IBM AIX

The newer version of IBM AIX allows to apply new patches without system restart

IBM AIX was the first operating system to have a journaling file system and have enhanced software features.

IBM AIX will have good vendor support 24/7 and will ensure reliability to the customers and more performance when compared to it peers.

IBM AIX will not support in cloud environment, it should start with support of cloud.

The cost is expensive when compared to it peers.

IBM AIX has preferred licenses

IBM AIX doesn't have GUI feature enabled by default.

Logical volume manager.

Stability

Linux compatibility.

Easier VIO management.

Better integration with rpm/yum/dnf.

Ability to change a filesystem to INLINE log.

Reliable servers

Excellent performance

Fully supported for all versions of Oracle

Proprietary IBM AIX multi-threaded architecture makes it difficult to estimate required CPU power for new systems

Would help if AIX shell command set would be 100% compatible with Linux

Some of the performance metrics seem proprietary to AIX, and it would be good if this was more standard and closer to Linux

Centralized management

Easy to patch with an alternative disk

Easy to analyze errors

An opensource file set customization should be made

Yum creation should allow for checking updates on a regular basis

Snapshot options to add by default for the profile itself

AIX is very stable, We have had systems running for years without rebooting

AIX is secure

AIX is easy to manage

There is no real GUI interface which some people could see as a drawback

AIX can be expensive

It is extremely reliable

Feature rich, fully fledged *IX system

Delivers good performance on IBM POWER

Management of the virtualization, especially using IVM can be clunky

IBM AIX is a very stable server product, and I can't recall a time when the server has crashed due to a hardware fault.

If you have legacy software that can't run on the new-fangled Linux flavors, AIX might be the way to go.

AIX has a host of built-in management tools that makes system configuration easy for a novice.

A lot of the built-in commands have not been updated in years. If you're used to some fancy CLI options in Linux, you may be out of luck with AIX.

Out of the box, you cannot run open-source Linux utilities on AIX. There is a toolbox you can install, however, it's not the same versions as you would get in different Linux flavors.

Tab completion for files and Up arrow to re-run previous commands don't work out of the box without running a Korn shell. A small annoyance, but one that catches me every time!

Stability. In the 14 years that I have used the product, I cannot think of a single time that we had an OS level failure. It is rock solid. We have had systems that have been booted and run for literally years without interruption.

Virtualization. We run IBM AIX as LPARS on Power infrastructure. All of our AIX infrastructure is virtualized making it easy to scale as needed.

Their logical volume manager makes the task of managing storage very simple. It is feature complete and they have mitigated much of the complexity that usually is inherent in LVM implementations.

I have a love/hate relationship with Smit. It is their administrative interface. It is very powerful and very complete which is why I marked it as a pro. It is also a bit clunky and somewhat arcane in its interface but still usable.

Staying current with open source software such as MySQL, Apache, Python, Perl, PHP, etc. These packages are usually only available from third parties and are often very out dated and difficult to implement.

Software maintenance is cryptic, difficult to manage, and fragmented. There are Service packs, Technical Levels, APARS, RPM updates, CPAN updates, and each has its own way of being managed and applied.

IBM AIX could be more security conscious. By default, insecure protocols such as Telnet and FTP are enabled and are the expected interface.

Aix has exceptional security, if you configure it properly to best security practices.

Using the new Power9 platform we are able to have great price to performance ratios on our workloads.

Aix is now available in a cloud option so we are looking at extending our hybrid configurations.

While there are options to install some standard Linux tools like Bash, they are not always easy to procure

Allowing easier flexibility in how some tools and CLI options work would make it easier for admins to float between operating systems.

Performance Management

Volume and Filesystem management

Ease of Use

Backup and Recovery

Bringing new features online

Configuration Management

Difference enough from Linux to create concerns

Very high performance; handles load very well

Very stable, not a lot of OS issues with this system

Solid vendor support

Very Expensive

Doesn't always handle non-IBM offerings very well

Seems to be shrinking, as we find it difficult to find AIX resources