[ale] Virtualizing SCO OpenServer 5.x

[JD]

On 04/15/2014 03:21 PM, Beddingfield, Allen wrote:
> I have a consulting client running SCO OpenServer 5.x on an old Dell PowerEdge 2600, and I would love to get this moved into a virtual.  I've found some howtos for P2V'ing into VMware ESXi, by using G4U to make a whole disk image, ftp that to another machine on the LAN, then write it back to a VM, then change the various drivers, etc...  inside the VM to get it to work. I'm going to haul a test machine down there with ESXi on it to test, but I was wondering if anyone else has had any luck doing this - either on ESXi or even on KVM?  I know it won't be possible with XEN.  
> I've also seen other mentions of people loading up the VM with a fresh install, and untarring a full system backup over the top of it.  The problem is that I don't think there is enough free disk space on the original system to make that backup, and given the age of it, I want to mess with the hardware on the original system as little as possible.
> 
> Anyone have any experience in doing this?

Not with SCO.

With Linux, it is fairly trivial because setting up a base system isn't hard and
doesn't cause license managers any headaches.  I've **never** been successful
with Windows thanks to DRM, MB / chipset dependencies in the installed OS and
the strange way that ESXi set default disk controllers in the past. Reinstall
was easier.

So - be certain you can find drivers that SCO and the VM hypervisor both like
for the disk controller and NICs.

I've migrated about 30 VMs off ESXi and Xen to KVM in the last few years.  Much
happier now. MUCH happier.

Why wouldn't SCO run under Xen/HVM?  If it doesn't work there, then why would it
work with KVM or ESXi?

For backups, why not do a network backup to some place with enough storage? I'm
confused. No rsync?