Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux helpSpecial Offers
Feature: Unix
Review: UnixWare 7.1.4 is suitable for basic server duty
Share
Print
CommentsThe new 7.1.4 version adds a number of new capabilities to UnixWare, including the common Unix printing system (CUPS), GIMP-print printer drivers, ESP Ghostscript PostScript and PDF interpreter and renderer, URW++ fonts, Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) 1.4.2, J2SE runtime environment, the Java Communications API 2.0, PostgreSQL 7.4.2, MySQL 3, Samba 3.0, Cdrtools, OpenLDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), and Compaq and Intel PCI hot-plug drivers. It also now supports IPSec VPN tunneling, OpenSSL and OpenSSH, USB 2.0, ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface), and Hyperthreading for Pentium 4 and Xeon processors. UnixWare treats a Hyperthreaded processor as a single processor, an advantage for applications with multi-processor licensing. Other new hardware support items include support for IDE drives with ATA-6 and drives over 128GB, support for over 8GB RAM, support for the Intel 845 audio chipset. A recovery disk can be made on a CD to boot the system when problems occur. This CD boots to a text prompt and makes basic utilities available, including cat, chroot, cpio, date, dd, echo, edvtoc, fdisk, find, fsck, grep, ksh, labelit, ln, s, mkdir, mkfs, mount, prtvtoc, rm, sty and vi. Once the system is booted, kernel and operating system files can be restored. Finally, SCO has added support for Network Time Protocol v4.
The OS includes several interfaces, including the Motif-based CDE and the UnixWare-specific Panorama window manager and a character-based interface. The default CDE interface will not seem foreign to users familiar with other versions of Unix, although I personally prefer the KDE 3.x GUI.
UnixWare includes the capability for kernel personality modules. The only one that seems to be available at the moment is the OpenServer module. There was a Linux personality module, but that has been withdrawn for now, pending the resolution of legal issues. The OpenServer personality module, once installed, allows OpenServer binaries to be run without re-compiling. The Linux module would have done the same for Linux binaries. According to technical support people at SCO, other Linux binaries can be installed in place of the Linux kernel personality, but I was unable to get this to work. This means that most readily available open source applications need to be recompiled and the associated libraries need to be manually installed as well. UnixWare comes with a C compiler.
For those interested in using UnixWare as a desktop OS, the current lack of the Linux Kernel Personality (LKP) means that any open source applications will probably need to be recompiled to be usable. While NeTraverse Merge 5.3.26c allows the UnixWare server to run Windows application all the way back to Windows for Workgroups 3.11, I found that Windows NT applications did not run in three out of four cases, and even recent applications such as Microsoft Office 97 and 2000 caused very high CPU utilization and had slower response times on a 3.2 GHz Pentium 4 than the same version of Office running on a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 system with half the RAM running Windows 2000. The OpenOffice.org suite found in many desktop-oriented Linux distributions is not included with UnixWare, and getting it to work might be problematic without the LKP.
UnixWare 7.1.4 can run OpenServer applications (including Xenix applications) using the OpenServer Kernel Personality (OKP) function. OKP lite is included with UnixWare, and requires an existing OSR5 disk set and a license that matches the number of CPUs in your system. OKP lite is included in the media kit at no additional charge and is enabled by copying an existing OSR5 image and applications onto the UnixWare System. OKP full is for customers who need a fresh install of OpenServer 5.0.7 on UnixWare and is available for $250. The OKP package allows users to run OpenServer applications back to version 2.x of OpenServer.
