Simple Fulfillment

Delivering database solutions
also means
delivering integrated systems

Unless you are producing relatively low-value shrink-wrapped software, any database solution you provide to a customer needs to include either the hardware to serve the application, or a surrogate system. It may also involve delivery of complete sets of user workstations.

One of the elegant parts of delivery of MultiValue services in the 1970's and 1980's was that delivery and support of an integrated solution was extremely easy. There was relatively little that could break, and when it broke, it was easily diagnosable. Similarly, there was very little in the way of operating systems work to do. The operating system was the database environment. Finally, connectivity was generally local and via dumb terminals; printers were either serial or direct-connect parallel.

Today's Internet connectivity and networking requirements make systems support far more complex and difficult unless you simplify. The following are some strategies that you can execute to keep management of the database environment simple.

1.	Consider running the database in a hosted database center. This has several key advantages. The first is that it gets the engine onto a system dedicated to your database environment. The second is that hosted environments are integrated services, typically providing both security administration and nightly archiving as part of the basic service. The third is that such services normally provide far more "up-time" than does a local environment. In a local environment, use and service are normally based upon 8 hour days. Similarly, when things break, it can take a day or more before they are repaired due to the need to find the right parts and skills. Data centers run 7x24, often fixing problems before you know they exist. Data centers, also maintain full spare sets, including the ability to move you to a totally different physical system if things totally fail. Finally, data centers are designed in such a way that systems administration within the local environment is easy. EasyCo provides a full line of Dedicated and Virtual servers running in both Linux and Windows environments.
2.	What ever you do, outsource the client work. There are plenty of companies in any region who specialize in delivering and maintaining systems of personal computers, complete with the networking, Internet connectivity, and other requirements for these. Let them assume all the responsibility for these client elements, and instead tell them the components that must be installed to allow communication with your server solution.
3.	Make sure your database server is single-purpose. These days, servers are extremely inexpensive. For instance, the EasyCo Model-T Linux server, at $1,299 gives you just about everything you could need in a low-cost redundantly designed database server. However, if your application is small, there is no reason you can't just run it on a $500 Windows Personal Computer, rather than a server. MultiValue databases will generally run on products such as XP, 2000, and NT, while products such as QM actually run on Windows 98 as well. The only sin is to try to make a server do too many things. When you do this, complexity increases dramatically, as do the chances of failure.
4.	Make sure you provide a remote access solution. Most server failures are the result of "soft" failures, rather than failure of hardware. Similarly, after a hardware failure, the system normally needs to be re-configured and initialized. Having to go to a local premises to do this sort of work is extremely travel-time consuming, and sometimes not possible. Development of secure access methods such as reverse tunneling or the Easy-Connect connection methodology can dramatically reduce down-time for users.
5.	Make sure that archiving is done. Most users are extremely sloppy about archiving their data. If using magnetic tapes, they will let them wear out rather than replacing them. Similarly, they will often not report failures such as inability of the backup device to perform properly. It behooves you to create simple systems that either relieve them of the responsibility entirely, or assure that they are more likely to do the work properly. One obvious solution is DVD backup. With current technology and compression, it is now possible to get close to 25gb of MultiValue data onto a cheap (15 cents each) write-once DVD. Similarly, if you want to take the archiving problem completely out of your customers' hands, you can provide them with a remote archiving solution that can automatically run without user intervention. EasyCo offers remote mass storage and the software to perform these functions.