1. World of HELIOS: Software maintenance
2. Asset management – way ahead
3. HELIOS Xtar for Mac OS X
4. IBM System p5 virtualization – deal or no deal?
2. Asset management – way ahead
3. HELIOS Xtar for Mac OS X
4. IBM System p5 virtualization – deal or no deal?
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HELIOS Newsletter 2/2007 |
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Dear HELIOS client,
Welcome to the latest information from the world of HELIOS. Keep your networking lead and stay one step ahead. Turn your colleagues on to this newsletter as well, subscription details are below. Enjoy the news.
Your HELIOS team
Helmut Tschemernjak, CEO & President
Welcome to the latest information from the world of HELIOS. Keep your networking lead and stay one step ahead. Turn your colleagues on to this newsletter as well, subscription details are below. Enjoy the news.
Your HELIOS team
Helmut Tschemernjak, CEO & President
1. World of HELIOS: Software maintenance
My first car was an old used Opel Kadett A. I used to repair the ignition system and clutch myself – yes this was then possible! This is unimaginable with today's sophisticated car engines, which need to be handed over to brand-certified engineers. Today's sophisticated software maintenance, like fixing compatibility problems and adding new features, is a complex task which also requires specialized engineers that have precise knowledge of this software. We offer yearly software upgrade service agreements, which include all updates, new features and future upgrades. Deploying server software without software maintenance means customers run at a high risk and don't work in an economic way.
Helmut Tschemernjak, HELIOS Software GmbH
2. Asset management – way ahead
These days, many sites are looking for an outstanding digital asset management package. A great solution combines HELIOS server solutions together with Canto Cumulus, as proven in the field by many customers for years. Recently HELIOS and Canto decided to see how we stack up against alternates. We performed extensive tests of the Xinet asset management solution and found dramatic differences. Before looking at any DAM solution, be sure to read this revealing summary outlining the unique advantages of HELIOS UB with Canto Cumulus 7 compared to Xinet FullPress with WebNative Venture: www.helios.de/news/news06/helios_canto.phtml
If you have additional input, be it positive or negative, you are welcome to share it with us.
3. HELIOS Xtar for Mac OS X
The "tar" archiving program has been the standard for UNIX since the dawn of file archiving. However, on Mac OS X "tar" faces its limitations: Mac stores meta data, e.g. Finder and resource information on HFS within one file, but standard UNIX applications can only see the data part, the additional information (resource file, creation and backup date, file comments, type & creator, hidden flags, etc.) gets lost when using the standard UNIX "tar". This means that the copies will be incomplete and many files will just refuse to work.
Solution: The free HELIOS Xtar for Mac (PPC/Intel) saves each HFS file as two files in the standard tar container format to preserve all additional information. During a restore with Xtar in an HFS volume, the resource and Finder information will be restored into a valid HFS file containing all information. This means there is no missing data, e.g. the volume is bootable after being restored. Unicode file names and all meta data are preserved.
HELIOS Xtar Mac archives can be restored on any UNIX server using the standard "tar" program.
HELIOS htar (included in HELIOS UB for Windows) allows creating/restoring "tar" archives on Windows.
4. IBM System p5 virtualization – deal or no deal?
Advanced POWER™ Virtualization (APR) features can help simplify and optimize your IT infrastructure – these are IBM's marketing promises. Is this real or virtual?
HELIOS has deployed AIX systems for many years. With our server upgrade last year we started testing IBM p5 virtualization (APR). The initial plan was just to get used to it and to qualify HELIOS server solutions for AIX virtualization. After heavy testing we figured out that the AIX virtualization is really cool, at the cost of 5-15% in performance, and we have not been able to find any drawbacks. It provides true CPU micro-partitioning in increments of 10%, excellent networking and disk performance as well as a 100% software compatibility with all HELIOS products. Each p5 based server includes virtualization capabilities, which can be activated by a purchasable software license, and the built-in web based IVM admin makes it very easy to use and does not require additional hardware.
IBM virtualization misses some features that are nice in VMware, e.g. SCSI tape access, USB disk support, or a free runtime deployment. However, IBM's virtualization performance and reliability in heavy load production environments make it predictable, which is more important than matching features. The comprehensive documentation is good and explains in detail the System p5 virtualization.
