Migrating from iSeries to SQL Server Platform for J.D. Edwards Migrating 2
Abstract
J.D. Edwards EnterpriseOne is one of the most widely deployed enterprise resource planning (ERP)
applications in the midrange market today. It can run on multiple platforms, including the IBM System i
and Windows Server® 2003. As companies run out of capacity on their current System i hosts, reach
renewal dates for their maintenance agreements, or consider upgrades to their EnterpriseOne application
suite, many are deciding that Windows Server 2003 can provide a strong alternative to the status quo.
There are many reasons for companies to make the switch to Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft® SQL
Server™. A significant driver is cost. There are many areas where cost comes into play:
Purchase of new hardware to run EnterpriseOne. One recent customer was quoted $375,000
for a System i hardware and operating system combination to support its growing enterprise. The
hardware and operating system cost for the Windows Server solution was less than $180,000,
with clustered servers at both the application and database tiers to provide high reliability.
Requirement for additional batch capacity. Growing companies will reach the point of needing
more capacity. For example, the batch window may become insufficient. In such situations, it is a
simple matter to add additional commodity-priced servers to process the additional load, as
opposed to spending $80,000 to turn on a new processor on the System i—or worse, having to
purchase an additional system.
Granular scalability of the online workload. If the number of concurrent online users grows
due to the success of the company or through a merger or acquisition, the EnterpriseOne
application may become exposed to other user communities, which would require the company to
add capacity to its system. With the Windows Server platform, the company can simply add low-
cost servers to the cluster. With the System i, the costs are significantly higher: adding either
additional processors or an entirely new System i where expansion is not possible.
Disaster recovery. With a lower hardware cost it is possible to have a disaster recovery solution
that is fully utilized in production. Alternatively, a solution that is owned and controlled by the
organization can be set up in a passive configuration. Many System i customers cannot afford to
purchase dedicated disaster recovery systems, and therefore must lease from outside resources,
which are becoming less available and more expensive, and are unavailable to the organization
for any other purpose.
Low cost of ownership. From an administration standpoint, SQL Server is a very cost-effective
solution. SQL Server is a popular database management platform, so there are many qualified
database administrators (DBAs) in the market. These DBAs are very competitively priced as
compared to their System i counterparts. Therefore the cost of ownership of SQL Server
compared to System i can be substantially lower. Refer to www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinfo
/compare/ibm/db2v8.mspx for a detailed comparison of these costs.
Of course, cost is not everything. The power of the SQL Server back end provides significant advantages
over those of the System i back end.
ERP systems. In recent years, as regulatory and business requirements have continued to
demand more stringent performance and availability requirements, SQL Server has become an
increasingly attractive platform to migrate to, for customers who run ERP systems. With SQL
Server on a Windows Server 2003 operating system cluster, a customer can often implement a
highly available ERP solution for less than the cost of a single System i box.
This is accomplished by setting up the hardware on both nodes of the Windows Server cluster
in an active/active configuration. The database can run on one node of the cluster and the
application logic can run on the other node. This allows the resources of the cluster to be
fully utilized and yet still be protected in the event of hardware failure on either node.
Point-in-time data recovery. Another distinct advantage of SQL Server is its ability to do point-
in-time recovery of data. On the System i, to recover after your last backup you must enable
