The continual growth of data volumes and database instances is creating challenges for those tasked with managing and maintaining enterprise information infrastructures. In a recent survey of 381 data managers within the Independent Oracle Users Group, more than 80 percent reported that the number of database instances within or across their companies have increased over the past year. A majority also reported having mixed database environments, with a limited amount of data sharing taking place between these environments.
The Oracle user community acknowledged that advanced virtualization strategies hold the key to reining in the costs and complexity of their data environments while addressing the need for continued growth. The report noted that organizations with such virtualization efforts already under way have been able to more effectively grow their data capabilities while limiting staff time and costs.
“Organizations are relying on the quality and availability of data to better compete on analytics in the global economy,” said Ian Abramson, IOUG president. “But this study confirms tight budgets and skills constraints are putting the squeeze on managing the situation. Three out of four respondents say this is the greatest issue their IT operation currently faces.”
Passing the Test
A proven way to address these challenges is by migrating and modernizing the database ecosystem with next-generation HP infrastructure solutions for Oracle databases. HP and Oracle have taken the risk out of this migration path through a longstanding alliance in which the two companies work together to enable customers to achieve far greater optimization of both the hardware and software than has ever been possible before. That’s one reason why HP is the No. 1 platform for Oracle deployments.
HP’s virtualization technologies combined with Oracle Database 11g reduces costs by driving up server utilization and driving down hardware, software, management and HVAC costs. HP’s advanced virtualization capabilities include HP Virtual Server Environment (VSE) for HP Integrity and HP Insight Dynamics for HP ProLiant servers, HP Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA), and the HP SAN Virtualization Services Platform (SVSP). In addition, the HP-UX 11i operating system dynamically scales server infrastructure when mission-critical Oracle database workloads fluctuate. For example, customers can use the capability to automatically allocate additional server capacity to financial applications during the month-end close.
“No other vendor can offer the level of virtualization capability for Oracle customers that HP now can,” said Nick van der Zweep, director, Virtualization and Integrity Server Software, HP. “HP leads the way in mission-critical server virtualization with HP-UX 11i, now enabling customers to automatically flex, add and move server resources in support of constantly changing business demands.”
Room to Grow
Beyond virtualization, scalability and flexibility are key advantages of running Oracle on an HP converged infrastructure. Given that databases naturally grow over time, server and storage scalability is critical to ensuring that there will be additional capacity for future database growth and that no other workloads will interfere with the performance of the hosted database engine. Organizations can choose to either “scale up” by deploying additional compute resources to support one database image in a single server cabinet, or “scale out” by deploying additional server resources.
HP hardware can accommodate either a scale-up or scale-out scenario. Depending on needs, organizations can choose the trusted HP Integrity server platform, the highly reliable HP ProLiant server platform, or the highly adaptive HP BladeSystem c-Class infrastructure “in a box”—used in tandem with massively scalable HP StorageWorks solutions.
The HP Integrity line is well suited for scale-up scenarios. Its ability to scale to 64 processors with a 1TB memory capacity provides room for rapid growth of data and the ability to handle large numbers of concurrent users. The Integrity Superdome line currently holds three of the top 10 TPC-C performance benchmarks, clearly demonstrating its high-end performance and scalability as an enterprise-class database platform. However, Integrity servers can also be used in a scale-out scenario by connecting additional servers in an enterprise cluster using products such as Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC).
ProLiant servers can handle scale-up scenarios in large and midsize organizations with limited workload requirements, but are typically used more frequently in clusters for a scale-up solution. The HP BladeSystem c-Class is designed for performance density, power and cooling efficiency, and manageability, making it the ideal platform for scale-out scenarios.
Whatever the choice, all HP converged infrastructures are consolidated from the start, with central information repositories, applications, processes and management. Every component works together smoothly and easily to create a flexible, high-performance business environment. Because all solution components are standards-based, it is easy to mix and match, add or remove modules as business needs change — without causing system downtime.