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I have a medical practice with all of our billing, appointments, etc.
running on a proprietary software called Script Systems by Mysis. The
server is a 4 year old IBM eServer with OS 5.07 as OS.. I am concerned
about the need to replace the server before a hardware failure creates a
crisis, as I figure most hardware is good for about 5 years and we are near
that. Mysis would prefer (naturally) that I migrate to a different software
they offer that is GUI instead of character based, although they still
support our product. The OS on our server is OS 5.07. How realistic is it
that I stick to our prior method of buying an Intel based server and load OS
5.07 and our data myself, and have Mysis still do software support for their
product (but not hardware or OS) given Sco's financial problems. Our
vender's solution is considerably more expensive, but has the advantaage
that they will support the new hardware and software. All thoughts
appreciated.

Marty Rubenstein, MD

Martin Rubenstein wrote:
> I have a medical practice with all of our billing, appointments, etc.
> running on a proprietary software called Script Systems by Mysis. The
> server is a 4 year old IBM eServer with OS 5.07 as OS.. I am concerned
> about the need to replace the server before a hardware failure creates a
> crisis, as I figure most hardware is good for about 5 years and we are near
> that. Mysis would prefer (naturally) that I migrate to a different software
> they offer that is GUI instead of character based, although they still
> support our product. The OS on our server is OS 5.07. How realistic is it
> that I stick to our prior method of buying an Intel based server and load OS
> 5.07 and our data myself, and have Mysis still do software support for their
> product (but not hardware or OS) given Sco's financial problems. Our
> vender's solution is considerably more expensive, but has the advantaage
> that they will support the new hardware and software. All thoughts
> appreciated.
>
> Marty Rubenstein, MD
>
>

I would recommend an HP server using SAS RAID-5, perhaps the ML-350.

They still actively support SCO through their EFS value-add for SCO 5.0.7.

Make sure you apply the MP5 SCO patch right after the initial load
(you'll need the BTLD diskette for the hpsas driver from the EFS
material) and after EFS has been installed.

A whitebox Intel system may or may not work, depending on things like
shared video memory (does NOT work for SCO).

--
----------------------------------------------------
Pat Welch, UBB Computer Services, a WCS Affiliate
SCO Authorized Partner
Microlite BackupEdge Certified Reseller
Unix/Linux/Windows/Hardware Sales/Support
(209) 745-1401 Cell: (209) 251-9120
E-mail: patubb@inreach.com
----------------------------------------------------

Martin Rubenstein wrote:
> I have a medical practice with all of our billing, appointments, etc.
> running on a proprietary software called Script Systems by Mysis. The
> server is a 4 year old IBM eServer with OS 5.07 as OS.. I am concerned
> about the need to replace the server before a hardware failure creates a
> crisis, as I figure most hardware is good for about 5 years and we are near
> that. Mysis would prefer (naturally) that I migrate to a different software
> they offer that is GUI instead of character based, although they still
> support our product. The OS on our server is OS 5.07. How realistic is it
> that I stick to our prior method of buying an Intel based server and load OS
> 5.07 and our data myself, and have Mysis still do software support for their
> product (but not hardware or OS) given Sco's financial problems. Our
> vender's solution is considerably more expensive, but has the advantaage
> that they will support the new hardware and software. All thoughts
> appreciated.
>
> Marty Rubenstein, MD
>
>
>
Marty,

I have a medical office client running SCO 5.0.7 on a SuberMicro system that
I built for them. RAID-5, SCSI SCA drives in hotplug carriers. The machine
is about 4 years old now and soon SCA drives will become hard to find as
disk manufactures are moving to Serial Attached SCSI (see Pat's post).

But back to your question: Is 5.0.7 good to keep running? I'd say yes.

But what is your disaster plan? If the box goes down how are you going
to get it back up?

A lot depends on how your users are connecting to the box: MS Windows
machines with a terminal emulator program connecting over TCP/IP, or
green screen Wyse serial terminals?

How are your printers connected? Networked print servers or serial?

What are you using for backing up your system? Are you backing up
to tape? DVD RW? IOmega REV? Over the network to a FTP server?

I have another client with one of my SuperMicro boxes with a single
2.8GHz Xeon, 1G RAM, running 5.0.7 without RAID, just a single
disk on the Adapted ad320 SCSI controller. A law office with
25 users accessing the main app on the UNIX box as well as
using the UNIX box as a file and print server for the Windows
Network.

