Remember last year – all apps would be running on servers
shortly.
Unbreakable – server technologies aren’t fault tolerant? Oracle has focused on making conventional hardware, like a PC server, fault tolerant. Make a fragile OS, like Windows, keep running your app even when the OS breaks.
Passport – up for 40 minutes before first major security violation.
Can we make your app unbreakable even if the server fails? Yes.
Oracle – unbreakable database
Can’t break it: won’t go down if server or site fails
Can’t break in: 14 international security certifications – IBM has none, Microsoft has one.
If the entire building falls over (bad taste), app will keep running.
Can’t break in – announced that a year ago, hackers have been trying, still nobody has succeeded.
Clustering: more reliable, faster as you add more computers. Cheaper than one big expensive computer that is not as reliable.
Site recovery replica – remote up-to-date database copy, usable for real-time reporting.
Nobody uses it – 1/10 of 1% of Oracle customers use it – hard to use – have to rewrite app from scratch.
What is clustering used for? Benchmarking. One of the great database cons. We started it. TpCC benchmarks are rewritten for each database vendor – but real databases don’t run on the clusters.
Now – Oracle Cluster works without changing any database code.
If the building falls over, have a remote copy (site recovery replica) in another location. Takes over immediately.
Two kinds of clusters – shared disk becomes more reliable as you add computers, shared nothing becomes less reliable (static data partitioning).
Oracle uses shared disk clustering.
Four important databases: Oracle, MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, IBM DB2 EE.
Two DB2 teams in IBM hate each other, don’t talk to each other.
DB2 on mainframes (“the real DB2”) uses shared disk. DB2 on Unix/Windows (used to be UDB) uses shared nothing.
Shared nothing – if a computer fails, you lose part of your data. Every time you add a computer, your system becomes less reliable – one machine failing takes down the application.
To add a machine to the shared nothing database, have to unload the database and redistribute. Shared nothing is good for nothing except benchmarks. It is a con.
To add to the shared disk database, just add the machine.
Oracle 9i is the first to make clustering work well.
(Slide, sourced from an IBM engineer at DB7 user conference, shows Oracle speeds up SAP linearly as processors are doubled (1-2-4), while DB2 gets slower with 2, then almost catches up with 4.)
Scalability of Oracle is 90% - 4 machines runs 3.5 times faster than one.
Paper written by IBM research engineer and published at DB2 conference – 4 machines run slower than one machine. Reference to paper.
IBM cluster designed only for queries – doesn’t run updates.
IBM’s response? What’s he making up? He wants to know.
Oracle will cluster Siebel, Peoplesoft, SAP, Oracle apps. Every app is fault tolerant.
Everything is unbreakable? How about email?
Email is unreliable and insecure. Put Oracle Database underneath Outlook. Keep the Outlook client, so users see no change. Replace Exchange server with IMAP4 server running on Oracle 9i.
He has no problem with Outlook – comes free on his computer. He uses it.
MS bundles lunch with computers - $4000 per year, but includes a sandwich every day. Everyone needs to eat – it’s Bill’s right to bundle even though restaurants are complaining. Natural extension of Windows.
Problem isn’t Microsoft Outlook. It’s the Exchange server – fragile, insecure. Easily crippled by viruses, breaks all the time, enormously expensive.
Expensive? One’s cheap, but you need 50, and the people to keep them running.
Replace Exchange with Oracle, users see no change. Oracle 9i supports IMAP4 directly.
Viruses – search across one central database store using a query of all messages, not multiple Exchange servers. Can delete infected messages directly when found. Simple script writing – it’s a database.
Problem with Exchange – each one supports 250-500 users. Need one in each office, or large data center. If one fails, email is down. Labor is high.
MS Hotmail – doesn’t use Exchange.
Oracle supports at least 10,000 concurrent users per Oracle database.
Only one email database per company, plus a remote recovery replica. Oracle went from 97 email servers to three. Significant labor cost.
Their experience – 50:1 reduction in number of servers at most clients.
More features than Exchange: Wireless email on Blackberry, palm, cellphone. Voicemail (will be released Feb. 2002). Fax. Calendar.
Oracle email – how to buy? Buy 9i application server, you get it.
Exchange is built on Windows file system, not a database.
Demo: Migration tool for Exchange server – migrate hundreds of users at once – email, dist lists, other parameters.
Single message sent to all employees – one copy in one database. In Exchange, one per server to one per employee.
Virus Zapper is part of the Oracle 9i Application Server. Can create scripts to eliminate viruses, junk mail, anything else you don’t want on your corporate email.