| Bang for the buck? |
|---|
|
There are six editions of UnixWare, varying in the number of users supported, the amount of RAM supported, and the number of CPUs supported. Users, CPU, and memory capability can be upgraded separately. If you're looking for a Web server platform and don't need to support multiple users, the smallest editions are reasonably priced in comparison with other Web server platforms, such as Red Hat Enterprise Server. By the time you get to the ability to support more than 10 users as a file/print server, however, or when looking at the OS as a desktop platform, the case for UnixWare gets harder to make. It is difficult to discern any advantage UnixWare might have over competitive desktop and server platforms. On the desktop, the Windows emulation product, NeTraverse Merge, works reasonably well, but is more expensive than Windows XP Professional, while desktop-oriented versions of Linux such as Mandrake offer an easier installation, more desktop applications included with the distribution, and an equally good Windows emulator. On the server side, UnixWare Enterprise edition is more expensive for 150 users than either Windows 2003 Server Datacenter Edition, any of the Enterprise Linux distributions, or Solaris, with fewer available applications, fewer drivers for recent HBAs and other new hardware, and no currently available 64-bit version for either Opteron or Itanium processors. |
The SCOadmin utility offers management of the OS and some of the associated servers, such as the Sendmail server, through a single integrated interface. The modules include an account manager, license manager, login session viewer, mail manager, print job manager, printer setup manager, process manager, SCOadmin setup wizard (for setting up remote management), task scheduler, Veritas volume manager, and virtual domain user manager. Other server administration, such as Apache 1.3 or 2.0.49 and Tomcat Java application server administration, is not currently supported through the GUI. Other applications may not have all the options available on the command line that are available through the GUI.
UnixWare also offers an optional failover clustering product called Reliant HA, which allows a simple installation of up to four nodes for failover, disk mirroring, and Online Data Manger 3.2 (based on the Veritas file system) for disk replication, an automatic update service, and support. Each of these is an extra-cost add-on.
I tested UnixWare by installing it on eight different systems. I tested server performance by installing an Apache 2.0 server and comparing the total number of connections it could support as well as the number of hits per second that could be generated using WebLoad 6. Performance of the Web server was comparable to Red Hat Linux Enterprise 3.0 running the same version of Apache on the same hardware -? 22,061 connections vs. 22,121 respectively, and 38,941 hits per second vs. 39,566 respectively. I tested stability by crashing a variety of server and desktop applications; the operating system and other applications were never affected.
Installation
I received the retail box containing a slim "getting started" manual and eight CDs. Installation of the OS is via a character-based interface that seems rather clumsy in comparison with the GUI interfaces of Windows or Linux. In general, autodetection of PC hardware was good, although three of the eight test systems I installed UnixWare on had at least one problem with hardware detection, compared with zero for all Windows XP or 2003, zero for Mandrake Linux 10.0, and two for Red Hat Linux Enterprise 3.0. Entering the license key information is also easy to do incorrectly -- there are two keys for the OS and three for some of the additional products, with keys containing upper and lower case letters, numbers, and even punctuation.
The disk partitioning software worked well, although in cases where there were existing partitions, it took some fiddling to figure out how to erase them -- the installer did not offer to do this automatically. There is no included dual boot utility, although installing Linux after UnixWare does work. The partition utility allows for additional NTFS or Linux partitions, but doesn?t always correctly identify them.
There are a number of additional packages you can install with the OS or afterwards, including the NeTraverse Merge Windows emulator, Advanced File and Print Services (which supports older Windows and DOS clients, separately from the Samba server), ReliantHA Clustering for up to four-node failover clustering, and SCO Update Service and SCO Support Service. Each of these requires a separate license number and license key, and some a long license data string as well.
During the install, four levels of security can be specified -- Low, Traditional (the default), Improved (C2), and High (Above C2). You can downgrade the security level after the install, but not upgrade it. Enabling the highest level disables SSL and SSH access to the server.
The bottom line
UnixWare 7.1.4 offers some high quality Unix features including OS stability and security, disk replication, a decent GUI management package, Windows emulation, good documentation, and a reasonable suite of server applications. However, the relatively high prices for adding multiple users and CPUs, high cost of the support package, and relative dearth of available software since the LKP package was removed make UnixWare hard to justify as a file/print or mail server, or desktop OS. It would make a good Web server or application server.
