Differences for UnixWare 2 and SCO OpenServer users

Differences for SCO OpenServer users

If you are familiar with SCO OpenServer, note the following differences in UnixWare in addition to the new features listed in ``Release 7.0.0 new features'':

Software management

The Application Installer is used rather than custom+. Old-style custom is available for SCO OpenServer applications.
SSO or custom+ installable images are not currently supported.

Installation

Installation is substantially improved.

See the Getting Started Guide and Getting Started Guide for information.

Application compatibility

There is limited compatibility for some SCO OpenServer applications.

See ``What are porting, integration, and compatibility?'' for further information about application compatibility.

System administration and SCOadmin

Command compatibility

Some system administration commands are available in their SCO OpenServer versions for backwards compatibility, via the OSRCMDS environment variable.

crash(1M) command

The commands in crash(1M) are revised to reflect the UnixWare kernel.

dump(1) command

dump(1) always omits zeroed blocks to reduce the report size.

cpio(1) and tar(1) command

cpio(1) and tar(1) have new options.

kdb debugger

The kdb(1M) kernel debugger is available.

Account Manager

The Account Manager now allows the setting of a user's locale and remote host equivalency. It also utilizes and manages the UnixWare tfadmin(1M) security utility for user authorizations and privileges.

Task Scheduler

The Task Scheduler allows the setting of scheduled tasks via a graphical manager as well as cron(1M) authorization via the traditional allow and deny files.

System Defaults Manager

The System Defaults Manager includes remote capabilities to provide default policy distribution across a specified set of machines on a network.

Printer Setup Manager

The Printer Setup Manager now has an interface similar to the UnixWare 2 Printer Setup Manager. It lists printer models by name instead of requiring the users to know the technical details of their print system.

System Time Manager

The System Time Manager provides easy access to the date(1) command, allowing modifications only by authorized users and non-NTP clients.

International Settings Manager

The International Settings Manager has an improved user interface to provide clear locale information on the main screen and better usability overall. It also sets up locale information for compatibility with both SCO OpenServer and UnixWare 2 applications.

Network administration tool

The netconfig tool has been renamed netcfg(1M). It includes new functionality. It should be accessed using the Network Configuration Manager.

Facilities not provided

The following are not provided:

Startup Manager
Terminal Manager
Sysadmsh
The SCOadmin desktop

Administration commands

SCO OpenServer storage administrative commands will not be supported in UnixWare. This includes commands such as badtrk(ADM) and divvy(ADM). Equivalent functionality is provided by UnixWare commands. See ``Equivalent commands and processes''.

The tape(1) and tapecntl(1) commands remain, with some changes.

Disk format

Disks created using SCO OpenServer (but not earlier systems) can be read on UnixWare. A command is provided to translate an SCO OpenServer disk to a UnixWare disk. After use of this command, the disk will be viewed as a native UnixWare disk.

Third-party management and configuration utilities

Third-party SCO OpenServer utilities used to configure, monitor, or otherwise manage storage devices must be ported to UnixWare.

System backup

ARCserveIT from Computer Associates is provided as part of the base UnixWare product.

Tape backup

You can restore a tape backup on UnixWare provided the backup application, the tape media and the tape mode used to create the backup are all compatible with UnixWare.

SCO OpenServer backup and restore

The SCO OpenServer version of cpio(1) is available so that you can restore archives made using the Backup Manager under SCO OpenServer. You should not use the SCO OpenServer command to make backups under UnixWare.

Set the environment variable OSRCMDS=on to use the SCO OpenServer version of cpio or any command. Remember to unset the variable when you have finished restoring the backup. Alternatively, use the full pathname /OpenServer/bin/cpio.

Restore operations can be performed using the cpio utility on the command line. The examples included here assume you are using the standard tape device, /dev/ctape1.

To restore a backup:

cpio -iAmudB -I /dev/ctape1

Restore individual files or directories by adding them to the end of the command line. Use the full pathname and omit the leading ``/'', as in this example:

tmp/hold/time

Use the ``'' Bourne shell wildcard character to restore a directory, as in this example:

tmp/hold/other/

To verify a backup:

cpio -itvn -I /dev/ctape1

To list the files on a backup:

cpio -iABmudq -I /dev/ctape1 \*

This command reads the first file off the media. Backups created by the SCO OpenServer Backup Manager include a file list called _BACKUP_CONTENTS_ at the beginning of each backup. If the backup was created by another means, use this command to list the files:

