IBM Streams 4.2.1

Considerations for an IBM Streams production environment

The preferred and most reliable environment for multiple resources is a production environment. This option provides high availability so that IBM® Streams continues to run even if resources fail or are not available.

Installation

A root or non-root user can install the main installation package for IBM Streams. This package includes all of the product files.

The domain host and resource installation packages contain a subset of the product files.

If you plan to use the default IBM Streams resource manager, install the domain host installation package on the resources. A root or non-root user can install this package.
If you plan to use an external resource manager, such as IBM Platform Symphony®, install the resource installation package on the externally managed resources. A root user must install this package.

You can use the following options to install IBM Streams:

Install IBM Streams on each resource. For high availability, install the main installation package on at least two resources and the domain host installation package or resource installation package on all additional resources.
Use a shared file system, such as Network File System (NFS) or General Parallel File System (GPFS™), and install IBM Streams in a shared directory that is accessible from each resource.

IBM Streams version management and rolling upgrade options

IBM Streams Version 4.2 provides the foundation for managed version and rolling upgrade support. Managed version support enables you to upgrade a domain and its instances independent of each other. Rolling upgrade support enables you to upgrade a domain or instance while it is running.

Version 4.2 provides the foundation for version management and rolling upgrade support because it is the earliest supported version for running an instance at a different version than its domain and the first version from which a rolling upgrade can be performed.

For more information, see Version management and rolling upgrade options for IBM Streams.

Domain controller service

For high availability, set up the domain controller service on all resources. For more information, see Options for setting up the domain controller service on resources.

Enterprise domain prerequisites

Set up an Apache ZooKeeper server and your user authentication method before you create an IBM Streams enterprise domain.

For managing and storing configuration information, IBM Streams requires a ZooKeeper server.
For high availability, you can use a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) server or Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) with the LDAP backend for default user authentication. After creating the domain, you can use the following additional options to customize user authentication:
- Login module authentication
- Client certificate authentication
- Kerberos authentication

Standby domain and instance services

Configure IBM Streams domains and instances to have standby domain and instance services. For more information, see Configuring high availability for IBM Streams enterprise domains and instances.