Manager's Guide to Distributed Environments: From Legacy to...

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 368 pages
• Published by: John Wiley & Sons
• Edition: 1st Edition October 20, 1998
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0471197122
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0471197126
• Book Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.8 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 1.7 pounds

Book Description
The abrupt migration to client/server distributed environments has had an enormous impact on the structure of IT organization and expectations of the IT function. Distributed systems have changed not only the way we access our data but also the way we program, interface, and network. In the tradition of David Taylor's bestselling Business Engineering with Object Technology (also from Wiley), this book provides a comprehensive management overview of the technical issues presented by distributed environments, including planning and building the environment, developing new applications, and managing the network. There are also practical suggestions for managing change, training staff, and reengineering the IT function.

Card Catalog Description
Here is an in-depth look at the current state of enterprise computing, including a critical examination of the technologies and issues that require decision-making. It describes the changing relationships and roles of solution providers and consumers, providing advice on how to prepare for the new environment while avoiding potential pitfalls. The authors provide insight and information for both non-technical as well as technical executives faced with delivering increasingly sophisticated services in a complex, changing environment. Manager's Guide to Distributed Environments also helps you meet the every day challenges of delivering distributed computing services, by providing practical tips, hints, and to do lists.

Reader Reviews
As someone who spent 24 years in "legacy" environments and who is now in the distributed world I found this book to be some of the most complete guides in print to making the transition. What I really liked about this book is how the authors skillfully blended the descriptions of technologies in the distributed world with the methods and approach that characterize the "legacy" world. This is because distributed computing has a lot to offer from a technology point of view, but management of distributed systems lags behind the "legacy" world. My move was a lot like migrating from a predictable world of methods, processes and procedures to the wild west. Some of the specific highlights were: very clear description of client/server systems and the underlying components. I personally gained a lot from the discussions on object technology, building distributed applications, and building extensible systems. The latter was especially useful to me because it exposed me to COM, Java and XML, and how these fit into the picture. Coming from a world where the standard buzzwords were CICS, JCL and the such I needed to fully understand the world in which I now work, and this book gave me an understanding of the technical underpinnings and their strengths and weaknesses. Where this book blends the "legacy" and distributed worlds is in the chapters that deal with managing distributed systems. I gained two deep insights from this section: (1) managing distributed systems is a quantum leap in complexity from managing host-based systems, and (2) the processes and tools used to manage today's distributed systems have not reached the maturity of those that we used twenty years ago in the mainframe world. The authors did an excellent job of pointing out the challenges and realities of distributed systems management, and did a wonderful job of tying this to service level management using core business objectives as the bridge. This book is truly a manager's guide that covers a lot of ground in technology and processes. It is too high-level for hand's-on technical folks who have worked in distributed environments, but is a wonderful source of information for people like myself who spent most of their career in mainframes and need to evolve into this wild environment called distributed computing. I enjoyed the book, gained a lot from it and recommend it to my former colleagues who are still in the "legacy" environment. Comment | | (Report this)