[Info-vax] Moving away from OpenVMS

[JF Mezei]

Eric Smith wrote:

> Since this is a niche community, I'm appealing to anyone in the know
> to find out who specialises in COBOL system migrations, specifically
> *from* OpenVMS, to any modern platform (interpretation: Windows or
> Linux)?  I'm looking for someone to come in and do the whole job and
> leave us with a system that behaves just as it did before.


If you have a lot of software on your VMS system, a move to Unix will
require a lot of work. You need to consider for instance what happens if
your Cobol uses indexed files and how you will provide that capability
on Unix.

You need to make a list of all VMS dependencies that you have, and then
take a look at alternative systems and middleware for the best replacement.

You need to make a policy decision of whether you are to go for open
sourced OS (less likely to be killed by the whims of one or more CEOs)
or whether you would accept going to a proprietary UNIX such as AIX
which might provide better mapping of VMS functionality.