AIX is the IBM strategic UNIX operating system for mission-critical, core business applications. One of the most critical decision points in business computing today is total cost of ownership. Many organizations discover that the systems they count on to run their business cost a lot more to run than anticipated. AIX can help lower the total cost of ownership by providing enhanced systems and network management capabilities that help put you in control of your computing environment. The industrial-strength features and functions of AIX have been well-proven over the years in a wide variety of server environments. Some of these industry-leading features are as follows:

• Flexible Installation Options

• Automated Control of Subsystems

• Easy Storage Device Administration

• Quick File System Restart

• Automatic Device Configuration

AIX installation offers these flexible installation features to help you manage your environment:

• You can install and customize your remote systems from a central location and schedule installations to minimize disruptions and inconvenience using the Network Installation Manager (NIM).

• You can minimize down time and upgrade more smoothly. Alternate Disk Installation lets you test your applications against the new version on an alternate disk, and you can quickly return to the previous version if the new version is unsuitable for your production environment.

• You can back up your system to CD. Compared to other backup media, CDs are portable, inexpensive, and highly reliable.

The System Resource Controller (SRC) lets you control subsystems with less intervention by providing these benefits:

• A consistent user interface to start, stop, and refresh subsystems

• Logging and notification of any abnormal system termination of subsystems

• Lets you control operations from a remote system

The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) lets you manage the fixed disk and removable storage on your AIX system.