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I've been dealing with VMware to run SCO OpenServer 5.0.6 for legacy software,
and for various reasons it's making me unhappy.

I've got serious experience with Xen, but don't have a host with full
virtualizaton capable hardware that I can test ideas on. Is anyone out there
running a recent version of Xen on anything and care to try to get an install
working?

See, installing Xen 5.0.6 on VMware seems to require using the 5.0.7 boot
floppy image and manually installing BusLogic SCSI adapter drivers. But the
Xen setup tools don't include options for setting this up from the command
line, and I'm short of time to take my VMWare server down and experiment.

On Sat, 10 May 2008, Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
> I've been dealing with VMware to run SCO OpenServer 5.0.6 for legacy software,
> and for various reasons it's making me unhappy.
>
> I've got serious experience with Xen, but don't have a host with full
> virtualizaton capable hardware that I can test ideas on. Is anyone out there
> running a recent version of Xen on anything and care to try to get an install
> working?
>
> See, installing Xen 5.0.6 on VMware seems to require using the 5.0.7 boot
> floppy image and manually installing BusLogic SCSI adapter drivers. But the
> Xen setup tools don't include options for setting this up from the command
> line, and I'm short of time to take my VMWare server down and experiment.

What problems are you having? Mine seems to run really well I am using
SATA disks.

I have this in my osr507.vmx file.

#!/usr/bin/vmware
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
memsize = "256"
ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.fileName = "osr507.vmdk"
ide0:0.writeThrough = "TRUE"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.fileName = "/dev/scd0"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"
floppy0.fileName = "/dev/fd0"
Ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
displayName = "osr507"
guestOS = "other"
priority.grabbed = "normal"
priority.ungrabbed = "normal"
powerType.powerOff = "hard"
powerType.powerOn = "hard"
powerType.suspend = "hard"
powerType.reset = "hard"
autostart = "poweron"
ide0:0.redo = ""
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
uuid.location = "56 4d 00 a0 66 37 25 64-bf 33 08 d3 aa 9f 18 b6"
uuid.bios = "56 4d 00 a0 66 37 25 64-bf 33 08 d3 aa 9f 18 b6"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:9f:18:b6"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"
ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

usb.present = "FALSE"
usb.generic.autoconnect = "FALSE"

--
Boyd Gerber <gerberb@zenez.com>
ZENEZ 1042 East Fort Union #135, Midvale Utah 84047

Boyd Lynn Gerber, replying to Nico Kadel-Garcia:

Nico>> I've been dealing with VMware to run SCO OpenServer 5.0.6 for
Nico>> legacy software, and for various reasons it's making me unhappy.

Don't you mean you are using "VMware" to run "SCO"?

When you identify the virtualization platform only by the company name
you are committing the same error that so many comp.unix.sco.misc users
have been called on in the past. The company is not the product.

Nico>> See, installing Xen 5.0.6 on VMware seems to require using the
Nico>> 5.0.7 boot floppy image and manually installing BusLogic SCSI
Nico>> adapter drivers. But the Xen setup tools don't include options
Nico>> for setting this up from the command line, and I'm short of time
Nico>> to take my VMWare server down and experiment.

I think you mean "SCO [OpenServer] 5.0.6" the first time the word "Xen"
appears in the above lines.

Here is where the choice of VMware virtualization platform makes a big
difference. VMware's _hosted_ platforms (VMware Server, Workstation,
Player, ACE, and Fusion) support the presentation of emulated IDE disks
to the guest OS. VMware ESX does not; it supports only emulated SCSI
disks (on emulated BusLogic BT-958 and LSI Logic 53c1030 HBAs).

No release of OSR5 has LSI 1030 drivers in its boot image. They do have
BusLogic drivers, but the build-in "blc" driver has a bug which prevents
it from operating the VMware emulated adapter. You end up having to use
a BTLD in both cases (either to supply the 1030 driver or to replace the
BusLogic driver with a debugged version).

You can avoid these issues on the hosted platforms by using IDE disk
emulation.

Boyd> What problems are you having? Mine seems to run really well
Boyd> I am using SATA disks.

Here I think you are talking about the physical disks. This is
irrelevant as long as they work with your virtualization platform.

Boyd> I have this in my osr507.vmx file.

Boyd> ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
Boyd> ide0:0.fileName = "osr507.vmdk"

This shows an emulated IDE disk, therefore you are apparently using one
of the hosted products. IDE is definitely the easiest choice if you are
able to take it.

I keep hoping that ESX will eventually add support for IDE disk
emulation. Then all the pain of installing OSR5 with BTLDs could be
avoided. This would also benefit various other guest OSes.

