A Unique Dialogue..

The following below is an excerpt of my dialogue with The Soul Of God, which lately has been concentrating on a project code named “Creating Life on Mars” after being thoroughly disturbed  with mankind’s endeavours after the second world war. Notwithstanding, the deviance between what was actually bestowed upon us…”The Green Planet” and where we have actually taken it…..a lot of progress has happened since then due to the emergence of an unique entity named Information Technology and one of its poster boys titled System Architecture. Therefore, what follows forth are the Soul’s questions and the IT consultant’s reply to the same…..

 

Soul:  I want to hit the ground running while designing  mars. For this, I would require to streamline its architecture from the very start…But, I am having trouble understanding it from the already dead…Therefore, I had to establish a communication with you. Could you describe me what system architecture or system engineering is?

Me: Yes, of course…Although on earth we have a lack of consensus as to what it exactly is I would like to quote the definitions from Microsoft Encarta dictionary that has assumed your role since you been gone…

·       Complex whole formed from related parts: a combination of related parts organized into a complex whole i.e. a social system

·       Way of proceeding: a method or set of procedures for achieving something i.e. I have worked out a system for identifying likely failures.

·       Computing – set of computer components: an assembly of computer hardware, software, and peripherals functioning together i.e. The system’s down again.

·        Engineering – assembly of components: an assembly of mechanical or electronic components that function together as a unit.

While none of these are uncommon uses, many people readily equate with the Computing and Engineering definitions of 4 and 5. Systems Engineering however is also concerned with definitions 1 and 2. The formal definition is given by the disciplines professional body, the International Council On Systems Engineering (INCOSE). They state that;

“Systems Engineering is an interdisciplinary approach and means to enable the realization of successful systems. It focuses on defining customer needs and required functionality early in the development cycle, documenting requirements, then proceeding with design synthesis and system validation while considering the complete problem.

 

Soul: Hmmm…seems like quite a bit has been happening. But what exactly is the need for it?

Me : An alternative way of thinking about it is to consider those technical aspects of a development program that aren’t specific to the particular output. This is something that is done all the time with project management. Project management as you know is about controlling cost and resources, regardless of what those resources are attempting to achieve, be it build a bridge, organise a festival, or run an advertising campaign. Systems Engineering is about delivering the correct system, be it a bridge, a web application or an aeroplane.

Soul: So, what would be the components of such architecture?

Me: I would say we can segregate them as Hardware and Software. The Hardware part consists of computers, large servers, storage devices and connection network. The software part is the applications that process and distribute the data. These components are best linked through a process known as architectural tiers.

Soul: Could you describe these architectural tiers in detail?

Me: Basically there are 4 types of architecture:

·       Single tier architecture

·       Two tier architecture

·       Three tier architecture

·       Multi tier architecture

 

Now what happens in single tier architecture, is that all of the application processing takes place on a single computer—this includes user interface, business logic, and data processing. This is common on mainframe computers. In two tire architecture, the data is kept in server and the applications are in the individual computers. To connect data centres, generally LAN network is primarily used. In three tier the application and data is kept centrally in different servers. The users computers have only user interface. This tier helps when all the business applications and data need to be kept in centralized place and any change in the business process must affect whole business. Lastly, in a multi-tier there are 4 layers – Data server, Business application server, Web server and finally the Users which are connected through the internet. But the main consideration in this is that the business application needs to be web enabled. The first 3 layers can either be on the same machine or on different ones.

Soul: Generalizing my experience of life..can I say that the above architectures you have mentioned would tend to have their own pro’s and con’s.

Me: Yes, you are absolutely right.. Single tier applications are most secure, they are manageable and controllable. However there is no flexibility and growth. There is no user independence, and the availability is not good. Moreover the cost to upgrade a mainframe is substantial due to proprietary parts. In two tier, flexibility, growth and user independence is better compared to one tier. The applications are very easy to write. It has convenient graphic user interface. However is has some disadvantages. It is not scalable, because each client requires its own database session, and it has high bandwidth requirements. Three tier provides the advantages of flexibility, user independence and availability. However they lack in security, manageability and control.
Multiple tier has various advantages. It is most scalable because the processing load is distributed among multiple server nodes. This improves the overall system’s performance. The disadvantages are that business application has to be web enabled. The greater amount of network traffic puts more load on the network. It is more complicated to administer.

Soul: Hmm…one last thing. Wouldn’t a lot of complexities crop up in these systems and if yes how to resolve them?

Me:  A lot of them can be simply solved by using a Relation Database Management System (RDBMS) which makes sure that there is data consistency across different locations and time periods and making it easier to manage backup, security & access authentication. Secondly, these can be solved by  ERP  implementation. Multiple vendors can create multiple problems; therefore ERP can really be beneficial for the organisation. The key ingredient for this is the use of a unified database to store data for the various systems modules, to break the silos. There can also be some specific software for special requirements. Thirdly, in order to secure  the system & data, firewall servers can be used.

Soul: Wow…you earthlings are a lot more intelligent than what we think sitting up there. And, as a gesture of this appreciation I would like to gift you an coupon which you can redeem for reincarnation on mars once you travel through the space between life and death.

( With this the Soul fades away……and I get up from my dreamful slumber)