IBM Delivers Optim Archiving and Test Software for JDE, But Goofs Up i OS Support

Published: September 1, 2009

by Alex Woodie

New software unveiled by IBM last week is aimed at helping JD Edwards EnterpriseOne shops archive their data, create data subsets for testing, and mask data for privacy. However, the new Optim "starter edition" packages are aimed primarily at EnterpriseOne shops running on Linux, Unix, or Windows (even z/OS is supported for all those mainframe-JDE shops). i OS-based EnterpriseOne environments are, to use IBM's words, barely "tolerated."

The two new Optim products carry these catchy and easy-to-remember names: IBM Optim Data Growth Solution Starter Edition for JD Edwards Applications version 3.0.2 and IBM Optim Test Data Management Solution Starter Edition for JD Edwards Applications version 3.0.1.

The Optim Data Growth product is composed of a Windows-based client and a server component that installs next to the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne application. The software is designed to improve performance of production EnterpriseOne servers by offloading unneeded historical data to an archive. It also helps to lower the cost of storage for production systems, while maintaining compliance with data-retention guidelines. It works with EnterpriseOne versions Xe, ERP 8.0, 8.10, 8.11 and 8.12.

The server component is fully supported on a long list of operating system-database combinations, including most releases of DB2 for Linux, Windows, and Unix (LUW), most release of Oracle database, most releases of SQL Server, and most releases of Sybase, running on Windows, AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, and Red Hat Linux. Even some releases of Informix and DB2 for z/OS are fully supported by IBM for running this software, which is interesting because z/OS has never been a platform that JD Edwards EnterpriseOne runs on.

However, when it comes to i OS--the platform that JD Edwards got its start on, and one of four OS families, along with Windows, Linux, and Unix, that is supported by Oracle for running the database component of an x-tier EnterpriseOne environment--IBM does not offer full support. Instead, IBM offers what's called "toleration support," and only for i5/OS V5R3 and V5R4.

And to be tolerated, the user of the "iSeries" (remember those?) must install DB2 for LUW and hook up DB2/400 to it--a cumbersome technique that few i OS shops would be willing to undertake (see full technical requirements here). It's no wonder IBM calls this its "mid-marketing offering" (sic) for JD Edwards (see United States Software Announcement 209-250), since this i OS support appears to only exist on paper.

With its "mid marketing" solution for Optim Test Data Management, IBM doesn't even pretend to support i OS environments, which is probably a good thing. This software is designed to help customers create realistic test databases for checking new or updated JD Edwards applications for performance and bugs.

Among the features offered by this starter edition product are the capability to create "right-sized" test databases, to force "error and boundary conditions, and to compare baseline data against successive test results to pinpoint application errors that might otherwise go undetected."

IBM is also offering a Data Privacy option for the Test Data Management product that can mask sensitive test data so it doesn't pose a threat of identity theft if it gets into the wrong hands.

Like the Optim Data Growth product discussed above, Optim Test Data Management is composed of a Windows-based client and a server component. The server component runs on AIX, HP-UX, Red Hat Linux, Solaris, and Windows. Database support (including full support and "toleration" support) includes DB2 for LUW, DB2 for z/OS, Informix, Oracle, SQL Server, and Sybase. The software currently only supports JD Edwards EnterpriseOne version 8.10.

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