Hey everyone! I'm trying to figure out how to migrate this ancient NetWare server we have to a virtual machine. Any suggestions on tools to use or methods that could work? I know it seems odd to still have a NetWare server in 2025, but the previous management was quite conservative with tech upgrades, and this server was in use until 2020. We still need it for archiving things like old documents and invoices. One more thing: we're a bit worried about shutting it down because we're not sure if it'll turn back on. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
5 Answers
One important thing is ensuring you've got the right driver support for virtual environments. VMware's generic device emulation should support Novell, but you'd have to verify if Hyper-V does. The main challenge will be creating a bootable virtual disk, but I found a utility called PlateSpin that might help with this.
Just curious, which version of NetWare are you dealing with? If it's something like 6.5 or even older, you might need a fresh setup and just focus on migrating the data. Plus, I hope you're not running eDirectory services on that thing.
You could try imaging the disk using a tool like Clonezilla and then set up a VM. I've only tested this in theory, but seems doable!
Could you clone over the network with that?
Have you considered the possibility of migrating the data instead? That might be a viable option if you're worried about the aging server. Just keep in mind it could fail at any time, since it's over 30 years old!
If that’s the case, then yes, migrating the data is crucial. It’s just a waiting game with that old server, honestly.
Make sure you have solid backups before you start any migration process. You said you do, right? That’ll save a lot of headaches later on.
Yep, we have backups from 2011 to 2020. That's comforting, but still, I'm nervous about accessing the files when I need to!
It's actually NetWare 4. I inherited it, and the last folks who maintained it are long gone!