Re: HELP! SE versus Online

>Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 09:56:05 -0800 >From: jvemo@cyberspace.com (Jon C. Vemo) >Subject: Re: HELP! SE versus Online >X-Informix-List-Id: <list.5344> > >At 12:50 AM 1/17/95 GMT, Ed Puskas@rmy.emory.edu wrote: >>We have been on Informix SE forever (on Unix v.4 NCR/AT&T). Anyhow, >>I just lost my Informix DBA and was told that I have until Thursday to >decide if we > >Ed - > >I would not suggest converting your 300 sites to OnLine, without a DBA (or >someone who is familiar with OnLine). There are some differences, and OnLine >typically requires someone who knows it. SE has the benefit, in that it can >really almost "fly itself" (being from the home of the largest virtual >airport, I thought you might enjoy that). If you are considering migrating >to OnLine 6.x and above, then definitely "Don't try this at home". The DSA >architecture is considerably different then pre-6.0 servers, and requires >someone with knowledge (I mean someone who knows OnLine and DSA architecture). I would second these comments. I know of a bank which is running about 1200 OnLine sites from a single central site with a team of 30 (which includes the software developers as well as the support team), and they have a number of complex but robust mechanisms in place to automate all the work. It still takes them over a month to upgrade the complete set of machines, not to mention the hiccups (like someone forgot to change the archive tape), but they have the system down to a fine art and seldom have to go on site to resolve a problem. Just as well, when you think about it; if they had 10 people out travelling and they managed to visit 4 sites in a day (generous), it would take them 30 working days -- SIX weeks if no-one was sick and there were no unexpected problems -- to visit each site. That means they have to be able to be able to run with two versions of the software concurrently; you cannot switch versions overnight. Your problem is only one quarter the scale, but you'd need to consider the remote access and maintainance issues just as carefully. Maybe your security wouldn't be quite as paranoid -- you might not have to rewrite the Unix login program, for instance -- but otherwise you need to consider all the other possible problems. You may have all these sorts of issues already sorted out, and you may have a nice tight LAN instead of a phone-line WAN, but the issues of software distribution and monitoring and fixing problems must be resolved before implementing the switch. I think that the answer by Thursday should be 'Not yet', especially since you've just lost you're experienced DBA. In six months, with a good deal of planning, the answer might be 'Yes'. Yours cautiously, Jonathan Leffler (johnl@informix.com) #include <disclaimer.h>