determine unix version
magiceuph
I need to access an old SCO server that's been in storage for a while.
Not only does no one who currently works for the company have the
root password, but to make matters worse, all old floppies have been
lost in the move.
So, my dilemma is creating a boot floppy so I can access the system
and change the password. There's much written in the FAQ and
elsewhere about how to do that, but I don't know WHICH version of SCO
Unix it's running, so I don't know which boot disk will allow me
access.
Is there a boot floppy that I can create that will let me determine
version? If I knew the version, I could probably follow the other
HOWTOs I've found here to change the password.
Any and all help would be appreciated.
THanks,
Kenn
Tom Parsons
Boot it and watch for the hardware splash screen. There should be some
clues there. You may find it from the kernel id, ex:
%kernel - - - rel=3.2v5.0.6
You may also be able to get the host adapter/disk type from the same screen.
When it gets to the "Press Ctrl-D" to continue screen, turn it off and
start over. At that point, there is little chance of filesystem corruption.
Failing the above, I'd open the case to get the type of disk subsystem and
host adapter. That would make finding a usable boot disks much easier.
--
==========================================================================
Tom Parsons t...@tegan.com
==========================================================================
Jean-Pierre Radley
You can't create a boot floppy out of thin air. Are you sure that
the original system is so old that it did in fact install from floppies,
rather than from a CD?
'uname -X' will disclose the version.
--
JP
magiceuph
> magiceuph enscribed:
> | Greetings.
> |
> | I need to access an old SCO server that's been in storage for a while.
> | Not only does no one who currently works for the company have the
> | root password, but to make matters worse, all old floppies have been
> | lost in the move.
> |
> | So, my dilemma is creating a boot floppy so I can access the system
> | and change the password.
>
> clues there. You may find it from the kernel id, ex:
> %kernel - - - rel=3.2v5.0.6
>
> You may also be able to get the host adapter/disk type from the same screen.
>
> When it gets to the "Press Ctrl-D" to continue screen, turn it off and
> start over. At that point, there is little chance of filesystem corruption.
>
> Failing the above, I'd open the case to get the type of disk subsystem and
> host adapter. That would make finding a usable boot disks much easier.
Okay, I've done that and discovered that the OS it SCO Open Server
Release 5. Armed with that information, I downloaded a boot disk at
ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/openserver5/oss431a.boot.Z and created a
boot disk using my Linux box. It boots just fine and gives me a
system prompt.
But I try to follow the next instruction in the FAQ,
mount /dev/hd0root /mnt
I get the error message that
mount not found
What am I doing wrong? I was hoping my Linux background would make
this project easier, but so far it's not working out that way:-)
Thanks in advance for any help.
Kenn
Scott McMillan
wrote:
How did the %kernel line read, exactly? My recollection is that line
doesn't appear until release 5.0.5. If you did find the %kernel line,
then my guess(tm) is that you have the wrong boot disk to begin with.
Do you know what type of controller (IDE, SCSI, make/model) the hard
disk is attached to? That should be identified during bootup as well,
look for a line similar to
%disk - - - type=S ha=0 id=0 lun=0 bus=0 ht=ips
You may need a Boot-Time Loadable Driver (BTLD) to gain access to the
disk.
These links may help
http://aplawrence.com/SCOFAQ/scotec1.html#downloadboot
http://support.sco.com/rn_cgi/partneronline.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=105312
http://aplawrence.com/SCOFAQ/scotec1.html#install_script
Scott McMillan
Dan Martin
Kenn,
Try
/etc/mount /dev/hd0root /mnt
Full path name is probably required.
Good luck,
Dan Martin
magiceuph
No, that didn't work either.
Just to clarify, at the : prompt, I've typed
/etc/mount /dev/hd0root
to which it responds
fd(60)/etc/mount /dev/hd0root /mnt
mount not found
so, I'm at a loss as to how to continue in my search for a way to get
onto this system so I can change the root password ... any and all
help appreciated.
thanks.
kenn
Bill Vermillion
magiceuph <ke...@thebytebusiness.com> wrote:
>dcma...@affinitycorp.com (Dan Martin) wrote in message news:<56fe3a2b.04032...@posting.google.com>...
