Oracle RAC cluster

2007 For a german based  online payment solution provider we implement a new Oracle RAC (Real Application Cluster) cluster based on Linux running on Intel based hardware.

The central database is the most mission critical system on the customer side. The current Sparc/Solaris based system could not handle the ever increasing transaction load. It suffers instabilities and forces the operation and development departments to invest a significant effort in query by query level, as well as implementing workarounds. Additionally the budget contraints for a new system are pretty limited. So a further increase of capacity of the current system is not feasible from both management and technical point of view.

We develop a new design for the Oracle RAC cluster, redesign the whole IO subsystem, significantly reducing the system software stack (e.g. replacing all 3rd party software like Vertias Volume Manager , Sun Cluster etc.) and achieving a great improvement on both stability and performance.

The new cluster has a total procurement cost of approximately 1/4 of the Sparc based system, is capable of handling 10 times of it's load and running without a service outage for the rest of its lifecycle. That leads additionally to a much lower effort on administration and management (proactive monitoring instead if reactive efforts)