In past releases we talked about using the Collaborative Lifecycle Management (CLM) or Systems and Software Engineering (SSE) solutions depending on whether the primary use case was a software development verses a more integrated product development of both hardware and software. The common goal of the standard topologies is to provide a complete solution infrastructure for both software or systems development organizations. To simplify our discussion, we will present a single set of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) topologies going forward that can be deployed in part or as a whole depending on what capabilities the customer needs to purchase and supply to their software or product development teams.
One of the most frequently asked questions is how to deploy the full ALM solution so that it performs well, runs robustly, and evolves without restriction. Customers ask about possible deployment strategies because they must balance two sometimes opposing forces: the desire to build what's right for their organizations and the desire to stay within the mainstream of the ALM product evolution so they can easily and quickly reap the benefits of the new technology.
The ALM
system requirements permit a wide range of supported middleware platforms and topologies upon which to host the solution. The ALM products run on several commercial databases and two of the most popular web application servers. It is also possible and recommended to introduce reverse proxy servers in front of either a centralized or a distributed set of web application servers.
To simplify the wide range of choices, this article outlines several standard topologies which are the expected and most frequently chosen deployment patterns over the past several years. Keeping in mind the continual evolution of the ALM solution, these topologies can be used with the ALM 3.X or later product versions.
Publishing these standard topologies represents tried and true examples of how customers have successfully deployed the ALM solution. Additionally, the ALM solution system testing organization uses these topologies to perform deep “customer simulation” testing, which includes installation, upgrade, functional, performance, and robustness testing. By adhering closely to one of these standard topologies, customers will have an easier time characterizing their deployment in the event of an interaction with IBM software support. These topologies become a “short hand” that can be used whenever an ALM deployment is discussed. For example, when system performance testing results or a high availability configuration is discussed, the appropriate standard topology can be referenced.
Several different teams came together to define and document these standard topologies. These teams design and execute system, performance and reliability testing, develop and support the ALM products, and work directly with customers to design and implement the ALM solution at customer locations worldwide.
Key topology variants
The ALM applications, and Jazz Team Server can be installed on shared application servers, or distributed across multiple application servers for improved scalability. Although this flexibility allows you to design a topology to best fit your needs, that flexibility also adds complexity to the planning process. As a result, it is important to plan your deployment topology carefully, as changing your topology later can be very complex and require substantial application downtime. Potential deployment topologies are divided into three key topology variants: Department, Enterprise and Federated.
With ALM 6.x we have decided to retire the Evaluation Topology. With the additional capabilities recently added it is no longer practical to deploy all the applications, supporting capabilities, such as reporting, and the database on a single server. The different work loads of user interactive applications, automated reporting data processing and database workloads do not work well together on a single server. With the vast majority of our customers deploying the ALM environments on virtual servers, it makes much more sense to use a Departmental Topology with minimum resources. The
Proof of Concept Sizing when using Application Lifecycle Management capabilities in 6.x wiki page provides specific guidance on deploying a proof of concept or evaluation environment.
There is also specific guidance on how to
evolve your topology between a Departmental to a partial or full Enterprise Topology.
Optional installation packages
Applications that are considered extensions to the core ALM capabilities are depicted as optional components. These optional components are represented two ways, when all the content on a server is part of one of the optional components then the server is drawn with a dashed line and the server name is prefixed with the appropriate group identifier described below. When the optional component is a member of a list then the component name is prefixed with the appropriate group identifier.
