RE: AIX - i5/OS feature comparison was the notorious Steve's soapbox

Beautiful John, just beautiful.  Thank you.
  
-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jones, John (US)
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2006 9:21 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: AIX - i5/OS feature comparison was the notorious Steve's
soapbox

The advanced job scheduler is needed on the i5. 

In 15 years of managing AS/400 systems, including one shop with over 200
machines, I've never once had the advanced job scheduler.  Never needed
it.

So is a change management system.  

In most cases a paper based system has been adequate.  Nowadays, if you
have any compliance needs, a change management system, paper or
electronic, is pretty much mandatory.

If your i5 is being accessed by clients using ODBC you need a support

staff. 

I do that.  Takes about 7 hours a year.  Set it and forget it.

If the i5 is hosting a web site you need a support staff.  

I do that.  Maybe 25 hours a year.  Multiple Apache instances + multiple
WebSphere App Server instances + Net.Data + maintaining DCM.  Most of
the time is spent setting things up.  After that, it just runs.

Based on the recent discussion here, if you are running a lot of SQL,

esp from client apps, you need to support the system. 

I do that.  Crystal Reports, SQL Server, client data feeds both incoming
and outgoing, etc.  Takes maybe 120 hours a year.

I am also the sole sysadmin who manages backup policy, OS issues,
contract management, BC/DR, security reviews, audits, HMC management,
etc.  I even install iSeries hardware.  Overall it takes about 1/2 my
time.  For perspective, the system is up nearly 24x7 and the main
applications have hundreds of concurrent users and are currently
deployed in 43 countries.

How many machines and how much staff does this take in a comparable AIX
shop?

John A. Jones, CISSP
Americas Information Security Officer
Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.
V: +1-630-455-2787 F: +1-312-601-1782
john.jones@xxxxxxxxxx