Test 2 Flashcards
Describe what is meant by an enterprise architecture
Specifies the connections between the IT systems of an organisation - applications, data and infrastructure
What is EA used for?
Ensure technology investment is aligned with business goals; ensure technology environment is integrated, secure, robust and flexible; help prioritise IT initiatives; help procure value-for-money and reusable solutions; avoid problems associated with reactive IT decisions
What are the average life spans of a business strategy vs IT infrastructure?
BS - 12 months or less, IT infrastructure = 5-7 years, often more than 10
Describe the EA corporate view
Group-wide rather than divisional view of IT investment
Describe the EA Long view
Long-term view of investment in IT, rather than implement short-term point solutions
Describe the EA end-to-end
Includes all elements of technology in the design (applications, data, infrastructure, connections)
Describe the EA standards based
Standards based components and common products/services where possible
What are the benefits of a business with EA
Reduced cost (standard components < customised solutions); faster, increased flexibility and time to market; better availability, security, performance and reliability; connected systems sharing functions & data
Whats are the cons of no EA
Expensive, point solutions; Isolated data; hard to connect internally and externally; difficult to maintain
Architecture principles: business focused
Align the architecture with business needs and make it comprehensible
Architecture principles: independent
Make the architecture independent of the organisational structure
Architecture principles: Standards based
Use industry based, web - enabled standard components
Architecture principles: State of the market
Use proven solutions as opposed to leading edge solutions
Architecture principles: Robust, reliable and supported
Adopt solutions with a well-defined owner, product map and maintenance commitment (limit use of free-ware and open source)
Architecture principles: Flexible
Allows business to accommodate change
Architecture principles: Reuse technology
Exploit value of existing IT investment where possible
Architecture principles: buy service first
Select ‘on-demand’ services (SaaS) as first choice, then off-the-shelf (COTS) products; custom solutions are last resort
List the limitations of IT systems and networks
Costly, unreliable (many elements - difficult to fix when they fails), most are inflexible and slow, limited connectivity to external parties, some systems are legacy, poor quality data, data can be replicated (different “version of the truth” in different systems), many systems/data sources so difficult to ensure security, unstructured - IT for a while was unprioritised, reactive - prone to responding to requests as opposed to planning long term, under-resourced (manpower), limited IT skills wrt. supporting future business requirements
What is meant by migration scenario
Planning to guide the business to the ‘target’ environment (basis for planning short term and medium term investment) - normally over a 5 year period. Complements normal business and IT planning cycles
List the migration principles
Evolutionary approach - gradual replacement of technology; business driven prioritisation - scale and timing determined by business (thus each investment justified by its own business case), IT infrastructure investment; shared components introduced; migration towards standard environment - moves the environment towards use of industry standards
Why use a TA?
Helps the designer make informed decisions about solutions (understand how software and hardware components fit together, determine which application component run on which hardware platform, assess what standards are appropriate, determine where cost trade offs can be made, deploy adequate control points and interfaces, identify where systems integration is required)
List some TA components
Software (data storage, data access logic, application logic, presentation logic), hardware (clients eg computers, tablets, phones etc, servers eg mainframes, networks eg LAN, WAN)
What is client based architecture?
Client performs most of the processing activity, server stores data
What is server based architecture?
Server performs all four application functions (DS, DA, AL, PL), client captures keystrokes
Pros/cons of client based
Simple to develop, but quickly overloaded
Describe client server architecture
Balanced processing between client/server. Highly scalable at incremental cost. Application must be written for both client and server. Thin clients do only PL. Thick clients do AL and PL
What is a 2 tier CSA?
One server for DS and DA, client does AL and PL
What is a 3 tier CSA?
DS and AL on one server, AL on another, client does PL
What is n tier CSA?
AL split between 2 servers, DL on another
Why use n tier CSA?
(Common in e-commerce applications) Better load balancing, more scalable than 2 or 3 tier systems. Places higher demands on the network
What is a service?
Discrete unit of functionality that can be accessed remotely and acted upon, updated independently
Service oriented architecture
Style of software design where services are provided by application components over a network
Infrastructure as a service IaaS
Virtualized computing resources (hardware, software, servers, storage) over the internet
Platform as a service PaaS
Resources and tools over the internet allowing customers to develop, run and manage applications
SaaS
Software applications over the internet
Business as a service BaaS
Complete business processes over the internet
What is involved in infrastructure design?
Components - network, hardware, OS, storage, resilience (redundancy, business continuity, disaster recovery), security
What is involved in network design?
Network design contains major components (routers, switches, nodes, geographical routes, firewalls etc). Purpose is to illustrate how system’s software components will fit together
What is involved in storage design?
Cables, host bus adapters, and switches. Includes storage devices - purpose is to provide fast, efficient, secure and resilient shared storage
What are the three phases of implementation?
Construct, install, support
What does the construction phase of implementation entail?
Development of all parts of the system: software, hardware, network configuration, documentation, procedures
What is usually the cause of project failure?
Poor analysis, design, testing
What is the most important activity in Construction?
Project management
What does this Project management entail?
Plan activities and resources, plan and manage the schedule, plan and manage budget, track Actions, Risks, Issues (ARI), report on progress, manage people
What is the purpose of testing?
Uncover as many errors as feasible (differences between what the system does and what it should do. Not about proving that the system is error free)
What does the test plan include?
Tests to be conducted and expected results of tests