Re: Windows on an iSeries? -- MIDRANGE-L

I like the IxA attached Windows servers, or their replacement the iSCSI
attached servers.

In particular, if you've got a Windows server with considerable interaction
to the i. For example, at a former employer, we set up a Windows web server
running Coldfusion as an Extranet site for customer ordering. Since the
Coldfusion app was accessing the DB on the i, if the i was down, it didn't
make sense to have the web server up. We decided to go with an IxA attached
server.

Now the iSeries 270 is being replaced by a 515 and the IxA attached PC is
being replaced by an iSCSI connected one.

They also have another IxA PC as an Active Directory Domain Controler (plus
DNS/WINS/DHCP), also to be replaced by iSCSI.

From a DR standpoint, recovery of the i (with its two attached iSCSI

servers) would recover the critical servers. Note that there's also a
stand-alone PC also serving as an AD controler (plus DNS/WINS/DHCP) which
allows the network to remain up when the i is down. In a DR senerio, this
PC would simply be rebuilt from the recovered iSCSI attached one.

Charles

On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 2:38 PM, Michael Naughton <
michael_naughton@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm looking or people who know more than I do, so of course I came right
over here :-). My company is looking to consolidate its windows servers, and
I ran across this article:

http://www.infordata.net/inforweb.static/documents/newsletter/ISSE1007.pdf

that makes it sound as if we could do it all on our iSeries (we've got a
model 9406-520). From the article, it looked as if we could

* set up several windows servers using the Integrated xSeries Server cards

* dynamically allocate disk space among the iSeries and the various windows
servers

* use our existing tape backup system to back up the windows data at the
same time we're backing up our iSeries data

Then we talked to our BP, who said it's not that simple. According to them,

** the integrated server cards aren't recommended because they're hard to
upgrade, and we'd be better off with the Integrated xSeries Adapters (and
some boxes to put them in)

** the disk would need to be split between the windows servers and the
iSeries, and we couldn't just dynamically shift it around

** we'd need a separate LPAR to handle the windows stuff

** we'd be better off with a separate backup system for the window stuff

All of which makes it look a LOT less worth it, but I'm not convinced --
hence my question. Does anyone have experience with either of these
environments? Is it as great as the article makes it sound, or is our BP
closer to the mark? If we're looking to
centralize storage, management, and backup, is this a good option, or we
better off just going with a windows SAN (the other option)?

Thanks very much for your help,

Mike Naughton
Senior Programmer/Analyst
Judd Wire, Inc.
124 Turnpike Road
Turners Falls, MA 01376
413-863-4357 x444
mnaughton@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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