Deployment server and VMWare...

swhitmire

Reputable Poster
So, VMWare is still not officially certified for putting a deployment server on, right? But I know lots of people are doing it, so as I prepare for an upgrade, I'm curious what percentage of people are and if anyone's experienced any problems.
 
almost everyone is placing their deployment servers onto vmware or other virtualization platforms. just because its not "certified" doesn't mean its not supported. Check the language carefully, oracle is fine with deployment servers on vmware and I have never encountered an issue because the deployment server is virtualized. Quite the opposite in fact.
 
I agree 100% with Jon. It has been a very long time since I came across a client using physical hardware for the deployment server. Of all the servers in the JDE architecture, the Deployment server is probably the server that is best suited for virtualization. This is not to imply that others should not be considered for virtualization. In most cases non-Production environments can be virtualized, and in many cases pieces of the Production environment can as well. It just depends on platform, number of transactions, user load, etc.
 
You can virtualize the entire Production system these days, providing you architect it correctly. Using VMWare is actually "old school" now - and using a Public Cloud system like AWS or Oracle Cloud is the new direction. I push AWS very hard as Oracle isn't "production ready" yet - but AWS is certainly running customers in production today. A zero-hardware/zero-datacenter solution is the right choice for all customers in the future.
 
Out of curiosity when you say "...AWS is certainly running customers in production today". Does that mean that you have clients or know of clients that are fully running JDE E1 production in the cloud today?
 
Out of curiosity when you say "...AWS is certainly running customers in production today". Does that mean that you have clients or know of clients that are fully running JDE E1 production in the cloud today?

There are certainly live AWS sites here in Australia. The main thing you have to watch with AWS, or any public cloud implementation, is the storage configuration and performance for your DB.
 
Yes. There are JDE EnterpriseOne customers live on AWS today. The most publicly well known is News Corporation : http://www.crn.com.au/news/news-corp-migrates-oracle-to-aws-australia-406313

There are several dozen customers in the US already in Production on AWS - but because of the pressure of Oracle and Oracle Cloud, they keep their architecture quiet.

Oracle has already stated that AWS is a "good architecture" for JDE - and "no different from any other architecture platform, but needs to still meet Minimum Technical Requirements". As long as they meet MTR - then its a valid platform.

Lastly, Amazon is Oracles' #1 customer. The amount of $$$$ that Amazon sends to Oracle on a regular basis is mind blowing.

As Russell stated, you have to utilize an architect that thoroughly understands the technology to ensure optimum performance. But realistically, thats the same with any other platform - whether its VMWare or physical hardware with SAN Storage. But AWS is actually, in my opinion, easier to create a fast performing, scalable database system.
 
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I'm responding to Jon's statement "A zero-hardware/zero-datacenter solution is the right choice for all customers in the future."

While I agree that the cloud can be a good solution for some business needs, I for one would never risk my company's daily JDE operations on the cloud. If any link in the chain between the end user and the cloud provider's system goes down, then I would not be able to transact any business. Imagine having to answer to your organization's management why users cannot create a PO, SO, WO or transact anything because of a service outage. The outage could be internal (which I admit could happen with an internally-hosted system), or external, such as your cloud provider or your ISP (this is the additional risk with cloud).
I'd also want to make sure that users have access to their data with the same or better response time as they have with an in-house database -- I don't know that the cloud can deliver that, but I'd be open to hearing of documentation about this.
Lastly, what happens to your organization's data if you choose to part ways with your cloud provider?

I know that Oracle is pulling out all the stops to push cloud, and I had plenty of "cloud" being shoved at me at Collaborate 2016. Until my concerns can be met, however, I'm one JDE customer who will happily keep my system in-house, and I'll bet there are many more out there with similar concerns.
 
better response time as they have with an in-house database

You can mirror your environment (hardware & software) on the cloud with AWS and Azure (if you go with Oracle cloud for E1, your only option is Oracle db on Linux) - the only factor that changes is internet connectivity. As E1 becomes less bandwidth intensive, you should see similar performance. I doubt if you will see better performance.



Lastly, what happens to your organization's data if you choose to part ways with your cloud provider?

I am not sure about Oracle's E1 Cloud, but with AWS and Azure, you have full control. You can export backups of your data out (and you should on a regular basis even if you don't plan on parting ways with your cloud provider). There is a valid concern, of course, of your data still being "out there" in the cloud somewhere after you have parted ways or switched providers - this raises a security/control issue.
 
Hari answered pretty well - and I would state that AWS's reliability is so high, especially with multiple zone availability (which Oracle as of yet hasn't implemented) - that its incredibly difficult to see how a failure would affect multiple zones. If AWS goes down, theres a MUCH bigger issue out there !

Secondly, any company utilizing cloud as their datacenter provider should also architect for multi-honed connectivity. I'd also state that its even easier to architect for connectivity failure, since any independent device can be utilized to connect to AWS - for example, your phone could always be used if your corporate connection to the internet goes down.

Many customers already utilize a third party datacenter to host their equipment these days. I'd say that the majority of JDE customers these days do NOT utilize internal datacenters anymore. The fashion has been to co-locate a corporate data center for at least 15 years now. AWS is no different from that perspective. If connectivity goes down, then you lose access to your datacenter - and companies have been utilizing multi-honed connectivity and intelligent network architectures for many years now. Your zones on AWS "look" like its a part of your internal network, and an enterprise system "looks" no different technically from any other system.

I'm not saying that its absolutely the "only" architecture out there. But if you're a decision maker, its important to gauge whether a cloud architecture is a good fit. Certainly JDE is well suited to the cloud - and since SAP customers are actively migrating to cloud providers like AWS, its important that JDE keeps up with that trend, otherwise if the perception is that it is not "cloud aware", then customers will cease to implement JDE.

I will say this. AWS is incredibly easy to use to set up a sandbox environment to check out the capabilities and performance. Every CNC should at least try it out and spend a few dollars (a full E1 implementation can be done for as little as $100 for a month, and AWS only charges by the hour) to see how it works. Oracle Cloud is still many years behind Azure and AWS in my opinion (though Oracle is improving every day).
 
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