Sun Microsystems SOLARIS 10 - Manual (Page 20)

Version 3.1-en Solaris 10 Container Guide - 3.1 2. Functionality Effective: 30/11/2009
2.2.4. Consolidation in one computer
[ug] The applications are installed on a computer and used under different userid. This is the type of
consolidation feasible with modern operating systems.
Advantages:
• Application: All applications are executable as long as they are executable in the basic operating
system and do not use their own OS drivers. However, there are restrictions if different versions
of the application with a defined install directory are required, or if two instances require the
same userid (e.g. Oracle instances), or if the configuration files are located in the same
locations in the file system.
• Scalability: The capacity of an application can be modified online.
• OS maintenance: OS installation, patches and implementation of in-house standards must take
place for one OS only. That is to say, many applications can be run with the administrative effort
for one machine only.
• Overhead: Overhead is low since only the application processes must run for each application.
Disadvantages:
• HW maintenance: If a shared component fails, many or all applications may be affected.
• OS maintenance: Administration becomes complicated as soon as applications are based on
different versions of a software (e.g. versions for Oracle, Weblogic, Java, etc.). Such a system
becomes difficult to control without accurate documentation and change management. Any error
in the documentation that is not noticed immediately can have fatal consequences in an
upgrade (HW or OS) later on.
• Separation: The applications can influence each other through shared hardware and the OS. In
Solaris, the influence can be reduced by using resource management and network bandwidth
management.
• Delegation: The department responsible for the application/service requires root privileges for a
portion of the job control or must communicate with computer operations regarding
modifications. This can therefore affect security or become more costly/time-consuming.
• OS versions: Different operating systems/versions are not possible.
Many modern operating systems facilitate this type of consolidation, which allows several software
packages to be installed, if necessary, even different versions of the same software.
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Figure 5: [dd] Consolidation in one computer
Server
OS
App
App1 App 3 App 2