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Clearpath As an Open System ClearPath as an Open System By Peter Bye White Paper 1 The IT industry’s understanding of what it means to be an open system has evolved from an original narrow concept that focused on certain operating systems and hardware to one that focuses instead on the interfaces a system supports. This understanding suggests that ‘openness’ is not a binary attribute; systems are not simply open or closed but are somewhere on a spectrum of openness. This paper discusses the characteristics of open systems, establishes a framework for analysing the openness of any system and then considers ClearPath systems using the framework. The results show that ClearPath systems are towards the open end of the openness spectrum. They support the major interfaces, especially for co-operating with other systems in distributed architectures, for example within a service-oriented architecture (SOA) implementation. 2 Contents Executive summary ....................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................... 3 What is an open system? .............................................................................................................................. 3 Perspectives on openness – an analytical framework .................................................................................. 6 Evaluating ClearPath system open attributes ............................................................................................... 7 Perspective 1: internal interfaces .............................................................................................................. 7 Perspective 2: application development .................................................................................................. 11 Perspective 3: external interfaces ........................................................................................................... 12 Perspective 4: systems management ..................................................................................................... 16 ClearPath Fabric-based systems ................................................................................................................ 16 ClearPath system mission-critical attributes ............................................................................................... 17 Comparisons with other platforms: a summary........................................................................................... 18 More information ......................................................................................................................................... 20 Appendix: glossary of technical terms and products .................................................................................. 22 Technical terms and acronyms ............................................................................................................... 22 Products................................................................................................................................................... 24 About the Author ......................................................................................................................................... 28 3 Executive summary Definitions of an open system from vendor-independent bodies such as The Open Group and the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) centre on the internal and external interfaces it exposes, not on the hardware or operating system platform. ‘Open’ in this context means support for widely-used interfaces, sometimes called ‘industry-standard’. The reasons behind this focus include: Current application environments, especially Java, shield the underlying platform from applications, allowing a very high degree of portability. The platform is not relevant to openness. Systems are increasingly collaborating with others in distributed applications, both intra- and inter- organisation. Inter-system communication across independent groups or organisations requires industry-standard interfaces that make no assumptions about the technologies used to develop and deploy the various systems. Web Services is an example of such a technology. Based on these definitions, it is clear that ‘openness’ encompasses a spectrum of open interfaces; a system is not ‘open’ or ‘closed’ but somewhere in-between. At one end of the spectrum, there are few open interfaces; at the other end, there are many. Adding more industry-standard interfaces makes a system more open. Where do ClearPath systems lie on the openness spectrum? Since the first edition of this paper, Unisys has released (beginning in mid-2014) ClearPath systems based on a fabric infrastructure. As well as OS 2200 or MCP environments, these systems support Linux and Windows applications within the fabric. The attributes of Windows and Linux, which are generally regarded as ‘open’, are well known and will not be explained here. Rather, this paper is primarily concerned with the open attributes of OS 2200 and MCP environments, although there is a short section in this paper discussing some specific features of the fabric-based systems1. ClearPath systems are open in that they lie at the ‘open end’ of the spectrum. They support an extensive range of standard and de facto standard interfaces, including: Implementations of industry-standard application environments, including Java, Java EE and Open Group DTP. Support for Java allows easy importing of software written in Java. These environments are integrated with the native application servers COMS and TIP/HVTIP, and can access native databases and other data stores. Support for industry-standard communications protocols and FIPS-certified encryption algorithms. Provision of all the major industry-standard middleware technologies, enabling a wide range of collaboration options, including participation in a service-oriented architecture (SOA) implementation. The range of middleware supported is particularly rich. Support for distributed transactions across multiple systems of different types. However, openness is not the only desirable system attribute. ClearPath systems are typically used in mission-critical environments such as high volume transaction processing. Attributes such as reliability, efficiency, responsiveness to rapidly changing conditions and security are essential. 1 For an introduction to ClearPath fabric-based systems, see the White Paper ‘ClearPath Systems with Fabric-based Infrastructure’, which can be found at http://www.unisys.com/offerings/high-end-servers/clearpath-systems/Whitepaper/ClearPath-Systems-with- Fabric-based-Infrastructure-id-1364 1 ClearPath systems are particularly strong in these attributes, largely due to the integrated hardware and software stack. All the necessary components, from operating system to application interface, are optimised for performance, integrated and tested with the hardware before release. This avoids the need for complex and expensive integration by users, which is required if the products come from a number of different sources, as is typical with many systems regarded as open. The result not only delivers the required mission-critical attributes but is also very cost/effective and allows customers to move more quickly to new software releases. In fact, there is increasing interest in supplying integrated hardware and software stacks; it is clear, for instance, that this is the strategy of Oracle and others. Unisys has been providing integrated stacks with ClearPath systems for many years. The combination of mission-critical and open attributes results in systems which are powerful and secure transaction processing platforms, and are able to participate in distributed environments, including SOA implementations. These unique characteristics differentiate ClearPath systems from other platforms commonly viewed as open. 2 Introduction This paper aims to substantiate the view of ClearPath open and mission-critical attributes stated in the executive summary. It examines the open attributes of ClearPath systems in the light of the widely- accepted standard and de facto standard interfaces that determine openness. And it considers the role of ClearPath mission-critical attributes in contributing to the systems’ primary role as enterprise servers in high performance, secure transaction processing. The remainder of the paper is divided into the following sections: The first section reviews definitions of open systems in some detail. The definitions originate from a number of well-known independent organisations. Using the definitions as a starting point, the next section presents a framework for analysing the open attributes of a system. The paper then analyses the open attributes of ClearPath systems using the framework. The next section discusses the mission-critical attributes of ClearPath systems. How do ClearPath systems compare with others? The next section contains a brief summary of comparisons with other platforms and their support for some key open attributes. The paper continues with a brief description of some of the features of ClearPath fabric-based systems. The paper concludes with some pointers to sources of additional information and a glossary of technical terms used and products mentioned. What is an open system? Definitions of open systems have changed over the years.
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