(ATS4-PLAT10) Planning your deployment for a 64 bit world
Lynn Miller
Principal Technical Support Scientist
The information on the roadmap and future software development efforts are intended to outline general product direction and should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision.
• Pipeline Pilot 9.0 requires 64-bit server deployments, requiring many sites to migrate from their current 32-bit environment. This session will outline:
– Key differences between Linux and Windows
– 32-bit-specific vs. 64-bit functionality on Windows
– Using the Component Reader to help identify and assess published protocols and components that might require modifications when deployed to a new platform.
Agenda
Linux vs. Windows
• Linux-specific
– Clustering and Grid Computing (PBS, LSF or SGE/OGE)
– Next-Gen Sequencing Collection
• Windows-specific
– Pro Client can be invoked on server
– Windows-specific Components see (ATS2-25) Advanced Planning for Pipeline Pilot Deployments for complete list
Migration Risk Introduction
• The Windows operating system does not allow calls to 32-bit libraries within the 64-bit process. This means that there is some 32-bit-specific functionality that cannot be directly or readily migrated from a 32-bit Windows Server to a 64-bit Windows server.
• Some components are Windows-specific and will not work in Linux servers
Migration risks from 32 to 64-bit Windows
32-bit component 64-bit options today
Excel Reader (On Server) (Deprecated) Excel Reader (Cross Platform)
Excel XY Scatter Plot (Deprecated) Excel Report Writer / reporting collection
Excel Structure Writer * Excel Report Writer / reporting collection
ISIS for Excel Reader (On Server) none
ISIS for Excel Writer * Office Chemistry Sketcher ** / Excel Report Writer
ISIS Reader In progress. Hope to have it working in the AEP 9 release
* Not an Accelrys component ** Available on Windows only
Migration risks from 32 to 64-bit Windows
32-bit component comments
Python (On Server) IronPython prototype may be included in AEP (Windows only)
Migration risks from 32 to 64-bit Windows
The Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable has enabled MS Access connections to work under 64-bit PP for several customers with caveats. 1) Change the beginning of the connection string (add ", *.accdb") so that it matches the newly installed driver name. ie: Before: DRIVER=Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb); After: DRIVER=Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb, *.accdb); 2) The drivers will not install with Office 2007. A Microsoft forum post indicates it is possible to uninstall Office 2007, install the 2010 Access drivers, then install Office 2007 again. Ironically we have found that this seems to fail entirely if you have Office 2010 installed on your server.
Migration risks from 32 to 64-bit Windows
32-bit component comments
Run Program (On Server)
When migrating servers, evaluate all protocols that use this and related integration components like Run Program (SSH) to ensure that the server-based command you are calling is available and compatible with the new server.
VBScript (On Server)
On Windows, a 64-bit process cannot instantiate a 32-bit application. In practice this means that any VBScript (On Server) component used in a protocol should be checked. A very common use case for using VB is to automate Microsoft Excel for advanced formatting of Excel spreadsheets, and this is known to fail. This can impact a wide range of integration calls to third-party software.
Migration risks from Windows to Linux
– Python (On Server)
– VBScript (On Server)
– Run Program (On Server)
– Dynamic .NET (on Server)
– Dynamic C# (on Server)
– Dynamic VB.NET (on Server)
– Office Chemistry Sketcher
– PRISM Dose Response Fit
– JMP Custom Script
– Excel Writer
– Excel Reader (On Server) (deprecated)
– Check Memory Use
– TIFF (OCR) Reader
– ISIS Reader
– ISIS for Excel Reader (On Server)
– ISIS for Excel viewer
• File Dependencies
• Database Dependencies
• Web Service Dependencies
• Third-party Application Dependencies
• Integrations to external resources (SSH/FTP etc)
Identify Dependencies Before Migration
Identify and assess any dependencies required by production protocols.
Identifying at-risk protocols and components
• AEP 9 will include built-in functionality to catalog and query your protocol database (ATS4-PLAT05) Accelrys Catalog - A Search
Index for AEP
• Use the Component Reader and related components to build your own analysis tools for PP 8.5 and earlier
Existing tools for XMLDB searching and validation
• Validation Protocol Example Components/Data Access and Manipulation/Utilities/Internals/Validation
• Search Protocol Database Example Components/Data Access and Manipulation/Utilities/Prototypes/Protocol Database Searching
• Find Protocols that Contain a Component Protocols/Examples/Generic/Merging and Manipulating Data
• Overview of included tools for XML database searching
• How to build your own custom tool
Demo
Prepare for Server Migrations by identifying protocol dependencies and those that use platform-specific calls.
Other resources: • Pipeline Pilot Server Migration document in support library • (ATS2-21) Best Practices for Pipeline Pilot Upgrades and
Server Migration • (ATS4-PLAT03) Balancing Security with access for
Development
Summary
Support
• We pride ourselves on our excellent support!
– Reach us by email at [email protected]
– Call the support hotline
– Take advantage of the Accelrys Community • No login is required to read the forums.
• Logging in to your Accelrys Community account gives you access to the Support Center where you can access the software download center and documentation libraries. From here you can also access change request widgets, the Pipeline Pilot product documentation, post to the forums, etc….