Antique upgrade
Someone inherited an ancient Informix 2.0 application on a Xenix 386 box with no backup and asked whether the data and apps could be moved to Informix on Linux or whether to rebuild Xenix hardware. Replies recommended installing ISQL and SE on Linux, using UNLOAD plus dbschema to extract data and schema, copying the .sql/.per/.ace sources, recompiling and reloading. Jonathan Leffler noted dbschema may not exist in 2.00 (he offered an ACE-based script), that a .dbd (rather than .dbs directory) means an even older pre-SQL version, and that simply copying the .dbs directory to Linux on Intel often works outright. Another poster reported doing exactly this migration to Red Hat 8 successfully; practical issues like finding a 5.25" floppy/serial transfer were also mentioned. The original poster did not report back, so no confirmed outcome is recorded.
Auto-generated by DrWatson from the posts below — may be imperfect; read the full thread.
I appear to have become responsible for an antique Informix 2.0 system running on a xenix 386 box, with a 150MB hard disk, and no backup. While I have some knowledge of DBMS systems, and if I can re-activate those brain cells I can manage to deal with Xenix, I would like to move this whole mess to more modern hardware atleast. The whole system has outrun its MTBF by orders of magnitude. I am compitent with Linux, and I see that Informix is available for Linux. This is a an ancilliary responsibility, but one that will be a big problem when things start to fail. So my question is can Informix 2 applications and databases be easily upgraded to a more modern incarnation of Informix, or do I should I just try to build a more modern box for Xenix to run on ?
David H. Lynch Jr. wrote:
>
> I appear to have become responsible for an antique Informix 2.0 system
> running on a xenix 386 box, with a 150MB hard disk, and no backup.
>
> While I have some knowledge of DBMS systems, and if I can re-activate
> those brain cells I can manage to deal with Xenix, I would like to move
> this whole mess to more modern hardware atleast. The whole system has
> outrun its MTBF by orders of magnitude.
>
> I am compitent with Linux, and I see that Informix is available for Linux.
>
> This is a an ancilliary responsibility, but one that will be a big
> problem when things start to fail.
>
> So my question is can Informix 2 applications and databases be easily
> upgraded to a more modern incarnation of Informix, or do I should I just
> try to build a more modern box for Xenix to run on ?
Nice problem! You forgot about Y2K-compliance... :o)
The safest thing I can think of is:
1. Build a Linux box. Install ISQL and SE.
2. Use the UNLOAD SQL syntax to extract all the data to flat files. Use the
dbschema command to record the structure of the database. I think the menus
are kept in some pseudo system table, so you may have to do a bit of
research to make sure you get get all the tables.
3. Copy the data and the sources of the programs over. I think these will be
the .sql, .per and .ace (not sure about the last one, it's been years!) Use
the dbschema output to create the new database.
4. Recompile the .per and .ace (or whatever) files.
5. Load the data.
6. Pray!
Good luck. :o)
--
"C'est pas parce qu'on n'a rien ''' dire qu'il faut fermer sa gueule"
- Coluche
Obnoxio The Clown wrote:
> David H. Lynch Jr. wrote:
>
>
>>I appear to have become responsible for an antique Informix 2.0 system
>>running on a xenix 386 box, with a 150MB hard disk, and no backup.
>>
>>While I have some knowledge of DBMS systems, and if I can re-activate
>>those brain cells I can manage to deal with Xenix, I would like to move
>>this whole mess to more modern hardware atleast. The whole system has
>>outrun its MTBF by orders of magnitude.
>>
>>I am compitent with Linux, and I see that Informix is available for Linux.
>>
>>This is a an ancilliary responsibility, but one that will be a big
>>problem when things start to fail.
>>
>>So my question is can Informix 2 applications and databases be easily
>>upgraded to a more modern incarnation of Informix, or do I should I just
>>try to build a more modern box for Xenix to run on ?
>
>
> Nice problem! You forgot about Y2K-compliance... :o)
>
> The safest thing I can think of is:
>
> 1. Build a Linux box. Install ISQL and SE.
