IBM improves their flagship UNIX OS
Written: May 21 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: classic full-strength UNIX distribution, awesome as a server OS, great monitoring tools
Cons: difficult to learn, still non-standard UNIX
The Bottom Line: Industrial strength OS for industrial strength applications. Don't go AIX unless you can swim because it takes you right into the deep end!
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| icevic's Full Review: IBM AIX 5.1 (License Only) for Unix (5765-E61) |
AIX 5L is IBM's latest version of AIX. Before I start the review, I need to mention what happened to AIX 4. Starting in 2004, IBM announced they were dropping support for 4 and everyone had to upgrade, at a price of $700 per license. This was a shock for everyone, especially because IBM had previously been known for supporting things forever, and also because UNIX systems are generally so stable that many companies never bother to upgrade. This leaves a lot of companies with a problem - stick with their a system on AIX 4 that is working fine but will no longer be supported, or pay $700 for an upgrade they don't want.
Anyway, 5 offers some upgrades over 4. The "L" in 5L is for linux. IBM compiled a bunch of linux applications for AIX and they can be installed using the built-in rpm (RedHat) install program. By the way, this functionality was back-ported to 4 as well. 5 is meant to be more compatible with Linux and probably indicates future IBM strategy. 5 is also more of a standard unix release, with more system V and BSD compatibility than ever before. AIX had always been an oddball among commercial unix releases and now it looks like it is getting in line.
Like 4, it offers 32 or 64 bit support. The filesystem has been improved with JFS2 working alongside JFS. Support has been added for clusters, processors that can be enabled with passwords, better support for multiple OS loads, and improvements to system management and monitoring (an area AIX always excelled in anyway).
The system management tools for AIX are the best of any operating system. You can control everything with SMIT. The system also is great at monitoring itself and reporting back any hardware problems, or to a lessor extent, software problems. AIX is designed for seasoned administrators and large environments. A trained administrator can manage a massive AIX install with ease using the powerful OS tools. On a smaller scale, the rigid JFS structure makes it difficult to manage and the non-standard OS makes it harder for administrators familiar with UNIX but not AIX to learn.
IBM support for AIX is, as always with IBM, the best. It is expensive, but they will never let you down.
AIX only runs on IBM systems: RS/6000 and Power Pseries. All hardware comes from IBM, there are very few third-party vendors for anything.
AIX is very stable and for a knowledgeable administrator, it is a dream to use and maintain because of all the built-in tools. IBM is very serious about security and these systems can be locked down as tight as a drum. AIX supports most UNIX standards, such as OpenGL for graphics and CDE for the desktop. I find myself using the Linux tools on AIX more and more, mainly because they are so well documented and they integrate well.
There are actually few applications that run on AIX. Most of them are big server type standards like Oracle, but there are still some desktop applications like CATIA. For the desktop users, Lotus Notes and Netscape 7 are about it for Office-type applications. I expect most of the AIX growth to be on the server side. Most of the 5L improvements are for improved server functionality.
Many free applications for AIX are listed on www.bullfreeware.com.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
icevic
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Reviews written: 12
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