| Small Business |
Base |
Business |
Departmental |
Enterprise |
Data Center |
|
| Price |
$599 |
$799 |
$1,399 |
$2,299 |
$4,999 |
$9,999 |
| Users |
1 |
1 |
10 |
25 |
50 |
150 |
| CPUs |
1 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
8 |
| Memory |
1GB |
2GB |
4GB |
8GB |
16GB |
32GB |
UnixWare 7.1.4 Editions
Small Business Edition 1-User, 1 GB, 1-CPU $599
Base Edition 1-User, 2 GB, 1-CPU $799
Business Edition 10-User, 4 GB, 4-CPU $1,399
Departmental Edition 25-User, 8 GB, 4-CPU $2,299
Enterprise Edition 50-User, 16 GB, ODM, 6-CPU $4,999
Data Center Edition 150-User, 32 GB, ODM, 8-CPU$9,999
UnixWare 7.1.4 Editions With Bundled Support *
Small Business Edition 1-User, 1 GB, 1-CPU Plus Support $2,224
Base Edition 1-User, 2 GB, 1-CPU PLus Support $2,424
Business Edition 10-User, 4 GB, 4-CPU PLus Support $3,024
Departmental Edition 25-User, 8 GB, 4-CPU PLus Support $3,924
Enterprise Edition 50-User, 16 GB, ODM, 6-CPU Plus Support $6,624
* Includes 6 months of SCO Support
UnixWare 7.1.4 Editions Plus SCO Update
Small Business Edition 7.1.4 with SCO Update $719
Base Edition 7.1.4 with SCO Update $959
Business Edition 7.1.4 with SCO Update $1,679
Departmental Edition 7.1.4 with SCO Update $2,759
Enterprise Edition 7.1.4 with SCO Update $5,999
Data Center Edition 7.1.4 with SCO Update $11,999
UnixWare 7.1.4 Editions Plus SCO Update and Support**
Small Business Edition 7.1.4 with SCO Update and Support $2,344
Base Edition 7.1.4 with SCO Update and Support $2,584
Business Edition 7.1.4 with SCO Update and Support $3,304
Departmental Edition 7.1.4 with SCO Update and Support $4,384
Enterprise Edition 7.1.4 with SCO Update and Support $7,624
** Includes 6 months of SCO Support and SCO Update
SCO Update Add-On For UnixWare 7.1.4
SCO Update for UnixWare 7.1.4 Small Business Edition $149
SCO Update for UnixWare 7.1.4 Base Edition $199
SCO Update for UnixWare 7.1.4 Business Edition $349
SCO Update for UnixWare 7.1.4 Departmental Edition $569
SCO Update for UnixWare 7.1.4 Enterprise Edition $1,249
SCO Update for UnixWare 7.1.4 Data Center Edition $2,499
These SCO Update Licenses are Edition Specific and may only be installed on systems licensed for the corresponding edition
Additional User Packs
10 Additional User License $499
25 Additional User License $1,199
100 Additional User License $4,699
500 Additional User License $22,999
UNLIMITED User License $24,999
5 Additional User License for Small Business Edition Only $499
Note: With the exception of the Small Business Edition, additional User Licenses add together in any order or combination and apply to all UnixWare 7.1.4 Editions. The Small Business Edition may only use the special 5-user pack.
Additional License Packs
Additional Processor Upgrade $1,499
Up to 4 GBytes Memory for Base Edition $499
Up to 16 GBytes Memory $999
Up to 32 GBytes Memory $1,999
Up to 64 GBytes Memory $3,999
UnixWare 7.1.4 OpenServer Kernel Personality (OKP) Licenses
The OKP add-on supports the installation of a full OpenServer application environment on UnixWare 7.1.4 including emulation support for most Xenix applications in use with OpenServer today. The Lite version is a no-charge add-on which may be used to directly migrate an existing OpenServer 5.0.4 through OpenServer 5.0.7 system along with already installed applications and data files. The Full version provides a fresh OpenServer 5.0.7 image for installation on UnixWare 7.1.4. This option is a good choice for customers who want to move a limited number of applications and also move to the latest release of OpenServer on UnixWare.
OKP FULL - Includes fresh OSR5.0.7 Image $249
Data Management
Online Data Manager 3.2 License $999
Disk Mirroring 3.2 License $495
Merge 5.3 Server Version License 5-User $1,349
Desktop Version License $399
Additional 10-User License $999
Additional 25-User License $2,499
Advanced File and Print Server 4.0
5-User Base Package $995
10-User License $1,095
25-User License $2,695
Unlimited-User License $6,495
User Licenses require the purchase of a Base Package.
Clustering
ReliantHA is a clustering solution for enterprises requiring high levels of application and data availability. ReliantHA increases the overall availability of applications and critical data by connecting multiple servers together as nodes within a single high-availability fail-over cluster. Applications do not need to be aware of the operation of the cluster, and all nodes within the cluster may be used simultaneously for processing. Each node in the cluster needs to be licensed.