Identifier |
Descritpion |
(1) |
Additional applications required to enable Configuration Management |
(2) |
Additional applications required to add Rhapsody Model Manager |
(3) |
Additional applications required to extend reporting with LQE and Engineering Lifecycle Manager |
(4) |
Additional applications required to add DOORS/DWA |
Diagram symbol color key
Symbol Type |
Color |
desktop client |
brown |
reverse proxy |
blue |
applications |
purple |
database |
green |
utility/infrastructure |
yellow |
Departmental topologies
Departmental topologies are useful for small team and single-server deployments. Use a stable, company-approved host name and register it with the domain name server (DNS) to keep the URLs of the data stable. In this type of installation, databases are installed on a dedicated database server, and one or more other applications are installed on an application server. A key advantage of the departmental topologies is that they require less hardware and are easier to deploy initially. These topologies are best for smaller projects and smaller-sized teams. Crucially, if you are fairly certain that your deployment will likely expand, you should consider starting with an Enterprise topology. The following diagram is a generic example of a departmental topology for the ALM v6.x solution. Note that the VVC application is only present in release 6.0 and has been incorporated in other applications in later releases. Additionally, Rhapsody Model Manager, first available in version 6.0.5, is now the recommended architecture management tool.
- Generic Departmental Topology for ALM 6.x:
Enterprise topologies
Enterprise topologies are useful for production or medium-sized to large-sized teams and multiple server (or distributed) deployments. Use a stable, company-approved host name and register it with the domain name server (DNS) to keep the URLs of the data stable. Enterprise topologies distribute the ALM applications, Jazz Team Server, the database software, etc, and are more flexible. These topologies enable you to incrementally adopt applications into your deployment and configure them to use the same Jazz Team Server. In this type of installation, databases are installed on a single database server and each application is usually installed on its own dedicated application server. In addition, to connect multiple application instances to a shared Jazz Team Server, the instances must all be authenticated from the same authentication realm and thus share the same set of users. The following diagram is a generic example of an enterprise topology for the ALM v6.x solution. Note that the VVC application is only present in release 6.0 and has been incorporated in other applications in later releases. Additionally, Rhapsody Model Manager, first available in version 6.0.5, is now the recommended architecture management tool. If Rhapsody Design Manager continues to be used, it should be deployed on its own server.
- Generic Enterprise Topology for ALM 6.x:
Federated topologies
Federated topologies are useful to very large enterprises who tend to deploy an ALM solution per product line or organizational division but would still like to be able to pull together an enterprise-wide view of their current status and report on a rolled up view of their entire portfolio of software or product set. Often versions of products or subsystems in one division are used as a part of a larger solution. By coordinating the planning and monitoring the status across divisional boundaries, the customer can manage these larger and more complex solutions. The following diagram is a generic example of a federated topology for the ALM v6.x solution. Note that the VVC application is only present in release 6.0 and has been incorporated in other applications in later releases. Additionally, Rhapsody Model Manager, first available in version 6.0.5, is now the recommended architecture management tool. If Rhapsody Design Manager continues to be used, it should be deployed on its own server.
- Generic Federated Topology for ALM 6.x:
Metadata variables
The following variables describe the key characteristics that provide variation in the typical ALM deployment topologies. These, along with the previously mentioned key topology variants are used to distinguish the standard topologies.
- Operating system (Windows, AIX, Linux, z/OS, etc.)
- Database management system (DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, Apache Derby)
- Application server (Apache Tomcat, WebSphere Application Server)
- License management systems (Evaluation, Floating, Token)
- User management system (Apache Tomcat, Active Directory, Tivoli Directory Server)
- Other technologies such as proxy servers, virtual host names, WAN accelerators
Although integrations are an important dimension, they are not addressed in this article or included in the recommended or alternative deployment topologies. Additionally, specific hardware architectures and virtualization technologies are not included among these variables. Hardware architecture and virtualization technologies are very important considerations when defining a deployment architecture, however, more from a performance and sizing perspective. Recommended hardware architectures against these standard topologies will be discussed in a follow-on article.
Recommended and alternate topologies
Versions 6.x
Versions 5.x
Versions 3.x, 4.x
Datasheets and sizing guidelines
Find ALM-specific performance datasheets, sizing guidelines and performance-related case studies on the
Performance datasheets and sizing guidelines page.
Related topics:
Additional contributors: JoePesot