Businesses have been urged to check that
their enterprise applications will work with the latest Window
server operating system, after research revealed that organisations
may face significant compatibility problems when they
upgrade.
IT departments are expected to start moving enterprise
applications from Windows Sever 2003 to
Windows Server 2008 next year to take advantage of improvements
in security and administration functions.
But a compatibility test by
software house ChangeBase for Computer Weekly discovered 10,000
configuration issues that could cause a third-party enterprise
application installation to fail on
Windows Server 2008. The test covered 200 enterprise
applications, including major ERP, database and reporting
packages.
"I estimate 60% of Windows applications will have errors that
will prevent them from installing correctly on Windows Server
2008," said Grant Ford, chief operating officer at ChangeBase.
Analysts advised IT departments to test applications before
rolling out Windows 2008, even when suppliers say their software is
compatible.
"On paper, the major server software companies will certify
their software for Windows 2008, but you find that certain modules
are not certified until long after launch, so you have to look into
the details," said Chris Ingle, consulting and research director at
analyst firm IDC.
Compatibility is worse with bespoke software, where the provider
is unlikely to give any commitment to support future operating
system releases, said Ray Titcombe, chairman of the Strategic
Supplier Relationships Group. "Until you start testing for
compatibility, you will not know if the software will run."
Television channel ITV plans to evaluate Windows Server 2008
next year. Nick Leake, director of operations and infrastructure at
ITV, is planning to roll out the software gradually to minimise
compatibility problems. "We will probably adopt it for new
applications first, once it is stable, and deal with legacy systems
over the following few years."
David Roberts, CEO of IT directors group the
Corporate IT Forum, said software suppliers were not doing
enough to ensure applications worked in complex IT environments.
"Upgrading production servers to the next version of Windows could
be chaotic," he said.
Microsoft did not comment, but a compatibility guide produced by
Microsoft states, "The majority of applications that run on Windows
Server 2003 also work on Windows Server 2008 with no changes.
Why applications may not run on windows server
2008
● Applications could fail because they are unable to run under
the tighter security environment in Windows Server 2008.
● Some applications are unable to install because they require
system administration privileges.
● Configuration settings that have changed between Windows
Server 2003 and 2008 can cause the application to work
incorrectly.
Source: ChangeBase