Reliant HA 1.1.4
Single Server License $2,999
Special Clustering Bundles
2-Node Bundle for UnixWare 7.1.4 $5,799
Includes two (2) UnixWare 7.1.4 Business Edition operating system licenses and two (2) Reliant HA Single Server licenses.
2-Node Bundle with SCO Update $6,359
Includes two (2) UnixWare 7.1.4 Business Edition operating system licenses with SCO Update and two (2) Reliant HA Single Server licenses.
UnixWare and Open Server Development Kit
Comments
on Review: UnixWare 7.1.4 is suitable for basic server dutyNote: Comments are owned by the poster. We are not responsible for their content.
Since UNIX belongs to SCO, technically all GPL software is their software to do with what they please.
>Since UNIX belongs to SCO.
Do they? The name UNIX actually belongs to The X/Open group? I believe that IBM's OS390 is classed as UNIX but it contains no SYS-V code. Does that belong to SCO too? And to top it off they seem unable to show ownership of any SYS-V code? Did novell assign ALL copyrights/patents to oldSCO? Judging by the latest Novell documentation in the SCOvNOVELL case I suspect we won't be waiting much longer to find out !
>technically all GPL software is their software to do with what they please.
So SCO own my own contributions to GPL'd programs? Don't think so!
Apart from the base operating system, all the function is provided by open source software products. These can be got either for free or cheaper elsewhere.
Even if you mistakingly believe that SCO has any case against Linux, you can always use an alternate, core, underlying operating system.
them using apache..just freaks me out,
they are picking fruits from their neighbours trees.
Can't we exclude SCO in the license?
(pretty plzzz)
> (pretty plzzz)
The fact of the matter is that open source licensing cannot exclude anybody. It's the same as taking open source to create a ICBM guidance control to basically kill lots of people - you have all the right to use OSS.
It's no longer GPL/OSS if you exclude people doing bad things with or against OSS. I saw the latest GCC 3.4 readme and FSF are being dishonest when they pull SCO support. It just hurts their credibility and portrays them as being childish. FSF should be above such pettyness.
You can sue Microsof and still use Windows and Word to write the lawsuit.
Grow up, will ya!
I saw the latest GCC 3.4 readme and FSF are being dishonest when they pull SCO support.
Not IMHO, as you are perfectly Free to fork GCC and implement the support, as long as you make your source available to anyone you distribute the modified version to. As per the GPL version 2.0. They don't support NeXTSTEP either [though for different reasons] any more, so if I wanted a new GCC I'd have to port it myself. Or just make do without the new version. That is what the Freedom of Free Software amounts to - the choice to use whatever software you want also gives you the choice not to write that software.
Hold on a minute. SCO, just like anyone else, can still use GCC. The GCC maintainers are perfectly within their rights to stop supporting SCO - there is no dishonesty involved. SCO's engineers, if they still have any, can fork off their own branch from GCC 3.3 or whatever.
FSF's SCO policy has nothing to do with licensing, it has to do with to what features of the program itself the GCC maintainers choose to devote their energies. Personally, I think it would be almost psychotic for anyone allied with the FSF to lift a finger to support SCO.
It's everything to do with SCO tactics against IBM/GPL. THey just pulled out SCO support out of spite for SCO and with no regard to SCO's customers, who aren't involved with that dispute.
FSF is free to do whatever. Why the hell do they support Windows in cygwin/gcc?. After all Bill Gates has rediculed GPL as being viral. Perhaps FSF, should pull Solaris support next because Sun bought the UNIX license from SCO. Maybe get rid of PowerPC/MacOSX because Apple is a proprietary company. Where will it stop?
These matters are for FSF's lawyers and not for FSF's programmers.
Reminds me of a news piece where they were interviewing US medics in Iraq and some were having to tend to iraqi insurgents wounded and while they were appalled in helping the enemy, it was their job so they did it.
gnu removed nextstep / sco support because there was very little interest in supporting those platforms before 3.4.
but doing sco gcc work now could get you subpoena'd or sued. why should anyone be _forced_ to support a dead platform with a shrinking userbase which could get you into legal trouble?
support of windows in cygwin/gcc is because there is still an active userbase and a strong demand for it.
the same can't be said for sco. everyone is madly migrating away from the platform, not to it.
> was very little interest in supporting those
> platforms before 3.4.
