Installation Verification Test Operating System Reporting Feature (18-Dec-2009)

Installation Verification Test Operating System Reporting Feature

An enhanced "Installation Verification Test" (IVT) program is described, which makes calls to the operating system to determine whether the operating system configuration will impose any limitations on the installed software.

    After installing some software, it is usual to run an installation verification test program, which verifies that the software has been installed correctly. This IVT program is normally a simple test application which shows that the installed software has all the correct files installed and is configured correctly. With modern middle-ware and more sophisticated applications, running the IVT does not ensure that the installed software can be run as intended. Restrictions imposed by the configuration of the operating system will limit the use of the application . i.e. If the middle-ware uses a message queue for each individual application that it supports and the operating system has a limit of 128 message queues then you are restricted to 128 simultaneous applications. Here the 129th application to run will fail. This is not made clear when running a typical IVT. These problems can happen to a live system some time after the software has been installed and the underlying cause can take a while to discover. In most cases this is prevented, before making the system live, by running stress tests or proof of concepts, which costs time and money. This enhanced IVT extends the functionality of the typical IVT, to report on the restrictions on the installed software caused by the configuration of the operating system. It alleviates the need for a customer to run some stress tests or proof of concepts, as it shows...