Domino licensing costs are reduced because we can purchase a single Enterprise version of Domino to cover our partitioned servers. We have maintained the workload independence of our servers while at the same time decreased the need to manage multiple operating system environments (i.e., instead of having to add a service pack to each individual NT server, we update a single AS/400).

All of the partitioned Domino servers running on the AS/400 share the same code base, reducing overall memory requirements. We have remote management capabilities on the AS/400 which are only available on NT through third-party add-ons.

On a single AS/400, we have implemented an environment that required a NT server farm. We can reduce overall costs and simultaneously maintain 24x7 availability of our Domino servers.

Worthy of mention
We should mention that there are no requirements for the partitioned servers to be a part of the same Domino domain, nor even of the same organization. This means that, given the proper scenario I can use a single AS/400 to host Domino servers for up to 30 different organizations. This makes it a worthy consideration as a platform for ASPs, and ISVs .

Also worthy of mention is the capability of running NT servers within the AS/400 environment. This is done through IPCS, which consist of an Intel-based Netfinity server on a single board. NT Server is implemented on the board and uses the AS/400 file system as the base for the NT file system (using the same pool as native Domino servers). This method of implementing NT Server allows us to use the AS/400's backup and remote management capabilities.

Conclusion
You might find the example implementation given in the above scenario a bit far-fetched for your environment, but it is not unrealistic. NT server farms are commonplace, and the AS/400's capabilities are not overstated. It is one of the most reliable server environments in the marketplace. It is also typical that most Domino environments, as they mature, rapidly grow additional service requirements that require the use of variety of add-on features and their groupware orientation. Quickly building needs similar to the organization presented in the example.

I hope that with this article I have adequately presented some of the more powerful capabilities of Domino for AS/400. I would also appreciate from any of you who have implemented the AS/400 in the scenario described.

Al Fishel and Jon Johnston are consultants for Creative Business Solutions, an IBM Partner and Lotus Premier Partner. Jon is an R5 Certified Lotus Professional and has written frequently about Domino and the AS400. They can be reached at 612-544-1108, or by email at info@msphub.com.