
IBM eServer hardware
The IBM eServer hardware information offers links to technical documentation to help you optimize and customize hardware for your IBM eServer iSeries(TM) servers, OpenPower(TM) servers, pSeries(R) servers, xSeries(R) servers, and zSeries(R) servers.
Virtualization Engine
IBM Virtualization Engine(TM) is a set of technologies and systems services that allow system administrators to access and manage resources across a heterogeneous environment. Its systems services simplify IT resource management by virtualizing data, applications, servers, and network resources.
Virtualization Engine console
The IBM Virtualization Engine console is the focal point for managing your virtualized business environment. With the Virtualization Engine console, you can manage solutions rather than specific IBM products by removing operating system boundaries and maximizing the sharing of resources.
Director Multiplatform
IBM Director Multiplatform provides a suite of tools and utilities that automate many of the processes that are required to manage systems proactively such as event logs and action plans, file transfer, hardware and software inventory, and resource monitors and thresholds. For some IBM systems based on Intel(TM) microprocessors, Director Multiplatform also provides capacity planning, asset tracking, preventive maintenance, diagnostic monitoring, and troubleshooting.
Enterprise Workload Manager
IBM Enterprise Workload Manager (EWLM) enables you to define business-oriented performance goals for an entire domain of servers. Then, EWLM provides an end-to-end view of the actual performance relative to those goals. This data is available in the monitor views of the EWLM Control Center. Use these views to determine if a performance problem exists in your EWLM domain.
New and changed information:
- Expanded support now includes IBM z/OS(R) V1R6 as a managed server
Systems provisioning
The systems provisioning topic contains information about planning for systems provisioning and installing systems provisioning and prerequisite products. It also contains a scenario that describes server provisioning in a BladeCenter(TM).
New and changed information:
- IBM Tivoli(R) Provisioning Manager Fix Pack V2.1.0.1, which adds support for the following:
- SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 8 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux(R) 3.0 (for AS 32-bit xSeries Update 3)
- AIX(R) V5.3 64-bit on POWER5(TM) (for iSeries and pSeries servers)
IBM Dynamic Infrastructure
Dynamic Infrastructure is an IBM on demand solution for a heterogeneous environment that can enable you to run SAP environments more efficiently by dynamic provisioning of SAP systems across IBM eServer platforms.
Grid computing
IBM offers a development product based on the Globus Toolkit Version 3.0 (GT3) called the IBM Grid Toolbox V3 for Multiplatforms. Use IBM Grid Toolbox to build a GT3-compliant grid and to develop, deploy, and manage services on your grid. The goal of grid computing is to create a powerful self-managing virtual computer out of a collection of connected systems sharing various combinations of resources in a multiplatform environment. These systems and the connections between them are the grid.
Security
IBM eServers provide maximum protection in a consistent manner across open, heterogeneous, e-business environments. eServer security systems manage resources and users so that access to programs and data is protected, and any intrusion, in the enterprise or in an individual server, can be quickly detected and corrected.
- IBM eServer Security Planner asks basic questions about your business environment and security goals. Based on your answers, the planner provides you with a list of security policy recommendations that you can use to begin protecting your operating system resources immediately.
- Enterprise Identity Mapping (EIM) is an IBM infrastructure that allows administrators and application developers to solve the problem of managing multiple user registries across their enterprise. This infrastructure provides a common set of APIs that can be used across platforms to develop applications that look up the relationships between user identities and a single EIM identifier that represents a user in the enterprise.
Common Information Model
The Common Information Model (CIM) provides a model for describing and accessing data across an enterprise. CIM consists of both a specification and a schema. The specification defines the details for integration with other management models, while the schema provides the actual model descriptions. CIM is a standard that is part of the Web Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) initiative. CIM and WBEM are developed by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), which is a consortium of major hardware and software vendors, including IBM.
IBM Data Discovery and Query Builder
The IBM Data Discovery and Query Builder software is a Web-based tool that allows you to build queries quickly and easily and to run the queries against your data. Using Data Discovery and Query Builder does not require knowledge of complex data query languages. This section contains links to a variety of guides for installing, configuring, and using Data Discovery and Query Builder and its tools.
2: SQL Server Database Requirements
Problem
In some organization, that have been noticed like database requirements are never included as a portion of the system requirements. The requirements always focus on the interface and we derive the database design from the interface as well as fill in some of the gaps. For some developers that process seems to yield a decent product, but not always. I think if we requested database requirements from both the business and technical management our overall offerings would be much better and we would have less patch\fix cases. For the requirements in our environment I have a couple of ideas in mind, but I am hoping you can give me a broader view of the situation with respect to overall SQL Server database requirements.
Solution
It is unfortunate that SQL Server database requirements are not included in your requirements document. Depending on the organization and internally how things work with new projects, it would be a good idea to outline a baseline set of requirements with the caveat that every project is different so new or more requirements may be needed. If you are the SQL Server DBA responsible for the systems moving forward it would be wise to speak to your management to find out how you can have input at the beginning of process to ease your tasks at the end of the process. In some organizations that is easier said than done, but it is worth outlining some of the potential issues either historically or theoretically and discussing them with your management in a professional manner.