[lots deleted - wjv]
>> > Okay, I've done that and discovered that the OS it SCO Open Server
>> > Release 5. Armed with that information, I downloaded a boot disk at
>> > ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/openserver5/oss431a.boot.Z and created a
>> > boot disk using my Linux box. It boots just fine and gives me a
>> > system prompt.
>> > But I try to follow the next instruction in the FAQ,
>> >
>> > mount /dev/hd0root /mnt
>> > I get the error message that
>> > mount not found
....
>> Try
>> /etc/mount /dev/hd0root /mnt
>> Full path name is probably required.
>No, that didn't work either.
>Just to clarify, at the : prompt, I've typed
>/etc/mount /dev/hd0root
>to which it responds
>fd(60)/etc/mount /dev/hd0root /mnt
>mount not found
The first thing to do is find out where mount is.
In the boot floppy world a lot of commands you are used to are
missing so even pwd won't typically work.
type echo *
That will give a list of all things in finds in the explicit
directory your are in . It will just be a list of name
and you won't be able to tell if they are files or directories, but
knowing what you expect you can start from there.
If you see etc then try cd etc then perform echo *
In the boot environment things aren't always where you expect to
find them so you may have to do a bit of prowling.
Thank fully the floppies are relatively small.
If the programs you need are on that disk a patient bit of prowing
will find them.
Bill
--
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com
Bela Lubkin
> Just to clarify, at the : prompt, I've typed
>
> /etc/mount /dev/hd0root
>
> to which it responds
>
> fd(60)/etc/mount /dev/hd0root /mnt
> mount not found
>
>
>
> so, I'm at a loss as to how to continue in my search for a way to get
> onto this system so I can change the root password ... any and all
> help appreciated.
That : prompt is the boot prompt. What you do at that prompt is hit
<Return>. The kernel will load and eventually get you to a shell prompt
where you can try things like `mount`.
>Bela<
Dan Martin
Kenn,
The
boot:
prompt is waiting for your instructions on boot time loadable drivers, or the
hard drive and cd configuration. Is that what you are referring to?
Try typing
tools
at the boot prompt to see if you can get to
a shell prompt, then try the /etc/mount command.
Good luck,
Dan
magiceuph
>
> The
> boot:
> prompt is waiting for your instructions on boot time loadable drivers, or the
> hard drive and cd configuration. Is that what you are referring to?
>
> Try typing
>
> tools
>
> at the boot prompt to see if you can get to
> a shell prompt, then try the /etc/mount command.
>
> Good luck,
> Dan
Dan:
When I do that, it wants to install the software. That doesn't seem
to be what I want, but just for the heck of it, I told it to continue
and it wants to install from CD, tape, etc. ....
My goal here is just to boot up and change the root password so I can
continue to use the box. Am I going about this the wrong way ?
Thanks again.
kenn
James J
news:b5ec9126.04032...@posting.google.com:
You said "When I do that". When you do what, exactly? Type "tools" at
the Boot: prompt as Dan suggested or just hit Enter, as Bela suggested?
With a "regular" boot disk, hitting Enter should boot Unix from the floppy
and eventually bring you to a shell prompt. Whether or not you can then
access the hard drive will depend on whether or not the necessary drivers
are loaded, but you can start by hitting Enter and seeing if Unix will boot
from the floppy. If not, you may need a different boot floppy. You could
try checking the list at:
http://aplawrence.com/SCOFAQ/FAQ_scotec1downloadboot.html
James
to...@pcunix.com
>When I do that, it wants to install the software. That doesn't seem
>to be what I want, but just for the heck of it, I told it to continue
>and it wants to install from CD, tape, etc. ....
>My goal here is just to boot up and change the root password so I can
>continue to use the box. Am I going about this the wrong way ?
I don't think you read the FAQ very carefully. Go back and read it again:
http://aplawrence.com/SCOFAQ/scotec1.html#root_1
http://aplawrence.com/SCOFAQ/scotec1.html#root_2
http://aplawrence.com/SCOFAQ/scotec1.html#root_3
--
to...@pcunix.com Unix/Linux/Mac OS X resources: http://aplawrence.com
Get paid for writing about tech: http://aplawrence.com/publish.html
FyRE
wrote:
If you only need access to some files on the machine, don't bother
with the scabby old SCO OS, just compile SCO filesystem access into a
stripped down linux kernel, along with a driver for the network card
etc and just tear out what you need from the old SCO box. After that
you'll be free to exorcise the machine of its Satanic OS and install
something (anything) better.
