Tailoring
Tailoring your solution to the xSeries
platform may be “business as usual”, as many applications get their start on
the Intel platform. On the other hand, there may be several things you want to
do to provide instant familiarity for your application to your end users. In
the case of xSeries servers, due to the popularity of Windows on the desktop, there
is a well-formed set of expectations
that you will want to examine. Some influence how the
application looks and feels. Others influence its behavior in set up and
operation.
The goal of this Web site is to remind you to
ask all of the questions that might be interesting to ask, so that when you are
done, you will have confidence in the appeal of your solution to xSeries
customers.
Installation and Packaging
To make your application successful,
you need to be sure you have "put it all together" -- packaged your
solution in a manner that is attractive to xSeries customers, whether they are
running Windows or Linux. The media, installation, and maintenance, for example,
can be done in ways that are familiar to them. There are several options and
tools available for packaging and delivering xSeries applications.
For Windows, the most popular package is
InstallShield. For more information on InstallShield, please see their Web site.
For Linux, we recommend creating your package
as an RPM package. More information on RPM can be found at the RPM Web site. IBM also has information on using RPM on the developerWorks Web site.
Operations
Typically, a graphical interface is expected
as an operator interface with xSeries Windows application. And, while command
line interfaces are still very common in Linux, there is a strong move to
creating graphical interfaces there as well. You may also want to allow your
application to use scripting. As well, systems management is a vital part of
any xSeries implementation.
Scripting resources include:
Graphical interface resources include:
Systems Management on xSeries servers
User Interface
One method of tailoring your application for either Windows or Linux is to tailor your user interfaces to be more closely aligned with what your users expect. The other possibility is to have your applications interfaces be consistent across all platforms. Whichever method is most appropriate for your software, you can take a look at the references below for learning how to program user interfaces.
Workloads and
Performance
Both Windows and Linux provide many services
for scheduling work and monitoring how the server is running. An understanding
of this information will help you leverage these built-in capabilities to fine
tune your solutions and increase your customers' satisfaction.
Security
System security for the Windows environment
has taken a lot of hits over the years, but Windows can be made as secure as
any other operating system with some time and patience. Linux, on the other
hand, uses UNIX system security functions and is very secure out of the box.
To understand basic security on the xSeries
platform, see:
National Language Support, internationalization, and unicode
Support for worldwide customers to work in
their native languages has been a priority for xSeries servers since its inception.
Industry terms relating to this functional area - internationalization (I18N),
national language support (NLS), national language versions (NLV),
localization, globalization -- are supported on different operating systems in
different ways.
xSeries servers support multiple models – based upon
which operating system you are using. However, in both Windows and Linux, NLS
support is embedded in the operating system, and many times no changes will
need to be made to your application.
Problem management
Problem management, in xSeries terms, includes
learning how to retrieve and respond to messages. Messages may be found in one
or more queues or logs:
- Windows Event Logs
- /var/log/messages in Linux
- IBM Director
The best place to start for xSeries problem
management is the IBM
support Web site. IBM also offers numerous courses on both general and
specific problem solving on xSeries servers. More information can be found at the IBM eServer
Campus Web site.
Database Access
xSeries servers have spent a considerable effort to
insure maximum reliability and flexibility when it comes to databases. xSeries
servers support all major database vendor, and has strong relationships with the top
three (DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle).
This also includes support for both Windows and Linux platforms.
For general information about DB2 UDB on
xSeries, see:
For general information about Oracle on
xSeries, see:
For general information about Microsoft SQL
Server on xSeries see:
Printing
xSeries servers have
historically been the base for most companies printing infrastructures. Most
xSeries servers come with an integrated parallel port standard, and many
options are available to increase the number of ports available, either for
network-attached printers or direct-attaches. As well, IBM offers sizing guides
to assist you in planning your xSeries printing environment.
With support for Novell, Microsoft, and Linux,
xSeries servers can supply a complete solution no matter what your chosen environment.
To learn how to leverage xSeries-specific print facilities, you may want to
review the following:
Licensing information
Generally, licensing on an xSeries server is divided into three separate areas. These are:
- Operating system licenses
- Client access licenses
- Application licenses
For more information on Windows licensing, please see the Microsoft Web site. Typically for Windows you will need a server license for each copy of the operating system and a client access license (CAL) for each user that will be accessing the server. You may also need specific application licenses depending on your software.
For Linux licensing, typically only the application needs to be licensed.
There are many third-party applications out there that can help you with licensing, such as Microsoft Systems Management Server. IBM software products generally use the License Use Management (LUM) tool. For more information on LUM, please see the main LUM Web site.
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