cpio -itv -I /dev/ctape1

Core operating system

Commands are similar to UnixWare 2. See the manual pages and other online documentation for details.
The scoshell environment is not available.
The kernel is similar to UnixWare 2. The following differences apply compared to SCO OpenServer:
- UNIX95 is supported. Contact your authorized representative for branding information.
- Memory allocation is more dynamic. There is a different set of tunables.
  This means that the system is more responsive to variations in workloads and there is more flexibility in tuning.
- Modules can be loaded and unloaded dynamically, which results in a smaller kernel footprint.
- There is finer grained locking, and the core kernel is fully multi-threaded. This makes the kernel more scalable.
- A privilege-based mechanism replaces ``superuser'', allowing permissions to be granted on a discrete basis.
- A preemptible kernel leads to better real-time performance.
- There are expanded type sizes and UIDs, GIDs, PIDs, dev_ts, and #inodes. This means that there can be more users, processes, devices, files and so on.
- There is source-level instrumentation for runtime events, including DEBUG assertions, memory leaks, memory corruptions, lock hierarchy checking and lock statistics. This results in a stronger development process, resulting in superior quality for the non-DEBUG kernels used in the product.
- Pipes, FIFOs and ttys are based on STREAMS. This means that poll, getmsg/putmsg, module push and similar facilities are available.
- Multi-processor support is limited to the following:
  - MPS
  - Corollary CBUS 2
  - Compaq
- Memory management is similar to UnixWare 2:
  - SVR4 VM replaces ``regions'' in a completely different implementation. This architecture promotes more page sharing, and provides records of tuneables and performance characteristics, and swap usage.
  - File data is now read directly into the page pool, bypassing the buffer cache. Pages may be used by the kernel, freed and then allocated to a user process.
  - There is an auto-tuning facility based on memory size.
  - There is a large page size (4MB) for shared memory segments.
  - memfs (memory file system) is available for use as high performance temporary files (for example, /tmp and /var/tmp).
    memfs is backed by the swap device, with memory usage dynamically adjusted to match demand. By comparison, a RAM disk device cannot utilize swap, nor can it vary its memory usage.
- Process management is similar to UnixWare 2 and includes the following:
  - Light-weight processes (LWPs) allow parallel execution of multiple threads for the same process.
  - There is a user-level threads library.
  - Kernel premption is supported.
  - Session management represents multiple process groups running over the same tty. That is, job control is available.
  - Multiple scheduler classes support real-time, timesharing and fixed-priority workloads simultaneously.
  - There is support for processor binding, integrated with load-balancing mechanisms.
  - A /proc filesystem provides access to process state via filesystem namespace (/proc/PID).
  - Most commands (ps, whodo and similar) are now independent of /dev/kmem.
  - debug(1), a powerful tool for debugging user-level programs, is available. Also see ``A guide to debug for dbx users''.
- The following pseudo-drivers are not supported:
  - /dev/byte
  - /dev/error
  - /dev/string
  - /dev/table

Mail and messaging

The following MUAs are not available:
- SCOmail
- scosh e-mail
MMDF is not supported.
sendmail is the only Mail Transport Agent.
The following commands are not available for use in .maildelivery files:
- rcvalert (C)
- rcvfile (C)
- rcvprint (C)
- resend (C)

Printing

UnixWare2-style printing replaces SCO OpenServer printing:

UnixWare 2 filters are used.
Some printer command options are different. See the relevant manual pages for details.
A smaller set of printer drivers is supported.
Users can control remotely submitted print jobs.
S5 Remote Printer protocol is supported.

Base drivers

Some devices that were supported in SCO OpenServer may not be supported in UnixWare. These may include low-end non-SCSI devices such as floppy-tape. Support for such devices may be available via third parties, but this is not guaranteed. Devices that conform to SCSI or IDE/Atapi, with the exception of IDE Tape, should work in UnixWare.

Networking

NetWare Services version 4.10a are available. This version consists of both client and server software. Features include:
- NDS v5.04
- NetWare IP (IPX tunnelled over IP)
- Enhanced performance
LAN Manager Client (LMC) has been removed.
See the documentation for differences in PMTU discovery, OSPFv2 RFC1583, Router Discovery RFC1256 and RIPv2.

Network drivers

SPX and SPX II connections are supported.

Graphics drivers

A test mode is available which means that graphics can be tested within the configuration tool before the server is started.

SCOhelp

SCOhelp is now based on Netscape Navigator 3.0. See ``Release 7.0.0 new features'' for details.
Character help can be read by any character browser, for example, Lynx.
The man(1) command can process unformatted man page documents.

Visual Tcl

The Tcl base has been upgraded from Tcl7.3 to Tcl7.6. The new base includes added event handling, timers, and socket support to the Tcl core.
Additional VTcl capability includes:
- The ability to run servers standalone from the command line
- Optional support for socket connections between the interpreter and server
- Help system suppression
- ValueString specification on some widgets provided as widget value (as callbacks or queries)
- Support for widget values provided directly into a Tcl variable
- Multi-option GetValue on a single widget
- The ability to run (script perceived) blocking transient dialogs
- Shared Tcl and VTcl libraries

Mass storage

Device naming conventions are different in UnixWare and compatibility of device node names is not guaranteed.
UnixWare supports read-only access of SCO OpenServer disk volumes. You should migrate data as soon as possible using the conversion tool provided.
Device drivers are not compatible.
Mass storage ioctls are different in UnixWare.
A different set of mass storage commands is provided.

Console multiscreens

In UnixWare 7, the default configuration of the console gives a similar look and feel to that of SCO OpenServer console multiscreens.

When the system enters multiuser mode, seven multiscreen text login prompts and one graphical login prompt are presented. The traditional SCO OpenServer screen switch sequences can be used to navigate among the multiscreens, with the following exceptions:

The first multiscreen is reached by pressing <Ctrl><Alt><F2>, instead of <Ctrl><Alt><F3>.
The graphical login prompt is reached by pressing <Ctrl><Alt><F1>, instead of <Ctrl><Alt><F2>.
The console screen is reached by pressing <Ctrl><Alt><Esc>, instead of <Ctrl><Alt><F1>.

If you prefer to have eleven text login prompts as in SCO OpenServer, instead of the default seven, you can run the following script to enable the extra login prompts:

   for i in 09 10 11 12
   do
   pmadm -a -p contty -s $i -S login -fu -v `ttyadm -V` \
   -m "`ttyadm -d /dev/vt$i -l console -s /usr/bin/shserv \
   -p \"Login (vt$i): \"`"
   done

Note there must be no trailing spaces after the backslash (``\'') characters at the ends of the third and fourth lines.

For more information on using multiscreens see ``Running programs simultaneously with multiscreen displays''.

Documentation

Documentation is shipped as HTML and may be read with any world wide web browser. It is organized as topics, rather than as books.