out. what can i do to figure out what i'm doing wrong?

thanks
-ben