Solaris

Hi All

We are having a very old server that is working on solaris 5.6 and oracle7.
now We are planning to migrate it to a Solaris 8 and oracle 9 environment.
The application software of the server is basically written in ProC and there are few sql ,perl and shell scripts on the server . We have lost the original code and have a dump of the server on an 8MM python tape. Can anybody tell me that will it be possible to relocate the server to the new environment and if not what are the changes that should be made and what is the detailed procedure that should be followed . Any help will be appriciated as i am in urgent need of this information

No one can really advise you on this as this is both related to your apps as well. only way is for you to simulate the environment first on a test machine is see if its feasible

thanks incredibe . Can you tell me just that wether there needs to be some modifications on the pro C code written on the solaris 5.6 to run on solaris 8

it should run... but no one can say this for sure. you'll have to test it or find a new solution that is working on a modern system... if you're going migrate, why not to solaris 10?

Ive been involved in situations like this. The attempt of trying to upgrade legacy systems where support is long gone and no one knows how it works / source code. Ive done a few trade floor upgrades, where old servers which everyone has forgotten, living under a desk, suddenly need upgrading but no one knows what to do in regards to the application etc.

You will need to check libraries, commands, paths, kernel settings, device trees, adhoc scripts, backups and other lovely things like that :-)

I wouldnt aim for solaris 8, as that is at its EOL, so I would aim for solaris10, but create some branded solaris 8 or 9 zones, and dump your configuration into that. At least this gives you the abiltiy to test it in an 8 / or 9 environment without all the heavy upgrading costs.

However, solaris 2.8 / oracle 7 are very old versions, and you WILL suffer issues regarding stored procs, sql versions and library issues, so i would suggest you contract a DBA that can help here.

Best of luck.

SBK

Here is something that might help you figuring out the kind of issues you might face and a way to overcome some of them:
milek's blog: Oracle 8.0.6 on Solaris 10

Haven't done migrations in a while, migration usually never easy and many unknowns.

Well for one thing solaris 2.6 is running 32bit solaris 8/9 are all 64bit but have 32bit libraries, so if you have apps written on solaris 2.6 ProC maybe it will work maybe it will break so you will have to test. Or run the OS in 32bit mode

# /usr/sbin/eeprom boot-file="kernel/unix"
OK> setenv boot-file kernel/unix


Other things like oracle application manager, if you are using may have licensing issues you need to check. All your old apps you need to check for any possible licensing issues. The old licensing in the past was usually tied to server hostid, or server IP address or network interface, you need to check.

if tied to hostid see if possible to remove the hostid chip on system board to transfer to new server(check with your support)


I suggest do the mirgation on another server but do not destroy the original box or at least remove the old hardisks from original box and keep it aside as a backout plan.

Original server:
Firstly tar /etc and location of all your scripts

tar cvfp /dev/rmt/0 ./etc


Do a full DB export dump & copy the dump to tape.(for import to new oracle version)

Do a tar $ORACLE_HOME/dbs to tape (all the oracle scripts here)

Check the sizing of your database

On new server,
install OS and boot in 32bit mode.
Install new oracle binaries from cdrom and create a new empty dummy database with the appropriate sizing.(make sure this runs as 32bit also)
Import in from the oracle dmp file.

manually copy in one by one all the scripts(from your ./etc tar)

trial and error testing.

best of luck.