We tested the disaster recovery plan by renting an off the shelf P4
system with 1G RAM and onboard Intel NIC. Bought a second IOMega REV drive
and an PATA IDE hard disk. I pulled the rented system's hard disk
and installed the IDE REV drive and new IDE hard disk, booted
the nightly backup REV media with the RE2 boot image and restored
the Backup Edge full system backup to the hard disk. I took about
four hours to get the box up and running from opening it to
swap the IDE hard disk and install the REV drive until the users were
able to login via the network and resume normal work.

The IDE disk and REV drive we bought for this test have been
boxed up and placed in the bank safety deposit box. Should it be
necessary, we can install the disk and REV drive in a new
box, boot 5.0.7 and simply restore the application data files
and users Word processing documents and Excel files.

Using an off the shelf PC as a interim server while a permanent
replacement server is procured recognizes that in a disaster
(fire, flood, theft, etc) it could take a week or more to
duplicate the hardware in the production server.

You can do the same. You could do it as simply as a spare
hard disk and backup drive. Or you could buy a new or used
system identical to the existing system and keep it off
site as a cold backup.




--
Steve Fabac
S.M. Fabac & Associates
816/765-1670

On 6 Mar, 00:04, "Martin Rubenstein" <ma...@sbohp.com> wrote:
> I have a medical practice with all of our billing, appointments, etc.
> running on a proprietary software called Script Systems by Mysis. *The
> server is a 4 year old IBM eServer with OS 5.07 as OS.. *I am concerned
> about the need to replace the server before a hardware failure creates a
> crisis, as I figure most hardware is good for about 5 years and we are near
> that. *Mysis would prefer (naturally) that I migrate to a different software
> they offer that is GUI instead of character based, although they still
> support our product. *The OS on our server is OS 5.07. *How realistic is it
> that I stick to our prior method of buying an Intel based server and load OS
> 5.07 and our data myself, and have Mysis still do software support for their
> product (but not hardware or OS) given Sco's financial problems. *Our
> vender's solution is considerably more expensive, but has the advantaage
> that they will support the new hardware and software. *All thoughts
> appreciated.
>
> Marty Rubenstein, MD

Virtualize it on VMware Workstation 6 or better. Get away fromt the
hardware compatibility problems of a company in bankruptcy and an out
of date OS. Any contemporary server should be able to run this quite
comfortably under Linux or even Windows: I'm doing this right now.

On Mar 6, 1:04 am, "Martin Rubenstein" <ma...@sbohp.com> wrote:
> I have a medical practice with all of our billing, appointments, etc.
> running on a proprietary software called Script Systems by Mysis. The
> server is a 4 year old IBM eServer with OS 5.07 as OS.. I am concerned
> about the need to replace the server before a hardware failure creates a
> crisis, as I figure most hardware is good for about 5 years and we are near
> that. Mysis would prefer (naturally) that I migrate to a different software
> they offer that is GUI instead of character based, although they still
> support our product. The OS on our server is OS 5.07. How realistic is it
> that I stick to our prior method of buying an Intel based server and load OS
> 5.07 and our data myself, and have Mysis still do software support for their
> product (but not hardware or OS) given Sco's financial problems. Our
> vender's solution is considerably more expensive, but has the advantaage
> that they will support the new hardware and software. All thoughts
> appreciated.
>
> Marty Rubenstein, MD

At least one major server vendor, HP, still sells new servers that can
run SCO OpenServer 5.0.7, and are certified for that OS. I am not sure
about other vendors, since all Intel/AMD based servers I've dealt with
recently were HP. For example, task of installing 5.0.7 on ProLiant
DL380 G5 is doable, from my recent personal experience. I had to use
external USB optical drive and floppy (broader described in another
thread in this news group).

The other option is to use virtualization like VMWare Server or
Workstation on some Linux or Windows. That is also doable. You should
just check if it is supported by your vendor(s). I am not sure if
OpenServer is supported on VMWare officially.

