There I said it. I keep hearing this recurring theme that customers want to to provide self service with AIX or HP-UX. First of all, how often do you provision AIX to warrant self service anyway? In my experience it is not nearly as often as Window’s or Linux. Second, taking ancient technology and trying to slam it into a new technology is just crazy in my opinion.
But don’t take my word for it. Let’s just take a look at the largest clouds in the world:
Login to their service portals and do you see anywhere that you can provision an LPAR? I didn’t think so.
“Ok, smart guy, then what are we supposed to do with all our AIX apps?”
Answer: You migrate them to Linux on VMware. I know what you are thinking, “easy enough for me to say” with my current employer and all, but you should know that I have also successfully migrated SAP from AIX to Linux on VMware. The reality is that x86 technology and virtualization have caught up with Unix at this point. Keeping this equipment around is not only costly but can present significant risk to your organization. For example:
- hardware failures and parts are scarce
- Support personnel qualified to administer these systems are quickly disappearing as that generation retires.
- High availability and Disaster recovery are basically non existent.
So what’s in it for you? Massive cost savings and modernization of your data center. Self service with proven and future ready technology. The chance to learn some new skills and add them to your resume. Something to think about!
The price of Power System is more attractive now. Like Power 8. We need competitive solution to stay a live 🙂