, even if it contains only serviceable applications, can help applications-server end users become satisfied customers.
Many vendors, including Oracle, SCO, and SunSoft, offer a
pplications-server suites. Here's a look at two leading packages, Microsoft's BackOffice and IBM's Software Servers.
Microsoft BackOffice
BackOffice is a set of applications that are designed for -- and execute exclusively on -- NT Server. The suite includes software for Web services, a database, an e-mail system, and a system management module. In fact, Microsoft considers NT Server itself to be a part of BackOffice.
Choosing BackOffice locks you into using NT Server as your OS. But you can still select Intel or RISC hardware, single-processor or symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) machines, and a range of third-party server and desktop applications. The wide array of supported industry-standard APIs lets you create interfaces between BackOffice and other platforms.
Microsoft is releasing new and upgraded applications servers at a frenetic pace. The current release of BackOffice, version 2.5, contains 10 applications by Microsoft's count. Fully half of these directly address Micr
osoft's Internet strategy, while the remainder serve more traditional applications.
Internet Information Server (IIS) supports Web, gopher, and FTP publishing on the Internet or on a corporate intranet. Distributed management is enabled, as well as the ISAPI interface for development. System Management Server provides a framework for managing corporate-intranet desktops.
The new Personalization System works with IIS to allow you to implement customized customer interactions. Also new is Merchant Server, which is billed as software for selling products over the Internet.
Designed for collaborative work environments, FrontPage supports authoring, scripting, and Web-site management. The new Proxy Server provides secure Internet access to desktops within an organization. And the Content Replication System offers a way to move bulk data securely across the Web.
Exchange Server establishes the basic infrastructure for BackOffice messaging, collaboration, scheduling, and groupware applications. To su
pport X.400, SMTP, Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME), and MAPI, the current version adds POP3, HTTP, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), NNTP, LDAP, and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). End-user features, such as rules, filtering, and off-line synchronization, are also enabled. Conference Server, a server for real-time communications, supports shared whiteboard, chat, and IP telephone applications.
Of course, the traditional server applications are not neglected. Microsoft's SQL Server runs as a multiuser client/server relational database. For connection to IBM mainframes and AS/400 systems, Systems Network Architecture (SNA) Server has an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver for access to Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA) databases. It also includes an FTP/AFTP gateway. Also included is the Systems Management Server.
IBM Software Servers
In the strictest sense of the word, IBM's Software Servers are not a suite. Although they're designed to work together
, they are individual members of a modular family of seven client/server application-enabling products. Each server includes installation software for various clients as well as software development kits for developing or tailoring applications for each server. Because they're installed separately, you can select the particular applications you need to fit a specific server without loading unnecessary software. Later, if your needs change, you can add other Software Servers.
IBM chose this modular approach in an attempt to appeal to large and small network installations alike. For big information technology (IT) organizations that have large legacy systems, an applications server might function as an organization's back-end tool on which to build its custom application.
In-house integration of dissimilar tools is taken for granted, so the number of related products in the box is unimportant. Rather than being forced into purchasing a closed suite in which the components work only with each other, many
large IT groups prefer to have new products that support open interface standards. Conversely, small companies might think that integration is key, and to them, an applications-server suite doesn't mean tools -- it means end-user applications.
Lotus Notes, with its messaging and groupware capabilities, is a part of this server collection, as is Database Server, a relational database management system (RDBMS) that enables you to create, update, and control databases using SQL. Internet Connection Server acts as a repository for HTML documents and gives access to existing applications on CICS, DB2, and Notes. It also provides for secure access and acts as a proxy server.
Communications Server enables applications to communicate with other workstations and with host computer systems.Transaction Server is based on CICS. It enables three-tier, on-line transaction processing (OLTP) applications. Directory & Security Server is based on the Open Software Foundation's Distributed Computing Environment (DC
E) standard. Finally, the Systems Management Server addresses network management, disaster recovery, security, and the ability to respond to change.
All seven products are available for the AIX and OS/2 server platforms. The Notes, Database, and Internet Connection servers are available for Windows NT as well. Communications Server for NT is now in beta. The Transaction, Directory & Security, and Systems Management servers are scheduled for early-1997 delivery.
Robert L. Hummel (Sullivan, NH) is an electrical engineer, programmer, and consultant. You can reach him at
rhummel@monad.net
.
Suite and Sour
