Hi all,

We have a D3 Linux 7.2.0 system (RH 6.0)... everything is now 5 years
old. Everything has worked well but now is the time to replace it
(dual power supply, hot swap hard drives, digi xem, tandberg 5 gig,
etc)..

The options I see are as follows:
1. Get the fastest machine that can run RH6.0 and go with that.
2. Upgrade to the newest version of D3 Linux and the linux o/s to go
with that.
3. Switch to jBASE or some other version of Pick.

We have no support contract and have a 50 user system. Looking for
input.

Thanks, John

Blatant advert....

Take a look at www.openqm.com

Martin Phillips, Ladybridge Systems

John Skinkle wrote:
D3 7.2 ran on RH 6.1 - 6.2 for the most part. The fastest machine you
will find wound be a P3 if you want Intel. The D37.2 will not run on a
P4. (it can be done, but you would not *feel* good about the hoops you
would need to go through to get the install to work.

for printing. Be prepared to dig for the driver for the digiboard.
than (27.3k for D3 upgrade) - (cost of new DB + conversion costs).
If you are using Green Screen serial connections I would question
if this would be cost effective.

System cost scale, low to high (just a guess)
QM
Univision
jBase
D3 and other RD DBs
U2 10+users
ON Group

I don't know about Reality or Cache.
Ultimate may still exist.

Patrick <;=)

Hi John,

With no commercial interest, I would like to second Martin's suggestion
that you consider openQM.

Advantages:
You can use your choice of Linux and not be stuck with the drawbacks of
an obsolete Linux system. Commercial support is (I think) limited to
the Red Hat family but I have tested on many different distros and
architectures with no hiccups (beyond the initial installation of the
commercial version which seems to _require_ the Red Hat family or at
least a distro that shares its FHS).

Your current HDD, serial and tape hardware should be fully supported by
modern Linux distros. I have used most of your list in RH 9.0 and
Debian 3.1. The Digi stuff works well and drivers are available:
http://digi.com/support/productdetl....4&osvid=0&tp=1

openQM is being actively developed (as opposed to the End Of Life
attitude from many MV vendors) and is quite capable of using many
modern methods and tools.

Last but not least: cost and support. Ladybridge's response is nothing
short of phenominal, something that one might not expect with openQM
being likely the least costly solution available.

Some side notes:
By moving to a modern Linux distro you can improve efficiency,
stability and usability.

As an example, I have been using a system called Mondo Rescue to
perform backups instead of tape: A DVD-RW drive costs not much more
than a 5gb tape cartidge, doesn't wear out and even high-priced media
is very cheap compared with tape media.

Along with this, Mondo Rescue creates bootable DVD's from which a bare
bones system can be restored in a matter of hours (depending upon the
size of your system and data).

HTH,
-Tom

Zumasys (www.zumasys.com) can and will configure a new D3/Linux box for you
exactly to your specifications. They'll install and configure the Linux, D3,
Digi drivers, your printers, everything. Dual Xeon processors, gigs of ram,
dual hot swappable power supplies and disk drives, RAID, etc. I believe the
D3 upgrade is at no charge. Linux Enterprise is about $350. For around $7k
you will have a screaming box that will take 1-2 hours for the switch over.
Hey, I gladly pay the extra few hundred bucks so that I don't have to screw
around with it myself.


"John Skinkle" <jrskinkle (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

Hi John,

I have done that port to many different types of machines, operating
systems and operating environments. I do like the Redhat Linux option
over Windows, just so that I can have more control over automating
processes and I think that Linux gives you an easier way to do that. I
have also used jBase, Unidata, and Universe. I can't tell you that I
like any one product over another. They all have their pros and cons
and I think end up netting out in the end. I think that there is more
backing behind the U2 products as they are backed by IBM, but I like
the architecture that jBase has implemented. As far as boxes goes, you
will just need to find the one that works with all of the drivers
needed to run the OS. That seems to be the biggest issue. Once you
get the OS running on the box, there tends to be very few issues. I
have been using a local company called Equus for all of the boxes and I
order them to my specifications, so that I can eliminate some of the
issues that might otherwise come up.

If you were in need of some assistance in getting the project done and
implemented. Let me know. That is one of the things that I specialize
in.

Brad Moll
JK Consulting Services, Inc.
Phone: (763)754-5354
Fax: (763)463-1450
Email: bmoll (AT) jkconsult (DOT) biz


John Skinkle wrote:

Hi John.

Before thinking about moving from D3 any other MVDBMS there are some
important matters to consider...

Do your organisation own the application? If so then we can assume that
you have the source code and rights to move it to wherever you wish. If
not then there are licensing and compatibility issues. You will need to
get involvement from the application vendor.

Is it a "well behaved" the application? I was involved in a project to
move an application from D3 to UniVision. UniVision has excellent D3
compatibility but we were still caught out by reliance of the
application to delve into the O/S. Some MVDBMS programmers use marginal
coding techniques and undocumented language features which can cause
porting headaches.

There are many good MVDBMS now including jBase. Consider their merits
carefully. Eg: In the states you could move over to UniVision for free
and pay only an annual support license.

We discovered that Red Hat Linux 9 has a couple of issues which can
affect a MVDBMS but only surface when the system is driven hard by lots
of users. So although RH9 is low cost you might be better off with one
of Red Hat's commercial offerings if you want to stay with Linux.

Whatever your chosen solution you would be wise to implement a formal
and thorough testing plan. All stakeholders should be identified and
instructed to methodically test each aspect of their interface with the
new system running in parallel with the old. If you get users to sign a
declaration of acceptance then this can focus an otherwise laid-back
individual to take the testing more seriously.

My sincere apologies if you are already aware of these things.

hth

John Bend


John Skinkle wrote:

(latimerp) wrote:
Be prepared to dig for the driver for the digiboard.
Patrick's right about the drivers. You will be hard-pressed to find
RH6.2 drivers for the old digi, the new NIC, disk controller, etc. I did
that once for a client that refused to upgrade from D3 6.? on RH5.?. I
had to recompile the kernel to get the old hardware (cyclades serial
ports) to work. Of course, it ended up costing way more than the
hardware was worth. Next upgrade we junked the cyclades cards for digi
ethernet terminal servers and the latest RH release, the upgrade was
painless.

However, I question that cost assumption. To reinstate the SMA and
upgrade 50 D3 users to 7.4.2 is 50 x $99 x 2 = $9,900. Add $899 for
RHEL4 ES(w/ 12x5 support from RH) and the total is $10,800 with not much
more required than loading/configuring RH and a D3 restore. I see lots
of griping here about RH CUPS, but I use it as installed with RH at all
my customer sites with very few problems (so far, knock on wood?).

/Scott Ballinger
Pareto Corporation
Edmonds WA USA
206 713 6006

John,

As others have suggested, the "easiest" migration is probably no
migration - stay with D3, but using RHE4 & D3 7.4.2. As for the "no
support contract", I'd suggest that you might want to talk to RD.

You may find that they are willing to re-instate the contract for a
(relatively) small penalty/premium - definately worth the phone call at
least

Jeffrey Kaufman wrote:
Same for me
The Linux cost is not so much and required really. The real gotcha is
the D3 License Cost to upgrade.

I have 2 Dual XENON servers running RedHat ES 3 / D3 7.4..2 all
acquired from Zumasys and it is the fastest and most reliable setup
ever.
- Alan Gruskoff