As mentioned above, requirements differ from project to project. As an example, the requirements for building an OLTP system versus a disaster recovery solution vary widely, so consider taking these steps in an effort to build requirements for your SQL Server database project at hand:
- Build a baseline set of requirements for all projects that can help get the requirements questions formulated
- Think about what is needed for the system when it is released to production from a business, technology, database and user perspective then build requirements around those areas
- Educate yourself on the project\technology so you are aware of requirements needed specific to the project
In terms of requirements for an SQL Server database (OLTP) project consider the following items as a baseline set of requirements:
- Make vs. Buy - One of the first requirements that should be outlined is the make versus buy decision. Depending on your organization this could be a non decision because either you have internal developers, you have a contract with a development organization or your organization purchases everything off the shelf. It is just a key step in many circumstances that is sometimes overlooked, but depending on the project can sway the direction of the requirements one way or another.
- Keep in mind with the recent news related to SQL Server Data Services this offering could change the equation related to some SQL Server infrastructure decisions.
- Hosting your SQL Server externally can also be a key decision in this phase of the project and can change budgets and resource needs.
- Project Budget - Depending on the project and your roll in the organization, finances may or may not be discussed. The reality is that everything has a cost, it just depends on if a hard dollar figure is used versus out how many internal resources are used to complete a project for a specific duration.
- Even if overall project costs are not defined, it is imperative to find out if additional hardware and licensing is needed and the overall budget for that portion of the project if you are going to be responsible for making a decision on the hardware platform.
- Project Team - Knowing your team members and what they can bring to the table is important when determining deadlines and setting general expectations. Having a gap in any one skill set should be identified early in the process and alternatives should be determined. One or many people should be responsible for:
- Project management
- Development - Front end, middle tier, back end
- Database design and development
- Infrastructure setup and configuration
- Testing
- Documentation
- Support - Infrastructure, application, database, etc.
- Sign-off - User, business, technical, etc.
- Deadlines - Agreeing on the deadlines ahead of time can offer a great deal of value for both the user and technical team as well. The users will know when they can expect phases of the project completed and the technical team should be able to plan for the project deadlines while balancing the remainder of their projects or daily tasks.
- Business, Technical, User Value - Understanding what the business, users or technical team is trying to solve can be the biggest help in truly resolving the issue. Be sure the problem is clearly understood then consider offering a few different general approaches to resolve the problem followed by the design for the final solution.
- User Requirements - The more you know about the users the better, here are some items to keep in mind:
- Number of users
- Working hours
- Location
- Bandwidth between the users and infrastructure
- Hardware specifications (desktop, notebook, etc.)
- Technical expertise
- Expected training on the application
- Historical successful or unsuccessful applications (Having some history behind what has or has not worked in the past may give you some good insight for the current application)
- How the problem is resolved today via people, process and technology
- Application type
- Web, desktop, mobile, etc.
- OLTP vs. Reporting vs. Analytical - SQL Server Technical Requirements
- SQL Server Name\Instance Name
- SQL Server Services Needed (Relational engine, SQL Server Agent, Full Text Search, Analysis Services, Reporting Services, Integration Services, etc.)
- Database (Name, Size, Anticipated growth rate or capacity planning, Database configurations, Storage configurations.)
- Data (Data elements: Tables, Columns, Data types, Accept null, Defaults, Language support [Character set and sort order]; Data access (Determine how the data will be accessed for index selection); Source (Uploads or downloads from an existing system,
Data entry by customers, Data entry by internal users)
- Reporting (Infrastructure: Separate SQL Server hardware, instance, license, separate data model, etc.); (Report type: Real time, dashboard, analytical, trending, detailed, etc.) ;
(Users: Number, location, operating hours) ; (Data: Detailed, rolled up, geographical, departmental, process related, etc.)
- Operating hours (24X7 or Monday to Friday 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, etc.)
- Performance requirements (Transactions per second, Number of sustained users,
Response time)
- Security (Security Model, Database auditing - Third party, triggers, etc.)
- Automated Processes (Frequency: Hourly, Daily, weekly, monthly) ; (Duration - Every hour for 1 minutes or every day for 3 hours, etc.) ; (Source - Data source could be a partner, service provide or another internal application) ; (Destination - Data source could be a partner, service provide or another internal application) ; (Technology - SSIS, web service, custom application, etc. )
- Documentation (Data model, Database dictionary)
- Maintenance Schedule (Frequency, Duration)
- Backups Schedule (Type - Backup, differential, transaction log, third party solution, etc.) ; (Potential data loss) ; (Recovery time)
- High Availability (Determine the types of failures that should be prevented:
Hardware, software, administrative error) ; (Amount of acceptable downtime)
(Native vs. third party solution)
- Disaster Recovery (Determine the types of failures should be recoverable :Hardware, software, administrative, natural disaster) ; (Amount of acceptable downtime) ;
(Native vs. third party solution) - Testing Requirements (Who is responsible for testing: Traditional tester, User, Technical testing) ; (Building test plans) ; (Sign - off on testing)
- Application Pilot Requirements (Number of users, Duration, Use cases, Infrastructure,
Success, failure or enhancement reporting ) - Production Support Requirements (Production support team, Escalation procedures,
Enhancement requests)