>Bela<

On Sun, 11 May 2008, Bela Lubkin wrote:
> Boyd Lynn Gerber, replying to Nico Kadel-Garcia:
> Nico>> I've been dealing with VMware to run SCO OpenServer 5.0.6 for
> Nico>> legacy software, and for various reasons it's making me unhappy.
>
> Don't you mean you are using "VMware" to run "SCO"?

Yes, I run all OpenServer 5.0.7, OpenServer 6.0, and UnixWare 7.1.4 as
guest OS's on openSUSE 10.3 with VMWare Workstation.

> When you identify the virtualization platform only by the company name
> you are committing the same error that so many comp.unix.sco.misc users
> have been called on in the past. The company is not the product.
>
> Nico>> See, installing Xen 5.0.6 on VMware seems to require using the
> Nico>> 5.0.7 boot floppy image and manually installing BusLogic SCSI
> Nico>> adapter drivers. But the Xen setup tools don't include options
> Nico>> for setting this up from the command line, and I'm short of time
> Nico>> to take my VMWare server down and experiment.
>
> I think you mean "SCO [OpenServer] 5.0.6" the first time the word "Xen"
> appears in the above lines.
>
> Here is where the choice of VMware virtualization platform makes a big
> difference. VMware's _hosted_ platforms (VMware Server, Workstation,
> Player, ACE, and Fusion) support the presentation of emulated IDE disks
> to the guest OS. VMware ESX does not; it supports only emulated SCSI
> disks (on emulated BusLogic BT-958 and LSI Logic 53c1030 HBAs).
>
> No release of OSR5 has LSI 1030 drivers in its boot image. They do have
> BusLogic drivers, but the build-in "blc" driver has a bug which prevents
> it from operating the VMware emulated adapter. You end up having to use
> a BTLD in both cases (either to supply the 1030 driver or to replace the
> BusLogic driver with a debugged version).
>
> You can avoid these issues on the hosted platforms by using IDE disk
> emulation.

This is the option I choose to do. I find it to be the best.

> Boyd> What problems are you having? Mine seems to run really well
> Boyd> I am using SATA disks.
>
> Here I think you are talking about the physical disks. This is
> irrelevant as long as they work with your virtualization platform.

Yes, I am. I agree. I just wanted to be clear what I was using as my
system.

> Boyd> I have this in my osr507.vmx file.
>
> Boyd> ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
> Boyd> ide0:0.fileName = "osr507.vmdk"
>
> This shows an emulated IDE disk, therefore you are apparently using one
> of the hosted products. IDE is definitely the easiest choice if you are
> able to take it.
>
> I keep hoping that ESX will eventually add support for IDE disk
> emulation. Then all the pain of installing OSR5 with BTLDs could be
> avoided. This would also benefit various other guest OSes.

Thanks for the comments. Thanks also for all the good work you have done.

--
Boyd Gerber <gerberb@zenez.com>
ZENEZ 1042 East Fort Union #135, Midvale Utah 84047

Bela Lubkin wrote:
> Boyd Lynn Gerber, replying to Nico Kadel-Garcia:
>
> Nico>> I've been dealing with VMware to run SCO OpenServer 5.0.6 for
> Nico>> legacy software, and for various reasons it's making me unhappy.
>
> Don't you mean you are using "VMware" to run "SCO"?
>
> When you identify the virtualization platform only by the company name
> you are committing the same error that so many comp.unix.sco.misc users
> have been called on in the past. The company is not the product.

Well, I've been using both VMware Workstation 6 and VMWare ESX 3.5. VMware
Workstation 6 supports IDE emulation, VMware ESX 3.5 does not. Dang it! It
makes installing on ESX much more painful than on Workstation.

> Nico>> See, installing Xen 5.0.6 on VMware seems to require using the
> Nico>> 5.0.7 boot floppy image and manually installing BusLogic SCSI
> Nico>> adapter drivers. But the Xen setup tools don't include options
> Nico>> for setting this up from the command line, and I'm short of time
> Nico>> to take my VMWare server down and experiment.
>
> I think you mean "SCO [OpenServer] 5.0.6" the first time the word "Xen"
> appears in the above lines.
>
> Here is where the choice of VMware virtualization platform makes a big
> difference. VMware's _hosted_ platforms (VMware Server, Workstation,
> Player, ACE, and Fusion) support the presentation of emulated IDE disks
> to the guest OS. VMware ESX does not; it supports only emulated SCSI
> disks (on emulated BusLogic BT-958 and LSI Logic 53c1030 HBAs).


> No release of OSR5 has LSI 1030 drivers in its boot image. They do have
> BusLogic drivers, but the build-in "blc" driver has a bug which prevents
> it from operating the VMware emulated adapter. You end up having to use
> a BTLD in both cases (either to supply the 1030 driver or to replace the
> BusLogic driver with a debugged version).