> 2. Use the UNLOAD SQL syntax to extract all the data to flat files. Use the
> dbschema command to record the structure of the database. I think the menus
> are kept in some pseudo system table, so you may have to do a bit of
> research to make sure you get get all the tables.
> 3. Copy the data and the sources of the programs over. I think these will be
> the .sql, .per and .ace (not sure about the last one, it's been years!) Use
> the dbschema output to create the new database.
> 4. Recompile the .per and .ace (or whatever) files.
> 5. Load the data.
> 6. Pray!
>
> Good luck. :o)
>
The biggest problem might be "where do I get a 5.25 in floppy"
for new hardware!
I have done the exact conversion a year ago. Target was RH 8.0
with isql and se.
No problems.
Michael
Obnoxio The Clown wrote:
> David H. Lynch Jr. wrote:
>>I appear to have become responsible for an antique Informix 2.0 system
>>running on a xenix 386 box, with a 150MB hard disk, and no backup.
>>
>>While I have some knowledge of DBMS systems, and if I can re-activate
>>those brain cells I can manage to deal with Xenix, I would like to move
>>this whole mess to more modern hardware atleast. The whole system has
>>outrun its MTBF by orders of magnitude.
>>
>>I am compitent with Linux, and I see that Informix is available for Linux.
>>
>>This is a an ancilliary responsibility, but one that will be a big
>>problem when things start to fail.
>>
>>So my question is can Informix 2 applications and databases be easily
>>upgraded to a more modern incarnation of Informix, or do I should I just
>>try to build a more modern box for Xenix to run on ?
>
> Nice problem! You forgot about Y2K-compliance... :o)
>
> The safest thing I can think of is:
>
> 1. Build a Linux box. Install ISQL and SE.
> 2. Use the UNLOAD SQL syntax to extract all the data to flat files. Use the
> dbschema command to record the structure of the database. I think the menus
> are kept in some pseudo system table, so you may have to do a bit of
> research to make sure you get get all the tables.
> 3. Copy the data and the sources of the programs over. I think these will be
> the .sql, .per and .ace (not sure about the last one, it's been years!) Use
> the dbschema output to create the new database.
> 4. Recompile the .per and .ace (or whatever) files.
> 5. Load the data.
> 6. Pray!
I think OTC is pretty much on target - unless you are dealing with an
even more truly antique option, hinted at by Sergio Ferreira. Is the
database stored in a directory xyz.dbs (where xyz is the name of the
database), or are the data files and index files stored in the same
directory as a file xyz.dbd? If you have a directory xyz.dbs, then
OTC is near enough right. The only problem you might run into is that
ISQL 2.00 probably did not include dbschema. If so, I can dig out a
shell script that generates a schema for you using ACE - I created it
back in the days of transitioning from 2.00 and 2.10 to 2.10.03, which
is when I think dbschema was introduced. There is another trick you
can try - as long as you stick with Intel platforms. And that is that
you can try simply taking the directory and its contents and move them
over to Linux lock, stock and barrel - and run SE on the copied
database. There might be problems with locking modes; otherwise,
there's a 50-90% chance it will work. It will either all work or fail
horribly - no middle ground (that's the good news).
If you have xyz.dbd for your database, you have a really, really,
really old version of Informix, the predecessor to the SQL versions.
I only encountered Informix 3.30; the older versions were already
obsolete by the time I started with them. However, there's a
tolerable chance I can help out with the migration if necessary. (I'm
probably the only person in the world with a Y2K-compliant version of
Informix 3.30 running on MacOS X.)
--
Jonathan Leffler #include <disclaimer.h>
Email: jleffler@earthlink.net, jleffler@us.ibm.com
Guardian of DBD::Informix v2003.04 -- http://dbi.perl.org/
Jonathan Leffler wrote:
> Obnoxio The Clown wrote:
>
>> David H. Lynch Jr. wrote:
>>
>>> I appear to have become responsible for an antique Informix 2.0 system
>>> running on a xenix 386 box, with a 150MB hard disk, and no backup.
