WAS 6.1 ND questions

[fthomas1973]

We have recently had IBM come in and asses our 5.1.1 environment. They have recommended that we move to 6.1 ND with load balancing (edge server?).
I was wondering if anyone can give opinions on--

Running WAS 6.1 on 64 bit server 2003: is WAS 64 bit or does it run as a 32 bit app? Any caveats/issues?

Is edge server really worth it or can a hardware load balancer accomplish the same goal? With this wonderful new VU style of pricing our price for edge server is coming out to $20K for 2 servers + hardware. I am pretty sure I can get a radware, foundry box for less than this.

Is anyone using Object Grid? How pleased/displeased with it?

Any other opinions on this environment would be appreciated. Our environment involves WAS integrating with Microsoft SQL and iSeries backends.

 

[7280]

Hi,
I will use hardware load balancer instead of edge component.
I'm using websphere 6.1 with network deployment cluster and it works fine.

Hope this helps.

 

[ntenz]

Do you have any material regarding the setup, guides etc. I am planning to install a cluster system but dont know where to start.

 

[fthomas1973]

7280--

Do you have this environment setup currently or is it planned?

 

[7280]

There are a lot of IBM redbooks:

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com

search for websphere 6 and you find a lot of things.

I have now websphere ND on two nodes, I'm planning to use websphere XD.
With my current configuration, the ear upgrades need downtime.

 

[fthomas1973]

Thanks for the link but I am looking for opinions/experiences on in production environments.