It is desirable to avoid the circumstance where duplicate hardware server platforms are required for application testing and upgrade. These additional installations would provide for upgrades, ad hoc reporting and system redundancy. The application should be compatible with Citrix MetaFrame or Windows Terminal Server. The application system should be able to be maintained and managed using mainstream languages and tools. It is highly desirable that high productivity visual integrated development environments be used.
Scalability is an issue that needs to be considered.
Where scalability is a high priority or a concern, Unix servers should be selected. Server databases should be relational and data extraction, ad hoc query, and reporting needs should be addressed. The vendor of the application system should be consulted to identify the recommended databases that are supported and yield the best performance and scalability. The preferred database should be used if possible. Database activity should be logged and provisions made for effective security, backup, and disaster recovery.