>>>
>>> While I have some knowledge of DBMS systems, and if I can re-activate
>>> those brain cells I can manage to deal with Xenix, I would like to move
>>> this whole mess to more modern hardware atleast. The whole system has
>>> outrun its MTBF by orders of magnitude.
>>>
>>> I am compitent with Linux, and I see that Informix is available for
>>> Linux.
>>>
>>> This is a an ancilliary responsibility, but one that will be a big
>>> problem when things start to fail.
>>>
>>> So my question is can Informix 2 applications and databases be easily
>>> upgraded to a more modern incarnation of Informix, or do I should I just
>>> try to build a more modern box for Xenix to run on ?
>>
>>
>> Nice problem! You forgot about Y2K-compliance... :o)
>>
>> The safest thing I can think of is:
>>
>> 1. Build a Linux box. Install ISQL and SE.
>> 2. Use the UNLOAD SQL syntax to extract all the data to flat files.
>> Use the dbschema command to record the structure of the database. I
>> think the menus are kept in some pseudo system table, so you may have
>> to do a bit of research to make sure you get get all the tables.
>> 3. Copy the data and the sources of the programs over. I think these
>> will be the .sql, .per and .ace (not sure about the last one, it's
>> been years!) Use the dbschema output to create the new database.
>> 4. Recompile the .per and .ace (or whatever) files.
>> 5. Load the data.
>> 6. Pray!
>
>
>
> I think OTC is pretty much on target - unless you are dealing with an
> even more truly antique option, hinted at by Sergio Ferreira. Is the
> database stored in a directory xyz.dbs (where xyz is the name of the
> database), or are the data files and index files stored in the same
> directory as a file xyz.dbd? If you have a directory xyz.dbs, then OTC
> is near enough right. The only problem you might run into is that ISQL
> 2.00 probably did not include dbschema. If so, I can dig out a shell
> script that generates a schema for you using ACE - I created it back in
> the days of transitioning from 2.00 and 2.10 to 2.10.03, which is when I
> think dbschema was introduced. There is another trick you can try - as
> long as you stick with Intel platforms. And that is that you can try
> simply taking the directory and its contents and move them over to Linux
> lock, stock and barrel - and run SE on the copied database. There might
> be problems with locking modes; otherwise, there's a 50-90% chance it
> will work. It will either all work or fail horribly - no middle ground
> (that's the good news).
>
> If you have xyz.dbd for your database, you have a really, really, really
> old version of Informix, the predecessor to the SQL versions. I only
> encountered Informix 3.30; the older versions were already obsolete by
> the time I started with them. However, there's a tolerable chance I can
> help out with the migration if necessary. (I'm probably the only person
> in the world with a Y2K-compliant version of Informix 3.30 running on
> MacOS X.)
>
Pretty close. I don't have the Altos 8086 anymore (I think version was
3.11),
but 3.30.14 is still there on the SCO Openserver. It was Xenix version,
but it run fine in this setup. It is definitely Y1.9K compatible.
Michael
If I remember right -- back in the dim recesses -- there was an Informix-supplied conversion utility that did the data base from 2.x to 3.x? Now wouldn't it be the berries if somebody could find that on the right platform (I looked around for my 8-inch distribution floppies with Informix for Cromix but I couldn't find them, alas). Jonathan Leffler wrote: > > > If you have xyz.dbd for your database, you have a really, really, > really old version of Informix, the predecessor to the SQL versions. I > only encountered Informix 3.30; the older versions were already > obsolete by the time I started with them. However, there's a > tolerable chance I can help out with the migration if necessary. (I'm > probably the only person in the world with a Y2K-compliant version of > Informix 3.30 running on MacOS X.) >
Michael Krzepkowski wrote: > The biggest problem might be "where do I get a 5.25 in floppy" > for new hardware! > For this very reason, my box of tricks contains a serial null modem. Got me out of many a bad situation :) -- Scott Burns Mirrabooka Systems Tel +61 7 3857 7899 Fax +61 7 3857 1368