It is installed within hours but plan a 3-6 week learning period and testing circle to command all aspects of it. Instead of doing the installation in-house, another option is to outsource the server software and hardware maintenance to a qualified reseller or IBM. This could bring additional savings since it allows customers to focus on their business.
We at HELIOS are convinced that the IBM AIX virtualization is a pretty good deal.
My first car was an old used Opel Kadett A. I used to repair the ignition system and clutch myself – yes this was then possible! This is unimaginable with today's sophisticated car engines, which need to be handed over to brand-certified engineers. Today's sophisticated software maintenance, like fixing compatibility problems and adding new features, is a complex task which also requires specialized engineers that have precise knowledge of this software. We offer yearly software upgrade service agreements, which include all updates, new features and future upgrades. Deploying server software without software maintenance means customers run at a high risk and don't work in an economic way.
Helmut Tschemernjak, HELIOS Software GmbH
2. Asset management – way ahead
These days, many sites are looking for an outstanding digital asset management package. A great solution combines HELIOS server solutions together with Canto Cumulus, as proven in the field by many customers for years. Recently HELIOS and Canto decided to see how we stack up against alternates. We performed extensive tests of the Xinet asset management solution and found dramatic differences. Before looking at any DAM solution, be sure to read this revealing summary outlining the unique advantages of HELIOS UB with Canto Cumulus 7 compared to Xinet FullPress with WebNative Venture: www.helios.de/news/news06/helios_canto.phtml
If you have additional input, be it positive or negative, you are welcome to share it with us.
3. HELIOS Xtar for Mac OS X
The "tar" archiving program has been the standard for UNIX since the dawn of file archiving. However, on Mac OS X "tar" faces its limitations: Mac stores meta data, e.g. Finder and resource information on HFS within one file, but standard UNIX applications can only see the data part, the additional information (resource file, creation and backup date, file comments, type & creator, hidden flags, etc.) gets lost when using the standard UNIX "tar". This means that the copies will be incomplete and many files will just refuse to work.
Solution: The free HELIOS Xtar for Mac (PPC/Intel) saves each HFS file as two files in the standard tar container format to preserve all additional information. During a restore with Xtar in an HFS volume, the resource and Finder information will be restored into a valid HFS file containing all information. This means there is no missing data, e.g. the volume is bootable after being restored. Unicode file names and all meta data are preserved.
HELIOS Xtar Mac archives can be restored on any UNIX server using the standard "tar" program.
HELIOS htar (included in HELIOS UB for Windows) allows creating/restoring "tar" archives on Windows.
4. IBM System p5 virtualization – deal or no deal?
Advanced POWER™ Virtualization (APR) features can help simplify and optimize your IT infrastructure – these are IBM's marketing promises. Is this real or virtual?
HELIOS has deployed AIX systems for many years. With our server upgrade last year we started testing IBM p5 virtualization (APR). The initial plan was just to get used to it and to qualify HELIOS server solutions for AIX virtualization. After heavy testing we figured out that the AIX virtualization is really cool, at the cost of 5-15% in performance, and we have not been able to find any drawbacks. It provides true CPU micro-partitioning in increments of 10%, excellent networking and disk performance as well as a 100% software compatibility with all HELIOS products. Each p5 based server includes virtualization capabilities, which can be activated by a purchasable software license, and the built-in web based IVM admin makes it very easy to use and does not require additional hardware.
IBM virtualization misses some features that are nice in VMware, e.g. SCSI tape access, USB disk support, or a free runtime deployment. However, IBM's virtualization performance and reliability in heavy load production environments make it predictable, which is more important than matching features. The comprehensive documentation is good and explains in detail the System p5 virtualization.
It is installed within hours but plan a 3-6 week learning period and testing circle to command all aspects of it. Instead of doing the installation in-house, another option is to outsource the server software and hardware maintenance to a qualified reseller or IBM. This could bring additional savings since it allows customers to focus on their business.
We at HELIOS are convinced that the IBM AIX virtualization is a pretty good deal.
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