Re: Transferring SCO Drive to Another Server

From: Brian K. White (brian_at_aljex.com)
Date: 04/13/05 

Date: 13 Apr 2005 12:36:19 -0400

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeremy Eder" <jeder@hitekdata.com>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sco.misc
To: <distro@jpr.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 11:56 AM
Subject: Re: Transferring SCO Drive to Another Server

>J P wrote:
>> "Jeremy Eder" <jeder@hitekdata.com> wrote in message
>> news:%ka7e.1730$oL1.434@fe10.lga...
>>
>>>Hello SCO Friends;
>>>
>>>I've got what has turned out to be a serious situation.
>>>
>>>On a programmers workstation, he was backing up /u every night.
>>>/u2 was a different physical disk and was not being backed up.
>>>The drive and data is in perfect condition.
>>>
>>>I need to mount it in another server. I have SCO, Redhat EL, Windows,
>>>servers as options. I'll install any OS you can suggest in order to get
>>>at this data. The problem is that the OS on his workstation is
>>>toast...TCP/IP as well as access to the tape drive is not functional,
>>>removing my usual options of recovery/data transfer.
>>>
>>>My idea is to mount this drive in another SCO box, as that seems as the
>>>easiest option. I'm very reluctant to continue without experienced
>>>advice, due to the sensitivity of the information on the drive: 4gb of
>>>source code.
>>>
>>>The drive is U160 SCSI on a dptr-based scsi controller. The target
>>>servers have no SCSI cards yet, so I would have to install that
>>>controller first. Please, if you can, detail the installation of that
>>>as well, as I've done it before but as you can tell I want to be
>>>extremely careful with my operations, as if this is lost, I believe so
>>>might be my job. :)
>>>
>>>Please advise the proper sequence of mkdev's/mounts - or whatever might
>>>be necessary to get this controller and drive mounted in another server
>>>so that i can get at this data.
>>>
>>>I've researched on google and found applicable articles on aplawrence,
>>>but they havent been updated in 2-3 years. They may still work, however
>>>I wanted to consult with this newsgroup before continuing.
>>>
>>>Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post, and for any
>>>help you may be able to offer.
>>>
>>>Sincerely,
>>>
>>>Jeremy Eder.
>>
>>
>> I can't figure out if the machine is dead (OS is toast) or if it's still
>> alive, but not all the parts are working (TCP/IP as well as access to the
>> tape drive is not functional). A little clarification would be the first
>> order of precedence. Does the machine boot? Can you login, see files,
>> and
>> do normal things from the console? Or does it absolutely refuse to boot,
>> or
>> maybe give some error messages when you try to boot?
>>
>> Address the failed OS first, then jump into the hardcore re-configuration
>> topics.
>>
>> JP
>>
>>
> OS if "functioning" to the point where it will boot with unix.install
> kernel. However any relink's cause a lot of errors. I can read all the
> data perfectly, which is the only good news of the day. The goal is to
> somehow get this data off the drive (as i stated, since the kernel is not
> relinkable i cannot configure tape/tcpip).
>
> I just did a fresh install of SCO on a spare box to continue. That box
> has working tcpip and tape (i just tested both, in anticipation of any
> guidance).
>
> JP, thank you so much for your help so far.

Do you have a kernel that boots, and has the correct nic driver, but merely
the wrong tcp/ip address config?
what happens when you boot from the HD and at the "boot:" prompt type in
"unix.old" and hit enter ?

Sounds like you will be able to use tcp/ip just fine. If you can boot the OS
at all, and the only problems are you can't relink a kernel, that doesn't
necessarily indicate a massive problem or failing HD etc... the kernel link
process is pretty delicate. A lot of things have to be just exactly right or
it doesn't work and there are various ways it can get broken sometimes.
If you have a kernel that has the right nic driver, you should be able to
use tcp/ip, though it may require some manual ifconfig and route commands
and editing of hosts & resolv.conf.

Even if you don't have such a kernel on that box, maybe you do now on the
new box. How similar are the new and old boxes?
(type of hd & brand of nic mostly) 

-- 
Brian K. White  --  brian@aljex.com  --  http://www.aljex.com/bkw/
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filePro BBx  Linux SCO  Prosper/FACTS AutoCAD  #callahans Satriani

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