Darko Krstic

On 6 Mar, 19:27, darko <darko.krs...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mar 6, 1:04 am, "Martin Rubenstein" <ma...@sbohp.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > I have a medical practice with all of our billing, appointments, etc.
> > running on a proprietary software called Script Systems by Mysis. *The
> > server is a 4 year old IBM eServer with OS 5.07 as OS.. *I am concerned
> > about the need to replace the server before a hardware failure creates a
> > crisis, as I figure most hardware is good for about 5 years and we are near
> > that. *Mysis would prefer (naturally) that I migrate to a different software
> > they offer that is GUI instead of character based, although they still
> > support our product. *The OS on our server is OS 5.07. *How realistic is it
> > that I stick to our prior method of buying an Intel based server and load OS
> > 5.07 and our data myself, and have Mysis still do software support for their
> > product (but not hardware or OS) given Sco's financial problems. *Our
> > vender's solution is considerably more expensive, but has the advantaage
> > that they will support the new hardware and software. *All thoughts
> > appreciated.
>
> > Marty Rubenstein, MD
>
> At least one major server vendor, HP, still sells new servers that can
> run SCO OpenServer 5.0.7, and are certified for that OS. I am not sure
> about other vendors, since all Intel/AMD based servers I've dealt with
> recently were HP. For example, task of installing 5.0.7 on ProLiant
> DL380 G5 is doable, from my recent personal experience. I had to use
> external USB optical drive and floppy (broader described in another
> thread in this news group).
>
> The other option is to use virtualization like VMWare Server or
> Workstation on some Linux or Windows. That is also doable. You should
> just check if it is supported by your vendor(s). I am not sure if
> OpenServer is supported on VMWare officially.
>
> Darko Krstic- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Just because a server is "compatible" doesn't mean you can get it to
work. I've been doing hardware evaluations and integrations with
various OS's since BSD 4.1, and I've got to say that SCO configuration
harkens back to the bad old '80's of having to know the answer to
everything in advance. including details of SCSI configuration and
driver installations that any modern OS either auto-detects or has
decent probe tools to detect. The result is that adding peripherals,
such as tape drives, external USB drives, graphics tablets, or
slightly unusual monitors is awkward if not impossible. And it's only
going to get worse.

Virtualizing lets you sidestep these problems and leave them with a
current operating system capable of handling contemporary hardware,
and allows trivial transfer of your entire virtualized operating
system to an arbitrary virtualization server. It also installs in a
fraction of the time, because the underlying OS and hardware do the
bad block management for you and that *AMAZINGLY* slow OpenServer disk
configuration tools stays the heck out of your way.

On Thu, 6 Mar 2008, Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
> On 6 Mar, 19:27, darko <darko.krs...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Mar 6, 1:04 am, "Martin Rubenstein" <ma...@sbohp.com> wrote:
> > > I have a medical practice with all of our billing, appointments,
> > > etc. running on a proprietary software called Script Systems by
> > > Mysis. Â*The server is a 4 year old IBM eServer with OS 5.07 as OS..
> > > Â*I am concerned about the need to replace the server before a
> > > hardware failure creates a crisis, as I figure most hardware is good
> > > for about 5 years and we are near that. Â*Mysis would prefer
> > > (naturally) that I migrate to a different software they offer that
> > > is GUI instead of character based, although they still support our
> > > product. Â*The OS on our server is OS 5.07. Â*How realistic is it that
> > > I stick to our prior method of buying an Intel based server and load
> > > OS 5.07 and our data myself, and have Mysis still do software
> > > support for their product (but not hardware or OS) given Sco's
> > > financial problems. Â*Our vender's solution is considerably more
> > > expensive, but has the advantaage that they will support the new
> > > hardware and software. Â*All thoughts appreciated.

The information is given. The OP knows that the SW is only supported on
the SCO OS. He is asking for assistance with a specific problem.

> > At least one major server vendor, HP, still sells new servers that can
> > run SCO OpenServer 5.0.7, and are certified for that OS. I am not sure
> > about other vendors, since all Intel/AMD based servers I've dealt with
> > recently were HP. For example, task of installing 5.0.7 on ProLiant
> > DL380 G5 is doable, from my recent personal experience. I had to use
> > external USB optical drive and floppy (broader described in another
> > thread in this news group).
> >
> > The other option is to use virtualization like VMWare Server or
> > Workstation on some Linux or Windows. That is also doable. You should
> > just check if it is supported by your vendor(s). I am not sure if
> > OpenServer is supported on VMWare officially.