SCO dead?. Not from the looks of this review!. There's still a large userbase. You may wish them dead doesn't make it so.
> but doing sco gcc work now could get you
> subpoena'd or sued. why should anyone be
> _forced_ to support a dead platform with a
> shrinking userbase which could get you into
> legal trouble?
What?. You really don't know what you are talking about. GCC is applications layer and to this date, nobody has sued FSF for any kind of GCC infrigement. Again, you may not use UnixWare or Open Server but there's a market there and SCO is coming out with new releases.
I'm not defending SCO here but I am trying to defend freedom. Tomorrow, Microsoft sues Novell for MONO patent infrigements and now Microsoft regains it's "most hated company in the world" status, does that still mean FSF will remove cygwin support because all of a sudden FSF programmers can be sued?
I,personally, would use Corel WordPerfect 8 for Linux (it's free, but not OSS).
0. run the software
1. examine the software
2. change the software
3. distribute the software, original or derivate, either gratis or for a fee, passing on the rights given in the GNU GPL is what our community is all about. In short, NO you cannot exclude SCO or any other party. A license is a right to use something that is not yours. The terms of use are given by the copyright holder. If you distribute GNU GPLed software or a derivate, but do not pass on these freedoms, you have broken the terms of the license. In short, you cannot distribute that way anymore, but must comply, otherwise you do not have a license.
Why would anyone want to spend that much time figuring out how to spend thousands of dollars? It's just another difficulty potential customers have to overcome for the priviledge of giving SCO money. And they wonder why people are not buying their stuff! Forget the technical merits, it's hard just to figure out what they are selling!
I think 'yet' is the operative word here.
I also deploy Linux and Windows and Im sure if I talk to SCO they wont sue me.
What's your point? The only reason you might be safe is your small and insignificant. Is that what your were really trying to say? By the looks of your weblog, I don't think having your business would be profitable enough to sustain a company. Sueing you might not yield more than an X-box you got for christmas and a few games. You don't even have a real domain, just one of those cheesy free web accounts.
He trolls every news site around and writes FUD about Linux. He claims he is a programmer at a big company and a consultant and many people have asked him to tell us which company or which software he has written.
Trust me, this guy is nothing more than a disgusting troll.
Please point out to me where the original poster said that.
> What's your point?
I believe his point his that with his current connection with SCO he does not think that he will be sued so he has now problem using SCO products with Windows and Linux.
Everything you have said are unfounded claims intented to attack someone who said something mildly positive about
SCO.
And if by "talk" you mean "pay off" of course you'll get along with SCO just fine. They'll keep coming back for more, but if you keep giving in to their unfounded demands for more money things will be fine.
To the author of the article about which this comment has been written, very nice focus on technical detail. Talking about SCO often turns into a political/religious debate, but I think you did a nice job just focusing on the technical merits of and problems with UnixWare 7.1.4.
Apparently SCO isn't ashamed of their behavior, but what about you welcoming "their" new capabilities???
Also: including a SCO price list longer than the review itself goes way beyond the purpose of a review.
Do any of the other Unix variants pose similar license management problems? Do any of the other Unixes even have mandatory licencing?
The fact that something can cost you $500 or 80K for the same hardware is quite relevant.
Fresh from Mr Rob Enderle's mouth at the SCO Forum
http://www.sco.com/2004forum/agenda/Enderle_keyno<nobr>t<wbr></nobr> e_SCO-Forum2004.html
So does this mean that anyone buying Unixware with all this open-source software is an idiot? SCO calling their current/future customers IDIOTS?
AFAICT, the only functional differences between Mandrake 10.0 Download Edition and UnixWare on a RAIDed quad-CPU application server is about ten grand US, a C2 certification and a greater risk of being sued. To add insult to injury, the free Mandrake system comes with far more tools and toys.
Buy now and <A HREF="http://shop.sco.com/caldera/summary.jsp?collection=Scosource" title="sco.com">receive a $49 discount</a sco.com> on any free open source operating system. Good for a <A HREF="http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SCOX&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=" title="yahoo.com">limited time only</a yahoo.com>(as long a SCO remains in business)
Watch out SCO, Tux is about to buck you off.
Poisoned their water well
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on August 10, 2004 09:48 PMToo bad SCO has poisoned their own water well.
No one in their right mind would do business with a company that sues their own customers.
#