If you need to actually run some ancient software on the machine (all
that SCO OS' are used for these days) then: good luck!
--
FyRE < "War: The way Americans learn geography" >
to...@pcunix.com
>On 26 Mar 2004 06:36:07 -0800, ke...@thebytebusiness.com (magiceuph)
>wrote:
>If you only need access to some files on the machine, don't bother
>with the scabby old SCO OS, just compile SCO filesystem access into a
>stripped down linux kernel, along with a driver for the network card
>etc and just tear out what you need from the old SCO box. After that
>you'll be free to exorcise the machine of its Satanic OS and install
>something (anything) better.
I'm not aware that Linux kernels have any support for SCO HTFS
filesystems. I keep hearing people say that it's ouit there
somewhere, but unless it was just added recently, I'm not aware
of it. HTFS is NOT SYSV
Having that would be a Very Good Thing, so if you can confirm that
it really is there or point to drivers, I'm sure you'd be very helpful
to a lot of people wanting an easy way to move to Linux.
FyRE
>FyRE <Fy...@toktik.demon.ku.oc.x> wrote:
>>On 26 Mar 2004 06:36:07 -0800, ke...@thebytebusiness.com (magiceuph)
>>wrote:
>
>>If you only need access to some files on the machine, don't bother
>>with the scabby old SCO OS, just compile SCO filesystem access into a
>>stripped down linux kernel, along with a driver for the network card
>>etc and just tear out what you need from the old SCO box. After that
>>you'll be free to exorcise the machine of its Satanic OS and install
>>something (anything) better.
>
>I'm not aware that Linux kernels have any support for SCO HTFS
>filesystems. I keep hearing people say that it's ouit there
>somewhere, but unless it was just added recently, I'm not aware
>of it. HTFS is NOT SYSV
>
>Having that would be a Very Good Thing, so if you can confirm that
>it really is there or point to drivers, I'm sure you'd be very helpful
>to a lot of people wanting an easy way to move to Linux.
The original HTFS driver module for Linux was written back in 2001 by
Andrzej Dereszowski. I knew that I had seen it before, but I think
you're correct that there's no opensource driver available at the
moment. I very much doubt the reason for the absence of this driver is
technical, but rather due to the threat of legal action from the
litigious bastards at SCO. Apparently SCOG licenced this tech to a
company called CrosStor, who developed a closed module for Linux, but
I think they've since gone out of business (maybe little/no demand for
that particular proprietary product? ;-)
Seems like the options are either dumping to tape and restoring on
Linux, or throwing all the files across NFS/Samba/FTP/scp, or finding
Andrzej to ask for his driver patch (since it was 2001, it should
hopefully have been written for the 2.4.x kernel series).
magiceuph
> I don't think you read the FAQ very carefully. Go back and read it again:
>
> http://aplawrence.com/SCOFAQ/scotec1.html#root_1
> http://aplawrence.com/SCOFAQ/scotec1.html#root_2
> http://aplawrence.com/SCOFAQ/scotec1.html#root_3
Thanks for everyone's help ... I actually am getting closer to solving
this problem )I think).
I've succeeded in breaking out of the installation routine, after
which the FAQ instructs me to:
mknod /dev/root b 1 42
fsck -ofull /dev/root
mount /dev/root /mnt
Well, with the disk I downloaded from
ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/openserver5/oss431a.boot.Z , I seem not to
have fsck ...
Can someone help me? I really appreciate all the great advice so far
and apologize for what are probably elementary questions.
kennM
Bela Lubkin
> I've succeeded in breaking out of the installation routine, after
> which the FAQ instructs me to:
>
> mknod /dev/root b 1 42
> fsck -ofull /dev/root
> mount /dev/root /mnt
>
> Well, with the disk I downloaded from
> ftp://ftp.caldera.com/pub/openserver5/oss431a.boot.Z , I seem not to
> have fsck ...
>
> Can someone help me? I really appreciate all the great advice so far
> and apologize for what are probably elementary questions.
I forget what you were trying to accomplish in the first place. If it
would be sufficient to read the filesystem, you should be able to mount
it readonly:
mount -r /dev/root /mnt
The kernel will allow a dirty filesystem to be mounted readonly, so you
don't need fsck for this scenario.
>Bela<