SCO Unix Server

Wed Aug 22 07:57:09 PDT 2018

Robert,
there is no such thing, of course, as "NEW" hardware that will run OpenServer 5.0.5. I suspect there is also no such thing as "NEW" hardware that you could plug an ISA or PCI multiport serial card into. If your are lucky they are running a network-based serial terminal server, but even that would be old enough to be subject to failure at any time.

Most new servers don't even have a parallel port.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I see situations all the time where the client hasn't spent any money on safeguarding their future and just keeps "hoping" the hardware will keep running. When it fails it gets REALLY expensive, REALLY fast. THEN we find out no one has been monitoring backups, and the last good one is years old.

The OpenServer 5.0.5 server we use here was virtualized a few years ago and currently runs as a guest under VMware ESXi 6.5. Fortunately, I had done a ton of work getting ready for virtualization day before the ancient hardware went kaboom one morning. So I was completely ready for the mess, and I had good backups. I was up and running before morning was out, and with zero data loss. MUCH faster, too.

My suggestion is to start getting them ready now, just in case.

- Get them off the Wyse terminals and onto PCs running terminal emulators (TinyTerm, Anzio, PuTTY, etc.), anything that runs over the network.
- Get them off any serial and parallel printers and onto network printers, if they have any left.
- I know they don't have any USB devices because, well, OpenServer 5.0.5 pre-dates USB.

When everything that communicates with the server goes through the network card, it becomes easier to:
a) Move to a new server on and upgraded release of OpenServer, or
b) Virtualize the OpenServer 5.0.5 box if absolutely necessary.

We do P2V conversions of OpenServer 5.0.7, OpenServer 6 and UnixWare 7.1.4 all the time as a paid service. I prefer not to do OpenServer 5.0.5, but I know it works as I'm using it myself.

Contact me off-list if you have any questions.
Tom Podnar
Microlite Corporation
tom at microlite.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Repko via Filepro-list" <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
To: "'FilePro Mailing List' (filepro-list at lists.celestial.com)" <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2018 8:01:08 AM
Subject: RE: SCO Unix Server

Chris,

Thank you for the suggestion.  I’m not that familiar with VMWare but what really complicates the situation is they are using Wyse serial terminals at their desks, so I’m not sure I could use a virtual server.

-----Original Message-----
From: Filepro-list <filepro-list-bounces+rtr=rsquared.com at lists.celestial.com> On Behalf Of Chris Rendall via Filepro-list
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2018 10:14 PM
To: filePro List <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
Subject: Re: SCO Unix Server

SCO OpenServer 5.0.7 Maintenance Pack 5 is supported by the latest VMware ESXi 6.7.  If you run SCO UNIX on VMware you can purchase newer hardware and then be able to run an older OS for filePro.

— Chris

> On Aug 21, 2018, at 8:23 PM, Robert Repko via Filepro-list <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com> wrote:
> 
> I have a client that has finally agreed to consider a new server for their filePro application.  Their current server is a Dell PowerEdge 1300, which was purchased in 1999 making it 19 years old.   They are running SCO Unix 5.0.5   The server itself is still going strong, what made them consider a new server was the scare they just had when the server would not boot into Unix.  It wouldn't even allow you to boot into Single-User mode, it would just crash.  What made matters worse was their backups were failing.  I tried mounting their hard drive in my SCO Unix system and mount the drive, even then I could not mount the drive.  It said the hard drive was full and/or the filesystem was corrupt.  I was able to get them back up and running with a new hard drive and tape drive and was finally able to read 1 tape that was backed up July 13.  I told them they were living on borrowed time with a 19 year old server.  The next time they have a problem it will be the server itself and n
> ot the hard drive or tape drive.
> 
> So my question is has anyone recently setup a new server running SCO Unix. I would prefer to install 5.0.5, but I would go to  5.0.7 if necessary.  If so what server did you use.  I don't see anything on the compatibility list for Dell or HP that I would consider late model, anything on the list is at least 4 generation old.  I could move them to Linux but that would require them to purchase a Linux version of filePro but I'm trying to keep the price down.  My goal would be to use their existing copy of SCO and filePro if at all possible.
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