System architecture

The full system architecture that is required for IBM® Netezza® Platform Development Software to run contains three layers: hardware, virtualization, and appliance.

Hardware layer provides low-level processing and storage capabilities. It consists of processing nodes (servers), storage, and network infrastructure. The layer might be responsible for the resiliency of some components. The resiliency might also be handled in the virtualization layer (typically storage resiliency is handled by the hardware layer components).

Virtualization layer consists of software components and it runs on top of the hardware layer. It constitutes execution environment for the IBM Netezza Platform Development Software virtual machines. It is also responsible for hardware management, monitoring, and resiliency (excluding resiliency that is handled in the hardware layer).

Appliance layer is a set of IBM Netezza Platform Development Software instances and their virtual machines.

IBM Netezza Platform Development Software does not include any hardware components. Moreover, no software or license for the virtualization platform is bundled. Only the appliance-level components are part of the product. The remaining prerequisite components must be assembled, installed, and configured before IBM Netezza Platform Development Software is deployed.

Figure 1. System architecture

The multi-layer approach allows for various types of hardware components to be used, on condition that the virtualization layer supports them.

In version 7.1, IBM Netezza Platform Development Software supports only one virtualization platform: VMware vSphere 5.x. You can use any commodity hardware (x86_64 nodes, storage, and network components) that best fits your preferences regarding vendor, performance, reliability, or connectivity technology, if the vSphere software supports it.