IT INFRASTRUCTURES Business-Driven Technologies Chapter 7 IT INFRASTRUCTURES Business-Driven Technologies

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES Explain the relationship between the organization’s roles and goals and the IT infrastructure Describe the difference between a 2-tier and 3-tier infrastructure Describe system integration

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES Describe Web services and Microsoft’s .NET Explain the difference between network area storage (NAS) and storage area networks (SAN) List and describe the seven “-ilities”

INTRODUCTION Organizations can choose from thousands of components to build their IT infrastructures IT infrastructure - includes the hardware, software, and telecommunications equipment that, when combined, provide the underlying foundation to support the organization’s goals

INTRODUCTION

IT INFRASTRUCTURE OVERVIEW The three primary components of any IT infrastructure include: Client/server networks Internet N-tier infrastructures

Client/Server Network Client/server network - a network in which one or more computers are servers and provide services to the other computers, which are called clients Thin client - a workstation with a small amount of processing power and costs less than a full powered workstation

Client/Server Network

The Internet There are numerous ways that the Internet enables an organization’s success Organizations must watch for inappropriate use of the Internet by its employees Organizations must decide how employees will access the Internet

n-Tier Infrastructures Basic client/server computing is a 2-tier infrastructure 2-tier infrastructure – there are only two tiers – the client and the server 3-tier infrastructure – contains clients, application servers, and data servers

Additional IT Infrastructure Elements Client/server networks, the Internet, and n-tier infrastructures are central to an organization’s IT infrastructure Three general categories of additional IT infrastructure elements include: Information views Business logic Data storage and manipulation

INFORMATION VIEWS Responsible for the presentation of information and receiving user events and includes: Intranets Extranets Portals Digital dashboards

INFORMATION VIEWS Intranet - an internal organizational Internet that is guarded against outside access by a special security feature called a firewall (which can be software, hardware, or a combination of the two) Extranet – is an intranet that is restricted to an organization and certain outsiders, such as customers and suppliers

INFORMATION VIEWS Digital dashboard – displays key information gathered from several sources on a computer screen in a format tailored to the needs and wants of an individual knowledge worker

BUSINESS LOGIC Responsible for maintaining the business rules (e.g. application software) and protecting corporate information from unauthorized direct access by the clients and includes: Integrations Web services Workflow systems Applications service providers

BUSINESS LOGIC Integrations solve the problem with separate applications Integration - allows separate applications to communicate directly with each other by automatically exporting data files from one application and importing them into another

BUSINESS LOGIC Web Services promise to be the next major frontier in computing Web services – encompass all the technologies that are used to transmit and process information on and across a network Interoperability – the concept that different computer systems and applications can talk to each other

BUSINESS LOGIC Microsoft .NET - .Net is Microsoft’s version of Web services Microsoft’s vision is to make applications available any time, any place, on any device

.NET Components The three primary components of .NET: .NET platform – tools, technologies, and services that support .NET .NET framework – supports Web services Visual Studio .NET – development tools that create .NET applications

BUSINESS LOGIC Many companies support Web Services besides Microsoft Primary competitor is Sun Microsystems J2EE Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) – Sun Microsystems development tool for building Web Services applications

BUSINESS LOGIC Workflow systems help to automate the process of presenting and passing information around an organization Workflow - defines all of the steps or business rules, from beginning to end, required for a process to run correctly Workflow systems - automate business processes

BUSINESS LOGIC An organization can outsource business logic through an application service provider Application service provider (ASP) – supplies software applications over the Internet that would otherwise reside on its customers’ in-house computers

ASP Configuration

BUSINESS LOGIC Customers typically sign an agreement with the ASP for service Service Level Agreements (SLAs) - define the specific responsibilities of the service provider and set the customer expectations

DATA STORAGE AND MANIPULATION Responsible for data storage and manipulation and includes: Network area storage Storage area networks Server farms Collocation

DATA STORAGE AND MANIPULATION Server farm - the name of a location that stores a group of servers in a single place Web farm – is either a Web site that has multiple servers or an ISP that provides Web site outsourcing services using multiple servers

DATA STORAGE AND MANIPULATION Collocation - a company rents space and telecommunications equipment from another company, or a collocation vendor Collocation facilities typically contain server farms and Web farms

SUPPORTING AN IT INFRASTRUCTURE An organization can support its IT infrastructure components with: Backup/recovery Disaster recovery Infrastructure ‘ilities

SUPPORTING AN IT INFRASTRUCTURE Backup - the process of making a copy of the information stored on a computer Recovery - the process of reinstalling the backup information in the event the information was lost

SUPPORTING AN IT INFRASTRUCTURE Disaster recovery plan - a detailed process for recovering information or an IT system in the event of a catastrophic disaster such as a fire or flood A disaster recovery plan typically includes hot and cold sites

Hot and Cold Sites Hot site - a separate and fully equipped facility where the company can move immediately after the disaster and resume business Cold site - a separate facility that does not have any computer equipment, but is a place where the knowledge workers can move after the disaster

SUPPORTING AN IT INFRASTRUCTURE Factors to consider when developing an IT infrastructure (These factors are commonly referred to as the ‘ilities) Availability Accessibility Reliability Scalability Flexibility Performance Capacity planning

SUPPORTING AN IT INFRASTRUCTURE Availability - determining when your IT system will be available for knowledge workers to access Accessibility - determining who has the right to access different types of IT systems and information

SUPPORTING AN IT INFRASTRUCTURE Reliability - ensures your IT systems are functioning correctly and providing accurate information Data cleansing - the process of ensuring that all information is accurate

SUPPORTING AN IT INFRASTRUCTURE Scalability – how well your system can adapt to increased demands Flexibility - the system’s ability to change quickly

SUPPORTING AN IT INFRASTRUCTURE Performance - measures how quickly an IT system performs a certain process Benchmark – baseline values a system seeks to attain Benchmarking – a process of continuously measuring system results

SUPPORTING AN IT INFRASTRUCTURE Capacity planning - determines the future IT infrastructure requirements for new equipment and additional network capacity

IT INFRASTRUCTURES AND THE REAL WORLD When approving designs for an IT infrastructure be sure to ask the following: How big is your department going to grow? Will the system handle additional users? How are your customers going to grow? How easy is it to change the system? How flexible is the system?

IT INFRASTRUCTURES AND THE REAL WORLD How much additional information do you expect to store each year? How long will you maintain information in the systems? How much history do you want to keep on each customer? What are the hours you need the system to be available? How often do you need the information backed up?

CAN YOU… Explain the relationship between the organization’s roles and goals and the IT infrastructure Describe the difference between a 2-tier and 3-tier infrastructure Describe system integration

CAN YOU… Describe Web services and Microsoft’s .NET Explain the difference between network area storage (NAS) and storage area networks (SAN) List and describe the seven “-ilities”

CHAPTER 7 End of Chapter 7