Which is well-described in AP Lawrence's blog about the issues.

> You can avoid these issues on the hosted platforms by using IDE disk
> emulation.
>
> Boyd> What problems are you having? Mine seems to run really well
> Boyd> I am using SATA disks.
>
> Here I think you are talking about the physical disks. This is
> irrelevant as long as they work with your virtualization platform.

That wasn't me. That was Boyd.

> Boyd> I have this in my osr507.vmx file.
>
> Boyd> ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
> Boyd> ide0:0.fileName = "osr507.vmdk"
>
> This shows an emulated IDE disk, therefore you are apparently using one
> of the hosted products. IDE is definitely the easiest choice if you are
> able to take it.
>
> I keep hoping that ESX will eventually add support for IDE disk
> emulation. Then all the pain of installing OSR5 with BTLDs could be
> avoided. This would also benefit various other guest OSes.
>
>> Bela<

I'm inclined to agree. But what I was really looking for, was people emulating
OpenServer under *Xen* rather than under VMware. I suspect it's possible
using the BusLogic SCSI installation technique, but the RHEL based VMWare
management tools don't have built-in facilities for enable floppy and CD
access or booting. It's pesky!

On 11 May, 23:32, Nico Kadel-Garcia <nka...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Bela Lubkin wrote:
> > Boyd Lynn Gerber, replying to Nico Kadel-Garcia:
>
> > Nico>> I've been dealing with VMware to run SCO OpenServer 5.0.6 for
> > Nico>> legacy software, and for various reasons it's making me unhappy.
>
> > Don't you mean you are using "VMware" to run "SCO"?
>
> > When you identify the virtualization platform only by the company name
> > you are committing the same error that so many comp.unix.sco.misc users
> > have been called on in the past. *The company is not the product.
>
> Well, I've been using both VMware Workstation 6 and VMWare ESX 3.5. VMware
> Workstation 6 supports IDE emulation, VMware ESX 3.5 does not. Dang it! It
> makes installing on ESX much more painful than on Workstation.
>
>
>
>
>
> > Nico>> See, installing Xen 5.0.6 on VMware seems to require using the
> > Nico>> 5.0.7 boot floppy image and manually installing BusLogic SCSI
> > Nico>> adapter drivers. But the Xen setup tools don't include options
> > Nico>> for setting this up from the command line, and I'm short of time
> > Nico>> to take my VMWare server down and experiment.
>
> > I think you mean "SCO [OpenServer] 5.0.6" the first time the word "Xen"
> > appears in the above lines.
>
> > Here is where the choice of VMware virtualization platform makes a big
> > difference. *VMware's _hosted_ platforms (VMware Server, Workstation,
> > Player, ACE, and Fusion) support the presentation of emulated IDE disks
> > to the guest OS. *VMware ESX does not; it supports only emulated SCSI
> > disks (on emulated BusLogic BT-958 and LSI Logic 53c1030 HBAs).
> > No release of OSR5 has LSI 1030 drivers in its boot image. *They do have
> > BusLogic drivers, but the build-in "blc" driver has a bug which prevents
> > it from operating the VMware emulated adapter. *You end up having to use
> > a BTLD in both cases (either to supply the 1030 driver or to replace the
> > BusLogic driver with a debugged version).
>
> Which is well-described in AP Lawrence's blog about the issues.
>
> > You can avoid these issues on the hosted platforms by using IDE disk
> > emulation.
>
> > Boyd> What problems are you having? *Mine seems to run really well
> > Boyd> I am using SATA disks.
>
> > Here I think you are talking about the physical disks. *This is
> > irrelevant as long as they work with your virtualization platform.
>
> That wasn't me. That was Boyd.
>
> > Boyd> I have this in my osr507.vmx file.
>
> > Boyd> ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
> > Boyd> ide0:0.fileName = "osr507.vmdk"
>
> > This shows an emulated IDE disk, therefore you are apparently using one
> > of the hosted products. *IDE is definitely the easiest choice if you are
> > able to take it.
>
> > I keep hoping that ESX will eventually add support for IDE disk
> > emulation. *Then all the pain of installing OSR5 with BTLDs could be
> > avoided. *This would also benefit various other guest OSes.
>
> >> Bela<
>
> I'm inclined to agree. But what I was really looking for, was people emulating
> * OpenServer under *Xen* rather than under VMware. I suspect it's possible
> using the BusLogic SCSI installation technique, but the RHEL based VMWare
> management tools don't have built-in facilities for enable floppy and CD
> access or booting. It's pesky!- Hide quoted text -

That was a typo. I meant the 'RHEL based _Xen_ management tools',
namely virt-install and virt-manager.