Transcript Is Windows Right for High-Availability Enterprise Applications? Dan Kusnetzky, Vice President System Software Research IDC.

Is Windows Right for
High-Availability
Enterprise Applications?
Dan Kusnetzky, Vice President
System Software Research
IDC
Agenda
 What are “Enterprise Applications?”
 IDC’s Spectrum of Scalability?
 What is “High-Availability?”
 What are the 7 meanings of the term “cluster?”
 IDC’s spectrum of availability software
 How the vendors stack up
 Questions?
IDC © 2002
What are “Enterprise Applications?”
 All organizations are “enterprises”
•
•
Regardless of revenues or the number of employees
Vendors use the term “enterprise” to imply things
which may or many not be true
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What are “Enterprise Applications?”
 Questions to ask your suppliers
•
Does this application or tool have a direct impact on:
• Each customer?
• Each employee?
• Each partner or supplier?
• If the answers are “no” then it’s not an enterprise
application
•
Will the organization go out of business without this
application?
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IDC’s Model of Scalability
Complexity
Complex/Small
Complex/Large
Simple/Small
Simple/Large
Transactions/Day
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Various Ways to Scale
Multifunction vs. Functional Servers
Systems have defined functions
Load-balanced
Web servers
VS.
Applications or
application
components
Database
Storage
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What is “High Availability”?
 Applications and Data remain available beyond the life of
its host
 There are many ways to achieve this
 High Availability solutions could include
•
•
•
•
Application fail over
Middleware
Serverware
Storage software
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What’s a Cluster Among Friends?
 The Goal: harnessing the
power of many machines to
create a single virtual
environment
 Parallel processing
 Each approach is selected
by different people for
different needs
 Single system image
 Load balancing
 High availability/fail over
 Application fail over
 Storage availability and
performance
IDC © 2002
Some “Clustering” History
 VAXcluster and IBM’s Parallel Sysplex: high water marks
 Unix Clustering: Behind but catching up
 Linux: evolving from Web load balancing and HPTC to more
commercial approaches
 Storage Software Suppliers: Data availability and application
fail over
 Microsoft – Taking a Different Approach
IDC © 2002
Load Balancing or Parallel Processing
Monitor
 Two to thousands of independent loosely-linked systems
Multiple systems have copies of applications and data
 Applications run on all systems
 Monitor distributes workload among the available systems
•
Distribute loads using round-robin, request or capacity model
 Data synchronization and administration can be challenges
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High Availability Monitor
 Two to 32 systems cooperating
to create a single
environment.
 Monitor notifies systems of an
outage so applications can
 Multiple systems have copies
of applications and data.
 Load balancing may not be
available.
 Applications run on all
systems.
•
Communicate with a high
availability monitor through
special APIs.
•
Data accessed through a
parallel database or special
APIs.
respond.
 Run applications in parallel for
improved performance. Run
multiple copies of applications
to improve scalability,
 Administration can be
challenge.
IDC © 2002
Clustering Monitor
 Two to 32 systems tied tightly
together.
 Multiple systems have copies
of applications and data.
 Applications are run on all
systems.
•
•
Data can be accessed through
a parallel database or directly
as if on a single system.
It may not be necessary to
use special APIs.
 Monitor notifies systems of an
outage so the operating
environment can respond.
 Applications can be run in
parallel for improved
performance. Multiple copies
of applications can be run to
improve scalability.
 Everyone sees a single virtual
environment.
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High Availability Applications
 Two to thousands of
systems cooperating to
create a single
environment at the
application level
 Application contains logic
to handle failure scenarios
 Multiple systems have
copies of applications and
data
 Administration can be
challenge
 Other applications may not
benefit
 Applications are run on all
systems
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High Availability for Storage
 Storage servers via NAS or SAN
 Storage replication
 Fail-over manager virtualizes storage
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Microsoft’s Traditional Strategy
 Own the the following, and you own the customer’s systems
•
•
•
•
APIs
Development tools
File formats
Communications architectures
 Create incompatibilities drive customers to use only
Microsoft products
 Only Microsoft created “standards” are fully supported;
others are not
IDC © 2002
Microsoft’s Approach to Clustering
and High Availability Solutions
 Philosophy
•
Let our software do it – we know more about your needs
than you do
•
•
Microsoft software everywhere, doing everything
Everything is legacy: should be encapsulated and
eventually replaced with a Windows solution even if it
working productively
IDC © 2002
Microsoft’s Approach to Clustering
and High Availability Solutions
 Layers
•
•
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Presentation (IIS, Site Server, SNA Server)
Business logic (Application Center 2000, COM+)
Data access and storage (SQL Server 2000, Windows
2000 now, Windows .NET Server in the future, Microsoft
cluster services)
IDC © 2002
How the Vendors Stack Up
Parallel Processing
Load Balancing
Monitor
Monitor
• Open Source
Beowulf, LVS
and others
• Microsoft
Application
Center 2000
• Legato
Cluster
Server
• TurboLinux
EnFuzion
• Red Hat
High
Availability
Server
• IBM HACMP
• Compaq
TruCluster for
VMS or
TruCluster for
Tru64 UNIX
• Microsoft
MSCS
• HP MC/Service
Guard
• TurboLinux
Cluster
Server
• Mission
Critical
Linux
Convolo
• Sun Cluster 3.0
• Platform
Computing LSF
• Sun Gridware
High Availability
• Veritas
Cluster
Server
IDC © 2002
Clustering Manager
• Caldera/SCO
Non-stop Cluster
for UnixWare
Clustering and High Availability
Software Market Drivers
 B2B, B2C and in-house applications can not appear to slow
down or to fail
 Staff with necessary skills are difficult to find and costly
 Clustering and high availability software is:
•
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Difficult to install, configure and use today
Will be much easier over time
 Directed by operating environment adoption
 Open Source alternatives limit potential for revenue growth
IDC © 2002
Is Windows Right for High-Availability
Enterprise Applications?
Today’s Answer: A definite maybe.
 Some applications are served well by highly distributed
architectures
•
•
Low intensity of interdependent data
Algorithm allowing decomposition
 Some applications are better when hosted on a single,
medium or large scale system
•
•
High intensity of interdependent data
Monolithic application architecture
Tomorrow’s Answer: As the Eight Ball says “signs point to yes”
IDC © 2002
Questions
[email protected]
IDC © 2002
Related Research

IDC#24798 - Clustering and High-Availability Software Market Forecast and
Analysis, 2001-2005

IDC#24844 - Linux Operating Environments Software Market Forecast and
Analysis, 2001-2005

IDC#24827 - Windows Operating Environments Market Forecast and Analysis,
2001-2005

IDC#24799 - Web-Centric Computing Software Market Forecast and Analysis,
2001-2005

IDC#24846 - Server Storage Software Market Forecast and Analysis, 20012005

IDC#24851 - Unix Operating Environments Market Forecast and Analysis,
2001-2005
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