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2.1 Focus market segments and target applications
The eX4 servers from IBM are designed for the demands of the application and
database serving tiers offering leadership performance and the proven reliability
of the Intel Xeon MP processor architecture to power mission-critical stateful
workloads, such as:
Server consolidation
Server consolidation is a process of centralizing business computing
workloads to reduce cost, complexity, network traffic, management overhead
and, in general, to simplify the existing IT infrastructure and provide a
foundation for new solution investment and implementation.
Key server consolidation software vendors are VMware (VMware ESX 3.5
and VMware ESXi 3.5), Xen, Virtual Iron and Microsoft (Hyper-V™)
Database
The eX4 servers are ideal as database servers or application servers, with
their fast multi-core processors and their large and very fast memory
subsystems. The x3950 M2 in particular provides an extremely scalable
platform with room to scale to additional nodes. These configurations use an
external storage enclosure or SAN, depending on the size of the database,
which is driven by the number of users.
The 16-way four-node configuration can deliver a highly reliable and capable
platform for clients who have to run multiple instances of databases that can
scale beyond eight processors.
Key database software vendors are Microsoft SQL Server® 2005 and 2008,
IBM (DB2®), and Oracle®.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
ERP is an industry term for the broad set of activities supported by
multi-module application software that helps a manufacturer or other
companies to manage the important parts of its business, including product
planning, parts purchasing, maintaining inventories, interacting with suppliers,
providing customer service, and tracking orders. ERP can also include
application modules for the finance and human resources aspects of a
business. Typically, an ERP system uses or is integrated with a relational
database system.
These applications today use a Web-based infrastructure with interfaces to
suppliers, clients, and internal company employees. The three general
architectures used by enterprise solutions are:
– Four-tier architecture (often referred to as an Internet architecture) with
client systems, Web servers, application servers, and database servers
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Planning, Installing, and Managing the IBM System x3950 M2
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