AIX or NT for Progress Dbase

[vb8304]

Currently we use Progress with AIX on an older J40 RS/6000 server. Most of our network is based on NT except for Progress and Tivoli. I currently administer the AIX although I have only had one class on AIX and little previous experience. We are at a point where we need to make a major decision on which route to follow. Either port our dbase over to NT, pay a big amount for the license but most admins here know NT well. Or, upgrade the AIX system and send me to more classes on AIX, which I would love, and have me administer the AIX system. What argeuments could be offered in order to stay with AIX (RS/6000)? There has also been talk about using AS/400. Any suggestions or experiences with progress and AIX or NT?

Thanks.

 

[MikeLacey]

Stability is the one big advantage any UNIX system has over NT - for the moment anyway. Though if they keep on changing NT at this rate it seems likely that NT's stability issues will be with us for a while.

A good comparison for this is the recommended length of times between reboots for NT - it's still measured in days while UNIX systems run for "quite a while" (monthsm at least) until you need to patch them or to move them.

How much admin do you think will be needed? I used to maintain a PG db on an HP system and they pretty much look after themselves. Mike
michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com
Email welcome if you're in a hurry or something -- but post in tek-tips as well please, and I will post my reply here as well.

 

[vb8304]

At this point Mike our RS/6000 only maintains our progress database. That is it's only purpose so far. So in terms of administration the amount of time needed would be small compared to our NT systems but then again the RS/6000 cannot be down for any length of time. I do agree that it is one of the more stable servers we have. It has been running for several months without any problems.

Thanks.

 

[prv3116]

If your database cannot be down for any length of time then it must be a critical production application. If downtime is a concern, have they considered HACMP? There's not a comparable feature in NT for that kind of failover and redundancy.

If they are looking to possibly upgrade your AIX server, ..to what? And is the database itself going to grow?

How many users and what type of connectivity, ...telneting?

What size is the database, ...multi-volume or single volume?

Type of data, financial? What about the security and hacker arguements between NT and Unix.

The bigger databases, multi-volume, more users, critical applications all point to Unix. My bias being IBM. Remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic.

 

[vb8304]

It has been recomended that we purchase a F50 or F80 along with SSA disk array's so we can retire our aging J40 unit. Our dbase will continue to grow, and grow rapidly. We have about 400 users that access the dbase on the J40 24X7. Security is very important as we are in the health industry. What is HACMP? I have not heard of that before.

Thanks for the info.

 

[prv3116]

High Availability Cluster Multi-Processing. Here's some links for explanations.

http://www.austin.ibm.com/software/sp_products/pssp_pres/hacmp.html

http://www.rs6000.ibm.com/solutions/sc/sc_hacmp.html

http://www.austin.ibm.com/resource/technology/ha42ov.html

This link will take you into many areas of explanations of the IBM servers, power/performance/cost/etc.

http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/pseries/

Here's F80

http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/pseries/hardware/tower/f80.html

Here's F50 (Note that the F50 will be withdrawn from the Market this month)

http://www.rs6000.ibm.com/hardware/enterprise/f50.html

Remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic.

 

[vb8304]

Thanks, the info helped clear up some questions we have about the different servers available. What about AS/400? Some say it is dead, IBM seems pressed to keep it going and there does seem to be a small bunch out there that are using AS/400 and progress. Although, to switch from AIX to AS/400 does not seem like a good choice when considering training, performance,.... Still, I have been asked to look into it. Any thoughts on AS/400?

Thanks again for the help.

 

[prv3116]

None from me, I have no AS/400 experience. You can go the the Progress website and check out the information they have on AS/400 configurations in their Knowledge Base. You don't need an account or ID. Go to

http://www.progress.com

and then to Tech Support and then to Knowledge Base / Search Knowledge base. Remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic.

 

[MikeLacey]

Supporting an AS/400 would be an "interesting" choice - or does your company already have an AS/400? Mike
michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com
Email welcome if you're in a hurry or something -- but post in tek-tips as well please, and I will post my reply here as well.

 

[vb8304]

We currently have no AS/400 machines but our parent company does. They are interested in getting rid of our AIX server and replacing it with AS/400 because they use it. After all, we must keep in-line with our parent company that just purchased us. So, either we make a stand with AIX or we all may have to learn AS/400 among other things. They have stated that AS/400 is more secure than using AIX. We are in for a fight but if I can back up our reasons for staying with AIX then hopefully they will not pursue this approach, I hope.

Thanks.

 

[KenCunningham]

Having used an AS400 for the last couple of years, I must say that I'm not impressed when compared to Solaris/AIX and the like. There is a steep learning curve to understand the syntax of commands and to be honest I have never found the system as flexible as a unix-based one. Having said that, there is no doubt that the system is reliable - I can't recall any non-scheduled downtime during my tenure. I would have thought the cost of retraining would be prohibitive, though, and perhaps this is your best defence.

 

[MikeLacey]

Careful with a simple 'cost-of-retraining' approach. You may find that it makes the 'get-rid-of-local-IT-and-do-it-centrally' approach more attractive.

Emphasise the value local IT can add to your business by applying your unique knowledge of that business. From there you could move onto the 'cost-of-retraining' issues.

Ken's quite right when he talks about the AS/400 platform. There's nothing wrong with it at all. Secure, reliable, flexible enough to do pretty much what you need. There's no mileage at all in trying to dismissing it as irrelavant or inadequate. Mike
michael.j.lacey@ntlworld.com
Email welcome if you're in a hurry or something -- but post in tek-tips as well please, and I will post my reply here as well.