hi,
a question about migrating from Windows to Linux.

the company for which i'm working plans to abandon Windows and go for Linux. currently there are 24 servers (file, print, mail, database, ...) all with very important information.

how exactly can it be done that none of this info (for instance the few thousand addresses on the mailserver) will be lost during the migration?


all the servers are supposed to be on 24/7 (which is impossible during a migration, yes, but downtime *should* be minimalised though). making backups seems logic, but lets just say that each server has 20gb of content. that really causes quite some traffic. so can this be avoided in any way then?

are there special tools for this? or does anyone have a link to an integration planning that i could check out?

thank you very much

This question is a bit TOO generic. Preserving the
functionality of file & print-services should be a breeze.

As for data, it strongly depends on which database
engine you're using. If it happens to be Oracle there's
no problem, you can just dump everything, switch the
machine over to Linux, and more or less be done after
a restore (unless you've done some scripting using
bat/cmd files on the server).
As for other files, e.g. MS Office, the compatibility
with OpenOffice (or StarOffice) is very good, but not
a 100%, so it will depend on each individual document.
One show-stopper are password-protected MS documents
or spreadsheets.

I dare say that's impossible. The only way to deal this
in a not too costly and timely manner will be to buy
at least one spare machine, and migrate the boxes one
by one (if possible) and switch over when the functionality
is proven.

Again, it depends on what EXACTLY is in use.
There are tools for some database engines to migrate
to others. IBM and other consulting companies offer
migrations to SaMBa, some offer migration support to
PostgreSQL, ...

Since your data is crucial, and the systems mission
critical I STRONGLY recommend seeking commercial
support in this undertaking.



Cheers,
Tink

P.S.: That's 10 bucks consultancy fees, thank you ;)

hi,
thanks for the reply.
we're using an oracle database, so i guess it's our lucky day

the company insists on doing everything themselves. i already talked about external support, but to no avail. i'll just have to look for a major traning course for the admins then

Anytime! :)

One thing less to worry about. But as I said -
there MAY be things that need modification/
migration from win/DOS style scripts to shell
scripts.

I hope that they're aware of the possible
negative side effects (I don't mean to disrespect
you or your training efforts here), but there
are several pitfalls that you won't here about
in trainings, but that you will only learn from
experience. And gathering those on the fly
by messing with production systems is not
a recommended solution :}

And with the help of the Lord ... :D


Cheers, God bless,
Tink