Hi billshaw,
.raq files, as you probably know, are backup files generated by the
Cobalt Raq. Like their counterparts, .qub files from Cobalt Qube
devices, these backup files are actually compressed tar files that
have a proprietary Cobalt file header.
.raq files are normally handled by the Cobalt Raq device itself, using
the management tools that come with it. But they can be pulled apart
manually using a combination of tools. Due to the fact that Raq and
Qube devices run Linux, the easiest methods of opening .raq files are
using Linux/Unix-based utilities.
There have only been a few posts about this topic, mostly on the
cobalt support mailing lists and newsgroups. Most of the Raq articles
point to a PERL script that removes the header from the file and
prepares it for unzipping and untarring. This script is available in
several places on the 'net, and is mentioned here:
How To Rip Apart A .raq File
http://www.cobalthosts.com/ripraq.php
The script link on that page leads to the original, here:
ftp://ftp.cobaltnet.com/pub/users/jeffb/scripts/stripheader.pl
(Since the PERL script is brief, I'll reproduce it here, as it appears
from this listserve posting:
http://list.cobalt.com/pipermail/cobalt-security/2000-July/000482.html
)
#!/usr/bin/perl
# Jeff Bilicki <jeffb@cobaltnet.com>
# removes the header out of a Qube 2 and RaQ 2 backup file
use strict;
my ($infile);
my ($outfile) = "out.tar.gz";
my ($end) = "\%\%END_INDEX";
my ($begin) = "\%\%BACKUP_HEADER";
if (@ARGV) {
$infile = $ARGV[0];
} else {
print "usage: stripheader.pl <file name>\n";
exit 1;
}
open (INFILE, $infile) or die "Can't open: $!\n";
open (OUTFILE, ">$outfile") or die "Can't open $!\n";
while (<INFILE>) {
if ( /^$begin/ ... /^$end/ ) {
next;
} else {
print OUTFILE $_;
}
}
close(INFILE);
close(OUTFILE);
exit 0;
After running this script you'll be left with a standard gzipped Tar
archive. (Notice that the script simply looks for material between
"BACKUP_HEADER" and "END_INDEX", which is actually the gzipped-tar
archive file). Using the standard Unix utilities (tar and gzip), you
can then open the archive and get to the files.
You mention that you're trying to get to these files from Windows.
Well, you still can, but it's a little bit trickier. You can get PERL
for windows and even get tar and gzip to run under Windows using
Cygwin. (Cygwin is a great Unix environment for Windows. It was
bought by Red Hat a few years ago. It's completely free, and
available here: http://www.cygwin.com/ )
If Cygwin / PERL is not an option for you, you'll have to open the
file by hand. To do this, you'll need a text editor capable of
working with really big files and a utility to unzip/untar the file.
As the commenter below suggested, VIM for Windows is a good choice for
working with large files. It's also very convenient to use the
shareware Winzip Utility (http://www.winzip.com ), which can open TAR
and GZIP files.
Using the text editor, you'll need to remove the header and footer,
much as the script above does. Then rename the file to end in .TGZ so
that Winzip will read it as a gzipped-tar file.
Search Strategies:
I searched through Usenet postings via Google and Google Groups.
Search terms used included ".raq file" and "unofficial cobalt support"
Additionally, you may find the Sun Cobalt Online Knowledge Base pages
informative:
http://cobalt-knowledge.sun.com/
I hope that you find this information useful. Regards,
Duncan2-ga |
