PBA Zone : IT Environment : Provisioning, Patch and Deployment Systems Area

One of the biggest areas of stress for a data center environment is its ability to provision new operating systems on cold iron, deploy new applications, and patch applications, hardware and operating systems. It is important for architecture teams to understand these systems and processes and how their architectural decisions influence these environments.

Provisioning processes and systems:
This represents the ability to easily load an operating system image (and sometimes with its preconfigured application components onto an existing operating system platform or cold iron.

Deployment processes and systems:
The deployment processes and systems represent an IT organizations ability to load application software (application components) onto operating systems.

Patch Management processes and systems:
Patch management processes and systems represent the ability to update operating systems, hardware and applications (and code) with needed functional and non functional capabilities as well as fix any bugs and flaws that might exist. An IT organization’s ability to model, test and deploy patches can significantly impact its level of security and competitive capability with IT systems.

Transitioning Services / End of Life Services:
Transition (end of life) services are those processes, systems, staff, etc…, which de-allocate technology from the data center as quickly and easily as possible to keep costs and complexity low for the organization and enable the company to align needed resources with new opportunities.

Perspective Capture Questions: Provisioning, Patch, Deployment Systems Area

a) What is the architecture of the existing provisioning processes and systems utilized by the IT organization?

b) What is the architecture of the existing deployment processes and systems utilized by the IT organization?

c) What is the architecture of the existing patch management processes and systems utilized by the IT organization?

d) What is the architecture of the existing transitioning & end of life service processes and systems utilized by the IT organization?