Our current setup is RS/6000/AIX/DB2. We have two application servers and one DB server.

We now have a need to expand the storage. Rather than going for additional hardware for RS/6000, we plan to use standard NAS (Dell or HP) as the DB server. The NAS systems have Win 2003 network storage operating system.

Has anyone implemented such a setup where the application and data servers run on different operating systems. Further will DB2 run as normal on NAS operating system?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Normal requirements for baan on multiple hardware is same porting set and datebase driver availability for the hardware (windows 2003). Even though the porting set may be same , the binaries will different due to different hardware.

Further u need to check with DB2 vendor to know about how DB2 works under NAS environment which typically have lower RAM and higher storage space.

Further NAS storage can be available as NFS directories on UNIX. In that case u will be running DB2 instance on unix while accessing NAS storage meaning higher network traffic between DB server and NAS . And in such case u need to get reference of other people regarding the transaction / rollback management in such environment.

U need to have highest level of RAID to provide for hard disk failures. As NAS systems also have separate OS / hardware , u may probably need to have a redundant NAS to ensure business continuity in case of hardware / OS problems. (NAS vendors claim 0% downtime and instantaneous support due to hardware/OS failures and there are stringent SLA's for those purpose).

Ideally u can ask NAS vendor to give reference of other companies using such setup and should get the broad plan of implementation vetted out by Baan support and DB2 experts.

I don't have first hand experience on NAS / DB2 related issues. Hence consider the advice of others having first hand experience on this as more reliable.