ADSM-L

[ADSM-L] VMWare and software archeology

2007-09-05 16:42:29
Subject: [ADSM-L] VMWare and software archeology
From: Thomas Denier <Thomas.Denier AT JEFFERSONHOSPITAL DOT ORG>
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 16:40:20 -0400
I work for a large hospital. Four or five years ago one of the clinical
departments replaced a system used to collect and store results from
procedures. The old system was built around a proprietary database and ran
on a Windows 95 platform that was getting old even when the system was
replaced. The department concluded that it was economically infeasible to
migrate the contents of the proprietary database to the replacement system.
The department still needs read-only access to the information in the old
database. Depending on the demographics of their patients, they may need
this kind of access for another 20 years; clinical data is normally
retained for 7 years after collection or 7 years after the patient's 18th
birthday, whichever is later. The department has so far maintained
read-only access to the data by keeping the old system up and running with
no network connection. The staff access old records using the system's own
keyboard and monitor. The department has also had the IS department retain
the last TSM backups of the old system. If they need access to their data
after the old system stops working, they expect us to perform a bare metal
recovery to replacement hardware. This strategy will get less and less
plausible as Windows 95 recedes further into the past. I don't know whether
we have any alternatives to the this strategy. In particular, I don't know
whether the old software will run under newer versions of Windows, and I
don't know whether we still have usable distribution media for the old
software.
Can VMWare simulate a hardware environment compatible with Windows 95 even
when the host system is using contemporary hardware? For example, can
VMWare simulate an IDE disk drive if the host system is really using SATA,
local SCSI, or a SAN to access disk drives?

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