One Green Project
Quick Summary
AboutWeb LLC was contracted to add and enhance features for an existing, data-driven application for publishing works to their virtual library. There were 11 physical database servers in production when we took over.
Through a redesign of the database, we consolidated all 11 Oracle servers down to 1 machine, while still maintaining the unique properties of the databases we inherited. This reduced the costs for energy, software licenses and physical space by over 90%, while make the system faster, more reliable and easier to work with. It did require coordination with and approval of 11 different agency divisions to implement.
Project Overview
AboutWeb inherited a software development project at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that controlled the submission process for works to be added to NIST's Virtual Library (NVL) and were tasked to add and enhance several features.
Because the database cluster tied to the application contains a large amount of data (BLOBs and CLOBs) and served 11 different Organization Units (OUs) within NIST, the original solutions was to create 11 unique databases. Each of these databases needed a backup database, so there was 22 separate databases tied to this application. All changes to the database or maintenance issues (replication, disaster recovery, optimization) presented challenges and excessive workload. o A change in one schema meant changing the 11 databases. o There was no guarantee that the different databases were the same. o If the changes were not make uniformly and correctly then the system would not work properly o Each OU controlled their own database and data so they could make local changes but not change all the different databases, requiring man-hours to make the changes universal o Any reorganization of the OUs would cause the existing database schemes to break because of the system's complexity, again require increased maintenance and monitoring of the system. Along with the unnecessary complexity of integrating the databases, each of the 11 different servers required allocation of budget every year for maintenance. These cost included: Hardware purchased Licenses (of the DBMS, developer tools, OS), Resources ( number of DBA hours spent on monitoring, tuning, trouble shooting, backups) Connectivity (IP addresses, cabling, firewall configurations) Physical space Green Effect. Green effect: Saving of over 90% of energy usages and cost because the solution required much less hardware while actually increasing the speed, security and overall system stability.
Allowed for reallocation of resources, because there was less need for maintenance and database tuning, for more effective productivity. Consolidated System o AboutWeb redesigned the database, to allow these 11 databases to be consolidated to only 1server. This included front end changes to the application. Saved on energy, made maintenance much more streamlined o Reduced the Oracle Licensing Fees dramatically
Conclusion
By using tools and software available and already approved for government use we were able to drastically reduce the cost associated with maintaining an existing application and database cluster. The reduction in yearly costs counterbalanced the project cost so that it will pay for itself in less than three years. Because of the changes made to the system, it is now actually faster, more reliable, secure and easy to maintain. It is also much more flexible and scalable allowing it to fit the needs of the Organizational Units and agency as a whole for the foreseeable future. As a result of this award winning project, several other data-driven projects are being re-evaluated to see if similar results can be achieved.