Speeding Up Database Piggies
November 13, 2008
In Denmark, I mentioned next generation data management companies. Several people talked with me after my lecture. My comments were unsettling because I described the costs of scaling Codd-style databases. I know I mentioned Aster Data, a company that I have written about in this Web log. Aster Data’s profile in Aarhus was not high, so when I suggested that database piggies may be left behind the Aster Datas, the database administrators put their shields up.
I told these DBAs that if they needed to speed up their existing Oracle, SQL Server, and DB2 system, there were some options. One option is to throw hardware at the problem. The per CPU pricing model is designed for this brute force approach. However, another alternative is to look at companies with subsystems that can smooth out some of the most aggravating Codd database flaws; for example, trashing tables when writes go wrong or choking when transactions exceed the system’s capability or when data tables want more space and there is no more space. You can probably think of your favorite Codd database challenge. We each have our memorable moments.
One company that can help ameliorate some Codd database problems is an outfit called GoldenGate Software. You can find out more about this company by navigating to their Web site, going through a dorky registration process, and reading about their database middleware. The company does not describe its technology as middleware, but I find it a convenient metaphor. You license GoldenGate’s transactions system and maybe its transformation component. You plug one end into the relational database systems and the other end into whatever system needs the databased content. The system works wonders at financial institutions, intelligence agencies, and any other implementation when near real time access to database content is required by enterprise systems.
The company has a new release of its flagship product, TDM, shorthand for Transactional Data Management. You can read about some of its nifty features here. The company thrives on database jargon, but the software works. Some of the banks for which I worked before these outfits went down the drain discovered that it was more cost effective to license the GoldenGate product than add database servers to break a data transfer bottleneck.
So, if you aren’t in a position to jump to a next generation database, you will find GoldenGate a useful subsystem about which to learn more.
Stephen Arnold, November 13, 2008
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