Virtualization a bare metal SCO Open Server 6?

Hello,

We have a SCO Open Server 6 running on bare metal hardware, this is used for a legacy application that we continue to need.

I would like to migrate/virtualize the SCO server into VMware so that I can do VM level backups, etc.

I did test to make sure SCO 6.0 can run in VMware/ESXi and it seems to work fine, I did a new ISO install and all runs stable.

What I need to do is some sort of P2V because we need to preserve the application that is running on the bare metal hardware (we have no install media or instructions for this app - super legacy).

Has anyone done a P2V for SCO6? I read somewhere we can use MicroLite's BackupEdge but seems it only supports SCO6 that is already running within a VMware environment. I also found a few threads suggesting booting to a Linux distro and using tools like "dd" or "ghost" do clone the disk.

Trying to figure out the best method to approach this, would be very interested in some real world examples of users doing this and how they went about it?

There a number of commercial tools available for this purpose. Some are better than others. My personal choice would be Storix � Linux, AIX and Solaris Backup and System Recovery Software, apparently from the people who wrote the AIX tool mksysb It allows you to change storage allocations and network configuration during the recovery process. I'm pretty sure it works with SCO too.

Others are available such as Christie Clone Manager, but I found Storix better for my needs.

I'm not sure how far back either of them support, but I hope that this is useful.

Robin

Do you know if Storix works for SCO Open Server 6 P2V? Their website has AIX/Solaris listed but not SCO specifically. They do offer a trial so i guess I can try it and see if it works.

---------- Post updated at 04:45 PM ---------- Previous update was at 10:23 AM ----------

I gave this a try and it is not possible with storix.

When I run it on SCO Open Server 6 I get a "System Type "SCO_SV" is invalid." error message. Just a FYI for anyone else that stumbles here. Going to try Microlite next.

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microlite will do the p2v for you.

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I was able to transplant the OS with Microlite - though it took a few hours to get it to work. Had to create a rescue boot CD using Microlite from a fresh SCO6 install in VMware and use that to boot and bring up networking, so we can access the master backup.

Trying to use the Microlite rescue media created within the hardware we're migrating off did not work when booted in VMware - it was not able to bring up network interface.

I suspect a driver issue going on but my workaround worked.

Issue now is my legacy app that uses Thoroughbred BASIC - it is asking for production activation - which is likely tied to hardware and since that has changed it thinks its a new install.

I wonder what my chances are at getting the activation code from the vendor, tbred.com is still around but this is a end of life OS :frowning:

zero. what disk controller does the bare metal install use?

Yea that was my thinking as well but I dropped them an email anyway to see if i get anywhere.

The bare metal system shows..

Alias    - Address  - Inquiry String
--------   --------   --------------
hba1     - c0b0t2   - (ide,2) Generic IDE/ATAPI
disk1    - c0b0t0l0 - WDC WD800JD-75MSA3      10.0

The vmware vm shows it like this... vmware � imgbb.com

Looks like both are identified as IDE/ATAPI?

If you are concerned about the reliability of the hardware, you can upgrade the disk to SSD, and the processor/motherboard to a 2012 I-core.

I was hoping to move the bare metal into a VM; that way I can do VM level backups and in case of restore it is much easier in VMware.

But I doubt we'll be able to get passed this licensing roadblock, so likely will just need to stock up on exact same hard drive off ebay.

I wonder what triggers tbasic to ask for activation - you think this is because the disk controller changed? Thinking ahead - if we stick with bare metal - and have to swap a failed disk down the road will we run into a similar issue or so as long as the hardware is the same it should not trigger tbasic to look for new activation.

The software is locked using a technique called inode locking.
When activation occurs, the inode number of one of the files is made data in a file. It is difficult (but not impossible) to change the inode number of a file,
As long as you do sector mode copying, you can replace the disk.

Interesting, so if we ran Microlite's BackupEdge to create a master backup that we later had to restore in case of a hard drive failure, likely it would give us the same issue as I don't think it is sector by sector copy - seems to be it was file by file but more fancy in that it also backs up your boot volume, partitions, etc.

The solution is to create a second disk now using a disk duplicating program and put it on the shelf.
If the production disk fails, then you install the backup disk with today's data on it and boot from it, then do a restore from your BackupEdge media.
If you want to be more secure, build a complete second system, and do a daily restore of your Edge backups. Just make sure both machines are not on the same local area subnet.