The objective of this task order was to establish the means to provide supplementary System Administration support for the installation and maintenance of hardware and operating system software in a 24×7 data center. In particular, it has been necessary to write custom software using appropriate languages and installed software systems in order to meet unexpected requirements, such as those which were determined essential by the USDA for the implementation of the Financial Management Modernization Initiative (FMMI). Design and testing of newly installed software as well as that which was newly written by CompuCure continue to be essential to the project. The full range of support includes systems at both the Primary Computing Facility as well as the Backup Computing Facility. Current Operating Systems (OSs) installed for the NFC UNIX environment include AIX and Red Hat Linux. The AIX systems are running on P595 or P570 Power 5 platforms and a P595 Power 6 platform in an LPAR environment, OS level 5.3.0.9. The Red Hat Linux systems are running on blade and standard X-series architecture or on virtual systems running under VMware. There were new projects that required additional OS Support in the form of Solaris. The key functional areas relating to this project are as follows:
Network Installation Management (NIM): This process required the ongoing upgrade of existing OSs to newer versions, building new LPARs as well as Disaster Recovery processes. In this capacity, CompuCure’s AIX UNIX engineer has created specifications for the installations, programmed the software tools needed for complex installations, design and program required links, test all components end-to-end, and create fixes for identified problems.
Patch Management: Assist in ensuring that patches are kept current for installed Operating Systems and system products. Here, again, CompuCure has developed the links for patches, in some cases created custom patches, and tested installed systems.
Scripting Support: The ability to write or maintain existing custom scripts has been a regular requirement in the performance of the administrative duties. Our engineer’s knowledge and effective use of cron /at as well as KORN shell scripting has been an essential component to the year-long effort.