ADR 0006 — Advanced Edition Evaluation for the PoC, BYOL for Production

Status: Accepted (D5)

Context

Host Factory (the burst mechanism) and multicluster federation are Advanced-Edition-only features. The free Community Edition was evaluated against this design and ruled out on four independently verified negatives:

  • Linux-Docker-only distribution — CE ships exclusively as the ibmcom/spectrum-symphony Docker image (ILAN license); there is no Windows compute-host installer under CE at all. Windows packages come only via Passport Advantage entitlement.

  • 64-core-per-cluster cap — burst hosts count against the ceiling, which makes bursting pointless even before Host Factory licensing is considered.

  • No IBM support / no interim fixes — including the fix path (601711) this project’s own WS2022 staging decision depends on (ADR 0003).

  • Multicluster license intent unclear — CE nominally carries "the full functionality of Advanced Edition," but federating multiple CE clusters together is of unclear license intent; IBM has not answered this.

So CE’s only usable role is a $0-license PoC of Linux-grid mechanics before procurement — it cannot run a single Windows host, which is this project’s entire compute plane.

What changed the picture (2026-07-09): IBM’s self-service evaluation portal (early-access.ibm.com, free with an ibm.com ID after accepting the trial agreement) supplies the full Advanced Edition for trial: symeval-7.3.2.0.exe (Windows, 1.7 GB), symeval-7.3.2.0_x86_64.bin (Linux, 2.9 GB), and an entitlement file granting sym_advanced_edition 7.3.2 + ego_base 4.0 valid until 2026-12-31. This removes the licensing gate from every PoC phase — Windows compute hosts, real Host Factory, and multicluster can all be proven under the eval before any Passport Advantage purchase. These binaries and the entitlement file live in installers/ (gitignored — never committed, never redistributed).

Eval terms are explicitly trial/non-production only. Production go-live still requires Advanced Edition BYOL procured via Passport Advantage — the eval is a bridge to procurement, not a substitute for it.

Decision

Run the entire PoC on the Advanced Edition Evaluation entitlement. Treat Advanced Edition BYOL via Passport Advantage as the mandatory production licensing path, to be procured before any production go-live and before the eval entitlement expires 2026-12-31.

Consequences

Pros

  • Zero license cost for the entire PoC, including the two things that actually matter for this design — Windows compute hosts and real Host Factory — not a crippled CE substitute.

  • De-risks procurement: the architecture is proven end-to-end before a Passport Advantage purchase is committed, so procurement is informed by a working system rather than a paper design.

  • The eval and BYOL are the same product (Advanced Edition 7.3.2) — no re-architecture or reinstall is needed at the production cutover, only a license/entitlement swap.

Cons

  • The eval expiry (2026-12-31) is a hard project deadline, not a soft target — trial terms are non-production, so anything still running on the eval entitlement past that date is a compliance problem, not just a licensing inconvenience.

  • Roadmap uncertainty: IBM’s own docs redirect some retired Symphony versions to an unpublished "8.1.0," and there is no visibility into what supersedes 7.3.2, the container/Kubernetes roadmap, or Windows package/fix entitlement under the eventual purchased part numbers. Get these commitments in writing from IBM at purchase time — do not assume continuity from the eval.

  • Trial terms carry no IBM support and no guaranteed fix entitlement (e.g. Fix 601711 for WS2022) — anything found broken during the PoC on the eval is unsupported until BYOL is in place.

Continue to ADR 0007: GitOps app-of-apps.