CompuServe, one of the world's largest and oldest online information
services, gives its 4.5 million customers unique content, discussion forums,
and Internet connections. Currently, CompuServe is migrating its entire
operation from its aging DEC-10 architecture to a distributed network of Windows
NT servers. Leading this migration is Bruce MacNaughton, CompuServe's vice
president and chief architect. Since 1978, MacNaughton has led several
CompuServe projects, including the deployment of the H&R Block (CompuServe's
parent company) Rapid Refund System.
MacNaughton became interested in NT because Dave Cutler, the architect of
Digital's VAX OS, was leading Microsoft's NT development team. "NT 3.1 was
the best first release of any operating system I've seen," MacNaughton
said. (See the "Interview with Bruce MacNaughton,"
for some of MacNaughton's comments on NT.)
Why NT?
CompuServe chose NT because it provides a good development platform for
building large, distributed applications. With its modular design and
extensibility, NT shows its advanced architecture through its services-based
design, support for diverse and scaleable processors, and secure and
interprocess communications functions. MacNaughton appreciated NT's consistent
user interface throughout its numerous configuration points.
Another reason CompuServe converted to NT was because of its support for
development tools. CompuServe develops a lot of its business-support software
internally, so powerful development tools and support for programmers are
important. With its legacy systems, CompuServe had to write and support
compilers, linkers, and debuggers.
At present, CompuServe's development workhorse is Microsoft Visual C,
supported by Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, NuMega's BoundsChecker, and
MicroQuill's SmartHeap. With NT emerging as the premier OS, MacNaughton's
developers are looking forward to even more sophisticated debugging and team
development tools.
Migrating the Business
CompuServe's initial thrust to convert to NT began in spring 1995. A primary
goal was to move the company's user forums to NT. This step was significant
because most of CompuServe's customers are active in one or more forums.
CompuServe chose to convert the forums as the first major task because the
company supports the forums with 1000 similarly configured servers. This
architecture let CompuServe's teams develop an initial NT Server configuration,
or cookie-cutter, and rapidly deploy the standard on the remaining machines. As
of August 1996, this method had let CompuServe deploy 250 forum servers.
CompuServe has spread the forum computers among the company's three
regional centers, providing redundancy and fault tolerance for its customers and
a challenge for its systems administrators. However, NT's built-in monitoring
and administration tools help meet this challenge.
CompuServe uses IBM's NetView for network management. The company wants to
supplement NetView with Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS) although SMS
is still a somewhat immature product. Other management tools that CompuServe is
considering include Computer Associates's Unicenter, Hewlett-Packard's
OpenView, and Cabletron's SPECTRUM.
How It Works
A CompuServe customer can dial in to one of thousands of local access
numbers available worldwide. Once connected, a server routes the user's requests
to email servers (which use Microsoft's SQL Server) or forum servers (which use
POET Software's POET--to find out why CompuServe chose POET for its forum
servers, see the sidebar, "Why POET?
").
POET is an object-oriented database management system (OODBMS). POET lets
CompuServe store and manage messages in the threaded message libraries, a
popular feature among CompuServe's customers. According to MacNaughton, an
object-oriented database is best for the message library, where users can post
and respond to messages from other users and system operators. Besides storing
messages for later retrieval, the database links the messages so that users can
follow the complete chain, or thread, of the conversation. CompuServe chose POET
because of POET Software's commitment to open database standards and willingness
to work hard with customers. When CompuServe began its NT project, very few
object-oriented database vendors were considering porting their offerings to NT.
POET Software was the exception--that company had an NT version and was willing
to work quickly to fix any problems. CompuServe liked POET Software's overall
company picture, its commitment to customer service, and its technology.