Articles -> How “Systems Software” Affects Performance

How “Systems Software” Affects Performance

Systems Purchasers have three System Software Technologies to choose from that directly affect overall cost and performance, especially for remote users working in branch offices, at home, or on the road.

The following outlines performance, security, and reliability attributes of the three common Systems Software Architectures available today. Remote performance is a function of the data bandwidth required by a software technology and the data bandwidth capability of the communications medium.

File Server Systems

A File Server System is the fastest, easiest, and least expensive way to build a system. The programmer only has to worry about, and write, one set of fully integrated software. The software runs on a workstation and can be shared by a small number of users.

Data processing is distributed, in that each workstation processes data separately and there is minimal processing done on the server. In fact, the file server only acts as a disk drive for the workstations.

However, all the file operations have to be done by the workstations over the LAN. This exposes the raw data to data corruption due to network errors and can overload a network by adding only a few busy users. By definition, there is no database security - any user can copy a file server database onto a laptop.

Client-Server Systems

A Client-Server System requires a slightly higher level of sophistication in terms of software development over File Server Systems. The programmer has to use a different technique to access data. The server now does all the data retrieval and updating.

Client-Server is a far safer way of maintaining data and it also considerably reduces network traffic, permitting far more users to work efficiently than an equivalent File Server approach. However, the workstations still do considerable data manipulation and may have to make multiple data requests to the server to process a transaction. Client Server databases can be set up to be completely secure, preventing inappropriate data tampering and eliminating the possibility of database copying.

Multi-Tier Systems

A Multi-Tier System (also sometimes called an n-Tier System) is made up of three or more software layers that separate data processing functions. Software development can take the longest. Data Manipulation is moved from the workstation to the server. Sometimes, the Data Manipulation functions are located on a second server with a high-speed interconnection to the Database Server.

Multi-Tier Systems offer the highest transaction throughput and the fastest user interfaces. Since only basic transaction data and inquiry results need to travel across the network, branch office performance is maximized. Data access can be web enabled without adversely affecting the performance of other users.

Terminal Server Software

Microsoft has developed a technique to deliver Filer Server applications as a Multi-Tier Application using its Terminal Server product. This uses a separate server with high-speed access to the File Server to act as workstations. The user at an actual workstation sees a copy of what is going on at the Terminal Server.

This approach can extend the performance of a File Server System and will work with Client Server and Multi-Tier Systems. It can even web enable them. It works well for a small number of remote users and is ideal for users on the road. However, since entire screen images must be transmitted to the remote workstation, performance may not be as good as a well designed Multi-Tier System, particularly in branch offices. Also, since the application software is running on a separate server, printing, file access, and data transfers can present challenges to the developers, system managers, and end-user.

Summary

Software developers have the choice of developing for a simple Systems Software Model that can deliver good performance to a small office with no data security through to a fully secure, high-performance Systems Software Model that can support large numbers of users with good performance even over slow modem or Internet connections.

End user processing delays can affect user satisfaction levels and operating efficiency. When choosing a system, brokerages should consider how the System Software Technology a vendor chose, will affect the brokerage’s communications costs, server costs, and ultimately the performance level delivered to the end user.

Sep/2000