Hey what's up!

Ok, I've been hounding people I know and don't know for help on many items regarding a server here at work...

I'm a complete newbie to Informix on all levels, and somewhat of a newbie to AIX...

First a little history...

We have an old IBM Powerserver running AIX Ver. 3.2 with Informix SE for UNIX Ver. 5.00.UC3 (I think so anyways... I'm getting this from the original installation tapes (1/4") )

The server is on it's last leg...

So the next logical choice was to buy a new (used) server, new enough to give us a little extra speed, but still old enough so that the old software will run in it.
We now have a 333Mhz 604e based box, which is miles faster then our old PS220.

Anyways... I have a copy of AIX 5 on the way to me as I speak, and I have been told that older versions of Informix will run on newer versions of AIX without a problem.

But... I do have a problem... As I mentioned before, the original installation medium is on 1/4" tapes, and we do not have a drive for these suckers.

Now the only way I can think of doing this would be to copy the already installed version of Informix off of the old server, and trying to mirgate it into the new version of AIX manuall (I can see this being a compleate nightmare), or trying to get updated install medium (IBM's support was no help, they told me I have to upgrade) for the older version of Informix to be able to install it fresh to the new AIX box.


So now I'm asking you guys, can it be done? and which way would be best? and where do i get the binary's or install medium from then?

I have of course legitimate licences (16 users) for the Informix software.

Help!

Hi,

I quickly read your problem and I use the same version as you of INFORMIX on a AIX 5. Everything's going weel. During next weeks I'm goind to migrate my INFORMIX V5 into the V9, I could send you later a feed back.

Best regards,

Johann.

The $6M question is, what's on the tape? I suspect it's a .tar file or maybe cpio. Your install instructions should give a clue.

If it's as simple as a .tar, use your old box to copy the .tar file to disk and network it over.

You might also see if the two boxes would talk where the tape drive is mounted as an NFS file system to the new server.

the problem is that I DO NOT have a tape drive that will read what is on the tapes.

We only have an 8mm tape drive which is what we use to backup the system.

The Informix software is on 1/4" tapes (they're huge)... and I have no drive anywhere to read them.

ponsjohann: do you have the install files available anywhere? like I said I have full licencing, the only problem I have is accessing the software because it is on media that I do not have a device for.

Cheers!

Sascha