OpenServer is not supported by VMWare. So taking it to a virtualized
state causes the SW to become unsupported by the vendor.

> Just because a server is "compatible" doesn't mean you can get it to
> work. I've been doing hardware evaluations and integrations with various
> OS's since BSD 4.1, and I've got to say that SCO configuration harkens
> back to the bad old '80's of having to know the answer to everything in
> advance. including details of SCSI configuration and driver
> installations that any modern OS either auto-detects or has decent probe
> tools to detect. The result is that adding peripherals, such as tape
> drives, external USB drives, graphics tablets, or slightly unusual
> monitors is awkward if not impossible. And it's only going to get worse.

That is why there is OpenServer 6. It does not have the old knowledge is
required to get the devices working. Sadly the market has to provide for
clueless Admins, that do no understand UNIX.

> Virtualizing lets you sidestep these problems and leave them with a
> current operating system capable of handling contemporary hardware, and
> allows trivial transfer of your entire virtualized operating system to
> an arbitrary virtualization server. It also installs in a fraction of
> the time, because the underlying OS and hardware do the bad block
> management for you and that *AMAZINGLY* slow OpenServer disk
> configuration tools stays the heck out of your way.

Yes, but it is a non supported configuration by the vendor. And yes I use
virtualization. But to report problems to the vendor you have to follow
their rules. Some out right reject any thing done virtually. Sadly we
have to follow vendor rules to get bugs fixed. What you need to realize
is that there are various target audiences. We have to address them.

The SoftWare Applications chooses the OS. We have to look at what is best
for the OP/business. Not pick a ...


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

On 7 Mar, 00:54, Nico Kadel-Garcia <nka...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 6 Mar, 19:27, darko <darko.krs...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > At least one major server vendor, HP, still sells new servers that can
> > run SCO OpenServer 5.0.7, and are certified for that OS. I am not sure
> > about other vendors, since all Intel/AMD based servers I've dealt with
> > recently were HP.
>
> Just because a server is "compatible" doesn't mean you can get it to
> work.

Nico,

Darko said that HP servers are Certified with SCO products, not that
they are "compatible".

SCO Certified Hardware has been certified by SCO's Engineering
Services team
in conjunction with the hardware vendor to ensure inter-operability.
SCO is the
initial contact point for any issues discovered with hardware listed
as Certified.
If the problem can be duplicated, SCO will escalate the issue to the
vendor and
will work together with the vendor for resolution of the issue.

Compatible Hardware is hardware that is reported to work with the
product based
on driver availability, but has not been certified, nor is supported
by SCO or
the manufacturer.

> I've been doing hardware evaluations and integrations with
> various OS's since BSD 4.1, and I've got to say that SCO configuration
> harkens back to the bad old '80's of having to know the answer to
> everything in advance. including details of SCSI configuration and
> driver installations that any modern OS either auto-detects or has
> decent probe tools to detect.

I suspect that your experiences are based on versions of the SCO
Operating System that are not current. The latest version of SCO
OpenServer and UnixWare auto-detect Host Bus Adapters, storage
peripherals, Network cards and Graphics cards at installation time.

If you want to evaluate OpenServer 6.0.0 for example, you can download
it from:

http://www.sco.com/support/update/do...se.php?rid=161

> The result is that adding peripherals,
> such as tape drives, external USB drives, graphics tablets, or
> slightly unusual monitors is awkward if not impossible. And it's only
> going to get worse.

OpenServer 6 and UnixWare 7 both autodetect Tape drives and support
both SCSI Hot adding of these devices to a running server.

USB devices are autodetected either at boot time, if they are already
in the machine, or ar runtime, if they are connected to a running
server.

As to monitors on OpenServer 6 we use the X.org X Server and I think
this
is the same X Server that is used in BSD?

> Virtualizing lets you sidestep these problems and leave them with a
> current operating system capable of handling contemporary hardware,
> and allows trivial transfer of your entire virtualized operating
> system to an arbitrary virtualization server. It also installs in a
> fraction of the time, because the underlying OS and hardware do the
> bad block management for you and that *AMAZINGLY* slow OpenServer disk
> configuration tools stays the heck out of your way.

Next time you are installing an old OpenServer 5 system you can avoid
bad tracking by selecting the Bad tracking option:

* None

during the installation. Bad tracking is a legacy option for older
hardware.

Regards,

John