Sun versus Red Hat

versus

7.72DW2.0 was the first release of Degreeworks with the Red Hat as an option. Before I bought my hardware I had the opportunity to test both environments. My Review:

Red Hat:

Pros: Cheaper. Much Faster CPU's (up to 3.0 Ghz), thus faster audits.
Cons: Limited to only Intel processors. NO AMD's! Less cores.

Sun:
Pros: Sun hardware allows for more core/multi-thread processing, thus more batches/simultaneous audits.
Cons: Expensive. Slower CPU's (1.0 - 1.66 GHz).

That's basically what it boils down to. They both run DW exactly the same. Obviously the RH server ran the audit 2-3 times faster but only has a 4 core limitation. Sun processors go up to 8 cores.

I tried to run a Sun server and a RH server connected to the same database account (hybrid server) and it didn't work because of steno. Eventually this will be a option once steno has been phased out of DW. 1-2 years?

I chose the Sun because eventually we are going to need to run more batches for the Curriculum Planning Assistant. I will blog about this soon. It's has some costly needs.

DW4.0.1 Testing

DW4.0.1's new interface is great. I love it. The fact that I don't have to use shpentry to customize the interface is GREAT! Shpentry drove me crazy to the point that I didn't customize any more and created my own interface all together. I've done some hacking and I've created a new shpkey which creates a new tab for UCI degree customizing.

One of the best breakthrough with DW4.0.1 is the removal of Microfocus Cobol. No more license errors!!

Another great break through for us older clients is Linux is now an option. I'll post an entry about my Solaris vs. Linux experience.

BUT, we do have problems as of today. I remember at the DW symposium endorsing DW4.0.0 but today I wave a yellow caution flag. Nancy and I have identified and resolved some problems but we are currently working with major deal breakers. Of course, these may not affect other clients because we all use DW differently.

1) The auditor isn't pulling PROGRAM blocks. It's identified as a defect and we are awaiting it's resolve.

2) Exceptions are un-hooked. Courses Disciplines names have been corrupted somewhere during the install and so the auditor drops these exceptions. Not good for move to production.

3) Apply Here Exceptions applies a different course than the original intended course.
Same student, previous audit.

4) Custom Dtls not working. We have on average 8-10 custom-dtls per student and the auditor chooses to use only half of them. This screws up the layout of all the students. Weird.


Our next window to update our production account is in late March and we hope to these get resolved by then. We've reported all these and the response times from the help desk have been very good.

Nancy

She's the genius Scriber and Audit Engine Expert. I honestly think the success of DW at UCI is mainly because of her.

Many of the DW community knows her but I just wanted to formally introduce her. She was very active in the past as the DW module rep.

She's made her mark on DW in many ways. Especially in the way the audit engine works and some of the way scribe is created. Here is some of her influences on the product.:

- Exceptions "With DW___"
- StandAlone Block
- Proxy Advice

Lately she did a testing for the In-Progress Revision. (The biggest problem with DW, in my opinion. IP classes pushed completed courses out of a rule making the audit inaccurate.) I'm glad to report that it went well and we might see this resolved in the next patch.

I hope for her to chime in on this blog from time to time.

Patch DW4.0.1

Easy. No complications. Just do it.

I had one problem and submitted at Service Request for it and it was immediately resolved. Sungard didn't deliver a set of files.

Installing 4.0.0

Back in October, I was the first standalone client to upgrade from 7.7.2 account to DW4.0.0. (And the fastest.)

The install is fairly painless. Since I was the first, I obviously ran into problems. But they were mostly from my end.

If you properly read the doc all should go well. I am pretty satisfied with the process. The resulting software after the install is a different story. I'll post that later.

Only piece of advice:

Copy the database schema to a new space. Use the default dwschema for the name of the user/schema. It is recommended in the instructions but I think it's a must for two reasons: a) It cleans up the tablespaces and indexes. b) It cuts out any problems during the conversion.

I'm going to try the multiple-entity site db setup soon. It was explained to me at the user conference and found many advantages from my prospective. I'm putting this one on the list to try out.

If all goes well, one could install this in one day of work. I thought the database conversion would take the longest but it didn't. The database export/import to the new schema will take the longest depending how large the schema is. It took me about 3 hours to load the new schema from backup.

Upgrade times:
New account: 30-40 minutes.
Existing account: approximately 2 hours.

Not bad. Thumbs up to the Sungard Install Team.