Migrating Applications From Proprietary/ Legacy Platforms

OpenVMS to Linux and UNIX Migration

In companies across the globe, IS managers are looking toward the future with varying degrees of apprehension. Their comfortable world has been disrupted by a mandate to move from their familiar operating system into the brave new world of UNIX. For most OpenVMS managers, the road from OpenVMS to UNIX does not look smooth. A gap exists between the existing OpenVMS business solution and the new world of open systems. Familiar commands no longer work. Text editors seem to have been designed to defeat the editing process rather than enable it. System management tools are nowhere to be found. Even HELP fails to provide useful information. It's no wonder IS managers don't sleep soundly.

But these fears do not have to be fully realized. You can implement specific strategies to help manage the transition from OpenVMS to UNIX. Several companies market tools and services that make the migration of both application code and end users cost-effective and timely. End-user migration tools can also aid in situations where OpenVMS will coexist with UNIX, enabling a consistent user interface.

Starting Out Right

Two primary reasons migration projects come in over budget or behind schedule are incorrect planning and insufficient risk management. Incorrect planning stems from using planning skills based on the software development paradigm rather than a paradigm developed specifically for migration projects. Insufficient risk management results from not incorporating the risk components directly into the migration methodology.

Planning

IS groups moving from OpenVMS into the open systems environment require new skill sets. While the goals of most activities are the same as those for any operating system, the specific actions you take are different. Be prepared for changes in the areas of system and network management, accessing the email system, and using the editor, for example.

Migration of critical corporate systems requires coordinating many diverse activities, including hardware resources, user documentation, training of the IS staff, and training of the trainers. You also need to address other activities such as beta testing and product release, which may not have been done for years.

Don’t forget to plan for intangible issues as well. One striking effect of a migration project is the cultural change the IS staff experiences. OpenVMS and UNIX view the world in significantly different ways, which can affect morale and productivity.

5 Stages of UNIX Migration

• ASSESSMENT: By understanding and detailing the project size and scope, you reduce the risk of the project’s going over budget.
• PLANNING: The planning stage provides a technical architecture for software identified in the assessment stage.
• PORTING: During the porting stage, your UNIX system is created. The major effort of this stage is to obtain a working system that can be demonstrated.
• VALIDATION: The validation stage can bring the longest term value. The final deliverable is your OpenVMS solution on open systems with your users working with it.
• PRODUCTIZATION: The final stage is productization. This stage converts an OpenVMS solution running on UNIX into a true open systems solution.

Risk Management

To effectively embark on a migration project, you must develop a risk management plan. By identifying the problems and outlining strategies to deal with them, you can find solutions to all potential problems. If a demonstrated solution is not available, you may have to develop a worst-case scenario prototype to verify the solution.

There are essentially five stages to a UNIX migration. These stages correspond to five components of project risk management and should allow you to migrate effectively while maintaining and potentially enhancing your existing software and personnel investment.

Assessment: Reducing Cost Risk

A complete project assessment is the first stage of any serious migration project. By understanding and detailing the project size and scope, you significantly reduce the risk of the project’s going over budget.

The assessment stage must develop a detailed understanding of:

• The existing corporate and computer environment.
• How software is developed.
• The technical environment in which the applications exist.
• The target environment.

The migration process itself provides opportunities for the company to perform a fairly detailed situational analysis and should result in a clarification of the organization’s IS goals and direction.

The Experts

Since 1985, Sector 7 has been providing solutions for companies needing UNIX solutions that maximize their software investment in OpenVMS. We have encountered all the pains and pitfalls involved in moving from a proprietary environment to UNIX. We understand the migration process, we have benchmarked it, and we have improved it.

The toolsets developed by Sector 7 provide the solution for a number of obvious technical problems when moving from OpenVMS to UNIX. These problems, while significant, are only part of a large migration project. Before embarking on a significant migration project, an organization must be aware of potentially significant challenges in project management and implementation.

Migration Consultation

The Migration Consultation is a two-day program giving organizations an understanding of migration and determining if it is an appropriate solution for them. The first day consists of four seminars explaining the migration process and relevant issues. The second day involves focused discussions designed to understand the key particulars of your application and your needs.

Application Assessment

Sector 7 has a standardized Migration Assessment Procedure that reviews over two hundred different technical items in five groupings. Included with the assessment is a formal analysis of the Technical, Cost, Schedule, Operational, and Support Risk of the migration project. Our assessment concludes with the delivery of a detailed report.

Migration Planning

Migration planning addresses both obvious and non-obvious technical details. Deliverables include the normal project schedule, resource requirements, and most importantly for in-house migrations, the beginning of involvement and ownership for the existing IT staff.

Porting

During the Porting Stage, the code is moved from the OpenVMS platform to the target platform. At this point, minimum re-engineering of specific applications can be performed, and new database technology introduced. When completed, all technical problems between the original and migrated applications will have been uncovered and solved. The focus here is meeting and beating the project schedule.

Application Validation

Application Validation is critical and provides the most significant reduction in the cost of delivering a project. In a migration, the final deliverable exists before the project has begun. The final phase of the migration is putting the code into the hands of the end users. In most cases, the application programs will function exactly as they did when running under OpenVMS.

Conclusion

Migration can be the solution for organizations looking for a low-risk introduction to open systems with a high payback. It is the type of project that is seemingly straightforward but actually quite complex. However, if you exercise proper care, migration projects can be delivered on time and within budget, and they can even be fun.