Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Finding Legacy UnixWare Installation Media?
First time accepted submitter lukpac writes "We have an old (ancient) Unisys server in production that hosts a legacy system and are attempting to virtualize it. Unfortunately we don't have a generic UnixWare (2.1.2) installation CD, just a Unisys-specific one, and given the recent unpleasantness (see Groklaw for details), SCO isn't much of an option. We're not looking at pirating it (as above, we do still have the Unisys-specific media), but do need a generic copy of UnixWare. What options, if any, are available?"
How about doing a dd of the entire drive from the current system to a virtual disk and trying to make that work? Is the Unisys hardware that special? If not, you might be able to get it working by manipulating the virtual hardware of your VM.
Yes, it's called dd.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
You will be glad you followed this advice !! Think of it, No More CLI !! Now, everything you do, everything you COULD EVER DO, is done simply, and easily, with finger gestures !! You are welcome !! Now go shave that beard, and run home !! Run as fast as you can !!
Update
You need Unixware 7.1 to run. DD wont work as it is not a VMWare image disk file.
I know the cost of a new license is $699 per CPU plus $1999 for a TCP/IP, but I would upgrade. The business reason is your ancient 15 year old server is going to die. All it takes is a single prolonged power outage like the one in New York City that your APC can keep on forever and your ancient PSU is TOAST! Systems that old do not reboot reliable.
So your business case it to virtualize it so it can run on newer hardware forever and you wont be caught with your pants down if something happens and it will on such an ancient beast. So buy a new shiny Linux box, install VMWorkstation (VSX or VSPhere is waaaay too expensive unless you run a server farm/data center) and install a fresh copy of Unixware 7.x on a virtual machine and over the network copy the program, config files, and database files. With virtualization you can consolidate and you can put more things on the same box to save power like your DNS Server or a Windows file share too on a different vms to cut down on the amount of servers.
Good luck.
http://saveie6.com/
Never used it with VMware but I've certainly moves physical machines over to KVM using dd images. If you want elegance, Clonezilla has a reasonably easy interface.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Seriously, systems this old need to be retired.
Seriously, that isn't always an option.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
If that server is truly ancient, qemu might handle it at speeds comparable to your old hardware -- or perhaps even faster.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
I've been ... oddly, collecting original installation CDs, and licenses (valid) for dozens and dozens of OSes for years. I have early versions and later ones, slackware, unixware, irix, and many others.
Send me a message ...
You know you posted as AC, right?
Visit the
dd works just fine with VMWare in most cases. I've used it dozens of times.
Qemu comes with tools to change the formats of disk images. Use dd to create a raw file, then convert to whatever format required. I've used Qemu to convert VMware images for use in KVM.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Complete with all documentation, some of it still shrink-wrapped. The diskette and CD envelopes were also never opened, though the adhesive on the perforated flaps has dried up and left them unsealed even though they were.
've been ... oddly, collecting original installation CDs, and licenses (valid) for dozens and dozens of OSes for years. I have early versions and later ones, slackware, unixware, irix, and many others.
...
Send me a message
You know you posted as AC, right?
You know there's no way to "private message" someone on slashdot, right?
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Newer Update
The poster is screwed. If it is u6000 Unisys model it uses a iAPX-86 family cpu. No it is not x86 compatible. So if something does happen your employer goes out of business! Find out asap what kind of Unisys system it is!!
Newer business plan ...
My recommendation is to migrate to another platform and start over. Your boss will hate that! Your workers will hate that! Your accountants will hate that! But you need to be able to migrate to a platform that can at least run on a virtual machine forever and ever and not be caught with your pants down again. I do not know how important this server is or what it does or hopefully does not have ancient database records needed for daily operation GOD FORBID.
Make a business case with the owners or IT department depending on size and say we have A LIABILITY. Liability gets there attention fast and explain you are one outage or parts failure from disaster that you can't recover from. It will cost money and workers who resist change will hate you and complain how great the other product is, but ask them how much it will cost when it dies?
Believe it or not there are workers who hate leaving IE 6 and 7 behind too. Just because it was what htey used for 10 years even though they used Firefox from home. Your intentions of just replacing SCO in a VM are a good one but from how I see it you just discovered a big problem that a good IT employer would recommend to fix.
Again Good Luck
http://saveie6.com/
Slightly off topic but I'd like to share it:
Old SCO was pretty classy, they had their "Free license" Unixware 7 advertized on their site, but you had to pay for a "media kit" for about $100. Being a poor uppity teenager, I emailed them asking where I could download the media in order to take advantage of their free license. They asked for my address.
Three days later I had a DHL shipped media kit box with over 20 discs in total. I was sad to see them sell Unixware off.
Seriously, systems this old need to be retired.
1. That's exactly what OP is trying to do.
2. Seriously, have you ever worked on anything in the real world? like maybe, telephones? electrical systems? You'd be amazed how many systems are out there payin' the bills every day that are older than most slashdotters.
A system doesn't need to be supported to be able to fully work. If an environment is completely stable why does it need support?
Back it up, make sure you can still buy hardware for it to run on, and you're set. There's no point in upgrading a system which simply works as designed and is never modified. And I say this as someone who has applied the paddles of life to a machine running DOS at my work this year to keep an old proprietary system up and running. It's due for an upgrade in 2015.
> SCO isn't much of an option.
Why not? Just buy them out. By now you can probably buy the company for a few hundred bucks...
G18) Is there a UnixWare user's group?
Dan Busarow writes: The SCO Users Group can be reached electronically
as scoug@xenitec.on.ca. Subscription requests to
scoug-request@xenitec.on.ca.
http://lib.ru/UNIXFAQ/faq-unixware-general.txt
Linux got some binary compatibility tweaks on the kernel to run programs for other operating systems. I've worked on a similar issue in the past and the relevant services running on an OpenServer were just copied into the Linux system with a patched kernel with their dependences. Luckily the program was simple enough to make it without minor bugs like glitches with the linux terminal.
If dd -> image conversion with qemu-img -> virtualization is not an option you could research a bit about binary compatibility with your old server.