Moving RS/6000 595 system to new machine or emulator?
JanK
We have an old RS/6000 Model 595 running AIX v4.2. The unit still runs
some old ERP system, and I am curious as to what options we have. I
saw that IBM claims that AIX 6.1 is binary compatible with 4.x (well
behaved) programs.
Is it possible to move all files from AIX v4.2 to a newer machine? We
do not have any possibility of recompiling anything. It has to work by
copying files to a new machine/OS.
Or is there some sort of POWER2 SPSC emulator that would somehow run
the old installation?
It is not a critical application, but more like a priority nice-to-
have, if you follow.
Cheers, Jan.
Michael Kraemer
JanK <test...@yahoo.dk> writes:
> Hi - hope some of you can help me with some thoughts on this.
>
> We have an old RS/6000 Model 595 running AIX v4.2. The unit still runs
> some old ERP system, and I am curious as to what options we have. I
> saw that IBM claims that AIX 6.1 is binary compatible with 4.x (well
> behaved) programs.
In general I found this to be true.
Some time ago I even ran an app that was created on 3.x for POWER1
on a POWER6 box under AIX 6.1.
> Is it possible to move all files from AIX v4.2 to a newer machine? We
> do not have any possibility of recompiling anything. It has to work by
> copying files to a new machine/OS.
Whether this works for your app depends clearly on your app.
> Or is there some sort of POWER2 SPSC emulator that would somehow run
> the old installation?
> It is not a critical application, but more like a priority nice-to-
> have, if you follow.
If you buy a new box anyway, just give it a try.
You won't loose anything.
sjm
> We have an old RS/6000 Model 595 running AIX v4.2. The unit still runs
> some old ERP system, and I am curious as to what options we have. I
> saw that IBM claims that AIX 6.1 is binary compatible with 4.x (well
> behaved) programs.
The 4.x compatibility statement is good for 32-bit programs. AIX 4.3
supported 64-bit programs whose binaries are not supported under 6.1.
However, 4.2 didn't support 64-bit at all so this does not affect you.
> Is it possible to move all files from AIX v4.2 to a newer machine? We
> do not have any possibility of recompiling anything. It has to work by
> copying files to a new machine/OS.
AIX 4.2 won't run on any hardware that you can buy new today. In fact,
it won't support any hardware that you could buy new since the H50 was
WDFM in 2001. Could you move the application files? If they're all in
one directory tree then maybe.
> Or is there some sort of POWER2 SPSC emulator that would somehow run
> the old installation?
No.
> It is not a critical application, but more like a priority nice-to-
> have, if you follow.
What happens if the box dies today? How long before the business goes
bust?