Cent OS migration

[Bill Campbell]

On Mon, May 09, 2011, Rodgers Hemer wrote:
>
>On May 9, 2011, at 8:46 AM, scooter6 at gmail.com wrote:
>
>> Okay - the time is approaching where we're going to switch from SCO
>> OpenServer to CentOS.
>> I have a few questions.
>> 
>> 1.  Is there a migration tool that will take all my existing users and
>> 'import' them as users on CentOS?

I have developed scripts to handle user migration from SCO and
other *nix systems taking into account things like differences in
the UID and GID ranges between the system.  Generally we set up
the new accounts on the Linux box, then migrate directories using
rsync modules to insure that all ownership and permissions are
done consistently.  This does require a recent version of rsync
on the SCO systems.

...

>> 3.  Is setting up printers/drivers pretty simple on CentOS?

Yes.  The CUPS system has supported standard SYSV style lpadmin
and lp commands for several years now.

>> 7.  Is there a specific version of CentOS that seems to be more stable, etc
>> than others?

We're currently using CentOS 5.x.  This is based on Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL5).  While RHEL6 is out, and a CentOS
version will track it, I'm always a bit reluctant to jump on new
major releases until they've been out long enough to shake out
the teething problems.

>> 9.  For my many scripts that I have running, is there a big directory
>> hierarchy difference on CentOS vs. SCO?
>>     i.e. are user profiles still in /usr directory? Does the PATH variable
>> need to change on my scripts? i.e. /usr/bin, /usr/local/bin, /etc, etc

Most people put user's under /home as most competent SCO admins
put user's home directories under /u as a separate file system.
A symbolic link or two can hide any differences.  My user
migration scripts change the home directories to /home.

<religious rant on>
Non-vendor scripts should *NEVER* go in /usr/bin, /bin/, etc.,
but should *ALWAYS* go under /usr/local/...
</religious rant>

>We have done this with two clients and will do a third one as soon as they
>are ready to purchase.  I'm sure that Bill Campbell will chime in with
>specifics on Linux configuration that are outside of my skill set but here
>are some of the basics of the new systems.

Bill
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