webMethods on AIX platform and Windows platform

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1

Hi,

We are trying to find our pros and cons of having webMethods on AIX or on Windows platform.
Please share if you have any information in this regard.

Thanks And Regards,
Ashish A Potnis

2

Hi Ashish,

I would like to share few points.
OS - good amount of memory management and resource allocation.
Processor 32 or 64 bit
Installed as a service or application
batch jobs, log verification, Event alerts (tivoli) are easy in AIX or Solaris OS.
usually high volume production systems maintained in AIX or Solaris OS

Thanks
VJ

3

I would always prefer to stay with wM install on Unix vs Windows (even though less expensive)

Good points:

No issues noticed webMethods on AIX install base.
Go with Processor 64 bit ONLY
Any UNIX flavor deals with high volume production systems it can be either AIX or Solaris OS or Linux OS.

what else you want?

HTH,
RMG

4

Thanks VJ !!!
The way I understand your note is AIX is good wrt mem management , resource allocation , batch job, log verification , Event alerts and handling high volume production systems.

Can you put more details on processor and Installed as service or application point.

5

I would go with a more mainstream OS, Linux or Windows if given the choice. Solaris and AIX although still having a decent install base and being very good OS’s, I would no longer consider mainstream. All of the aforementioned OS’s will run webMethods just fine, OS is rarely an issue with IS and broker installs. I’ve run on three of the four mentioned(no AIX) with really no issues on any of them.

Some things to consider. What’s your operation’s team strong suite? Are they AIX, Solaris, Linux or Windows strong? The ability to support the environment is extremely important. You maybe a Solaris wiz but your operations team maybe Windows experts. If all things are equal then I would go with one of the two mainstream dominant platforms.

6

Well said and points made Mark…you are absolutely right on the “support the environment is extremely important” and based on the comfort level choose with and choosing any UNIX flavor is good to go:

7

Thanks Mark and RMG !!!
All the above points will help in deciding on the platform.
Below are few more points I am trying to make some comparison on for these platforms, please share your thoughts

Maintainance / Downtimes due to OS ( I see that for windows OS we face more security patches and related downtime , please share your observation)

High Availibility Cluster ( I know AIX has a good HA solution not sure if we have that with windows)

scripts ( Unix scripts ( schedule as cron jobs) helps pretty much in monitoring and cleanup activities. I am not sure if same can be done with the help of batch jobs . Can we schedule them.and teh relibility of the same)

stability of OS

Backups ( Along with Backups OS team takes if we decide to take some backups like before fix application or some regular backups of configuration, code etc. I see tarballs are more relibal than zip files . Please share your thoughts)

8

Patching is really no different, your ops folks and you set the schedule. Windows release more patches, but that doesn’t mean you turn on auto update in any environment. I’ve run Windows, Solaris and Linux envs with webMethods, no issues related to patching.

My experience is with Veritas on Solaris and Windows Cluster for Windows. Windows was hands down easier to use and extremely reliable. However you may want to start looking at VM’s instead of software cluster solutions. You may find that more appealing.

Can be done in any OS with ease.

Solaris, Linux, Windows and AIX have no stability issues when it comes to running webMethods platforms. You will experience stability issues if the webMethods platform is configured or used incorrectly with any of the above mentioned platforms. There is a perception that Windows is not as stable as the others, but that is just a perception. I’ve gotten the same results on Windows as I have on Solaris and Linux. They are all good if properly configured and maintained.

I would suggest a source control solution regardless of the OS instead of tar or zip files.

It sounds like you are leaning towards AIX which is a fine OS. It’s not mainstream but if you ops guys like it and are comfortable with it then go for it. Keep in mind none of the OS’s will save you from a misconfigured or misused webMethods platform.

9

Mark wrote: " What’s your operation’s team strong suite?"

IMO, that is THE deciding factor. All other aspects are more a less the same. What OS does the ops/system admin team want to use? Whatever that is, go with that. As you know from our shared experience AIX won’t be the source of issues.

10

Thanks Rob , Thanks Mark !!!
Basically we are on webMethods 7.1.2 currently hosted on windows . As part of side by side upgrade approach for wM 8.2 upgrade procedure, we wanted to check about what benifits it may bring if we move from windows to AIX.
All your inputs will really help in deciding it.

Just want to mention that , we have not seen any major issues with windows except for frequent planned security patch downtimes and few other smaller isues.

11

Good luck with your upgrade and post here any issues you face during migration/side by side approach:

HTH,
RMG

12

Sure I will !!!