After your operating system plan is complete, you need to develop a plan for applications. Whether you are developing a new solution or upgrading an existing solution, you need to consider a wide range of issues, including compatibility, functionality, stability, and licensing issues.
- transaction management and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
- database management
- collaboration
- software development
- network performance and security management
- productivity
| Before you begin | |
|---|---|
| __ | Have a list of current applications. |
| __ | Have a list of applications that you want to upgrade or replace. |
| __ | For each application that you want to upgrade or replace, calculate the number of server partitions that are assigned to the applications and the number of users that need licenses. |
| Application planning tasks | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| __ | Plan for transaction management
and EDI applications Most solutions require a Web transaction
or data interchange management between the divisions in your company or between
your company and its partners. You could implement this management in a variety
of ways. To better understand your options, from Web services to portals,
see the IBM WebSphere® software platform |
||
| __ | Plan for database applications Database
software is at the core of every solution and is often integrated into transaction
systems. With database-backed Web sites, database systems are even more integral
to your solution. To learn more, see the IBM DB2® information management page |
||
| __ | Plan for collaboration applications Your
solution might involve collaboration among individuals, departments, partners,
or customers. Messaging, conference, and workgroup applications can enable
your business to make quicker decisions and better relate to customers. If
you are planning to upgrade or enhance your existing collaboration software,
or if you need more information about collaboration systems, see the Lotus® |
||
| __ | Plan for software development
applications A growing number of businesses can improve the
quality of their solutions by creating custom applications that better fit
their business case, rather than using one-size-fits-all applications. If
your solution requires customized applications or scripts, software development
applications will play a critical role in your overall application planning.
If you do not already have a software development suite in place, or if you
need additional information on application development, see the Rational® Software |
||
| __ | Plan for network and storage
management applications The success of your solution depends
on a smoothly running network that gives users the bandwidth that they need
while protecting vital business information from intruders. If you do not
already have a performance and security suite in place, or for more information
about network performance and security applications, see the Tivoli® |
||
| __ | Plan for productivity applications Productivity
applications are central to many office-based solutions; yet current client-based
office applications often are expensive to maintain and upgrade. Client-based
productivity software also causes problems for users with multiple mobile
information devices. For more information about a new server-based
model of productivity software, see the IBM Workplace™ |
||
| __ | Plan for other applications The application
planning tasks listed so far represent a typical mix of applications
for business. But they are only a small subset of the applications
that could run on AIX®, i5/OS®, or Linux® operating
systems. Because of the versatility of the IBM eServer hardware and IBM System p5 hardware family
of servers, you can configure your system with virtually any software package
on the market. See the Complete list of IBM software products |
||
Web site.| After you finish | |
|---|---|
| __ | Record a table with application versions, operating system versions, and server partitions in the columns and users in the rows. |
| __ | Record a list of licenses for each application and operating system. |
| __ | Identify compatibility between file types and issue policies for each type. |
| __ | Record backup and recovery strategies for each application. |
| __ | Record backup and recovery strategies for each partition and client. |