Edit: The link no longer works.
Originally posted February 1, 2011 on AIXchange
IBM has come out with a new software compatibility website.
I learned of this site from a mailing list, which offers this description:
“Clarity is the new tool based on Clearing House data designed to allow users to easily generate custom reports about compatible IBM software combinations…. Using this tool customers may create reports about a product’s compatibility with operating systems, prerequisite software or virtualization environments. They can also generate EOS reports for [IBM] products.”
When you go to the site you’ll find lists of available reports, including:
* Operating systems for a specific product.
* Prerequisites of a specific product.
* Virtualization environments supporting a product.
I was interested in “Products that use a specific operating system,” so I selected “Products supported by AIX 6.1 POWER System.” (Options ranged from the current AIX 7.1 and back as far as AIX 4.3.)
The tool produced a report displaying a list of products that were supported, under headings with names like:
* Information Management (DB2, InfoSphere, Informix)
* Lotus (Domino, Mashups, Quickr)
* Rational (Asset Manager, ClearCase, COBOL)
* Tivoli (Access Manager, Configuration Manager)
* WebSphere (Application Server, Business Monitor)
I didn’t count the number of products listed in the report, but it was several pages worth of information. Besides the software name, it also displayed the versions that were supported. (To my surprise, some of these products — including Tivoli Access Manager, DB2 and Informix — support AIX 4.3.) This is a great way to quickly determine which levels of software are supported by a particular operating system version.
Using checkmarks or greyed-out checkmarks as indicators, this report also broke down each product in this manner:
* “This operating system is supported by all parts of the product.”
* “This operating system is supported by some of the parts of the product.”
Also available on the software compatibility site is a software end-of-service tool. For fun look at the end of service dates on VIOS: You’ll see the general availability date along with the time (e.g., 2012 third quarter) products are expected to reach end of service. And by adjusting the tool’s start dates, you can see when the product came on the market and when it will go end of service in a graphical format.
I’m always interested in new ways to look at data, so if you run your own sample reports, let me know what you find.