Stack

collection of IT Components which provide a platform for application development and deployment

Stack is a

collection of objects, typically one that is neatly arranged

In technology jargon stack refers to a combination of IT components for a particular purpose e.g. running tiers of a 3-tier application i.e. web server, application server and database server. A template for a stack is shown in figure 1 below..

figure 1: Stack is a combination of IT components

Common types of stack:

• OS Stacks - e.g. RHEL on VMs example: RHEL_6.x_VMWARE

• Middleware Stacks - for Web and Application servers :

  • example: JBOSS_RHEL_6.x_VMWARE

• Database Stacks - for databases e.g. Mongo DB on RHEL & Baremetal

  • example: SQLServer_RHEL_6.x_VMWARE

• Big Data Stacks - for big data workloads

  • example: MongoDB_RHEL_6.x_VMWARE

For example MEAN (figure 2) is a popular open-source JavaScript software stack for building web applications. It consists of four IT components namely: Mongo DB, Express Framework, Angular Framework and NodeJS server. Similarly, Wintel stack is the result of partnership between Microsoft Windows and Intel using Intel x86-compatible processors running Microsoft Windows operating system.

figure 2: MEAN stack

Following is another example of a middleware infrastructure stack showing Node JS server on Red Hat Linux running on OpenStack cloud platform:

figure 3: a stack for a server application

Following table contains a list of common middleware and data stacks:

Name	Application Server	Operating System	Platform
JBOSS_RHEL_VMC	Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.x	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x	VMware Cloud
STRONGLOOP_RHEL_PHYSICAL	IBM Strong Loop (enterprise version of Node.js)	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x	Baremetal Server

Basic Information of stack are described in the following table:

Field	Type	Comments
Name	Text	Name of Stack. Unique and Mandatory
Short Description	Text	Short account of salient aspects, characteristics, or features of Stack
Long Description	Text	Detailed account of salient aspects, characteristics, or features of Stack
Type	List of Values	Category of stack e.g. Web Application or Infrastructure
Environment	List of Values	Conditions or settings where software and other products are actually put into operation during their lifecycle e.g. development, testing, integration, staging or production
Provider Name	From Provider Table	Name of the vendor of the Stack if the entire stack is provided by a single vendor
Stack Technical Fit Score	Number	Score from 1-10 (0-10, 10 being highest). This score can be manually entered or through Assessment process
Stack Technical Fit Score Date	Date	Date when the assessment was performed
Delivery Model	List of Values	How the stack is delivered e.g. on-site, public cloud services
Target Delivery Model	List of Values	What is the future target delivery model if there is a plan for change
Target Deliver Model Date	Date	When is the target delivery model is planned