To strengthen the crucial link between storage and databases in grid computing, Network Appliance Inc. and Oracle Corp. are joining forces to beef up storage management features in Oracle Database 10g.
NetApp, of Sunnyvale, Calif., announced earlier this month that it will develop technologies to enhance 10gs functionality in data provisioning, high-performance computing and Linux cluster availability when running on a grid with NetApp storage.
Low-cost servers such as Lintel boxes are a linchpin of Oracles grid computing strategy, since they allow customers to scale out by buying inexpensive servers and adding them to a server pool as capacity needs dictate.
Officials from NetApp declined to say when these new features would be available.
In addition, NetApp this month threw open the doors to a competency center, located in the companys Sunnyvale headquarters, thats devoted to running Oracle on Linux. The Oracle on Linux Competency Center offers support for partners and customers as they deploy NetApp products on Oracle and Linux. NetApp, working in conjunction with Oracle, Red Hat Inc., SuSE Linux AG and Extreme Networks Inc., offers consulting services for Oracles RAC (Real Application Clusters) technology, storage assessment, data migration, disaster recovery and high availability. They also consult on Oracle capacity and performance issues.
Customers such as Shamrock Foods Co., a leading food-service distributor, are looking forward to taking advantage of the center and getting 10g up and running with NetApp technology. Shamrock is using NetApps FAS 940c storage appliance to power its enterprise applications. The setup supports Oracle and Microsoft Corp. SQL Server databases, which account for about 3 terabytes of production data.
“Were definitely interested in the concept [of grid computing],” said Ambrose Earle, Shamrocks manager of technical systems, in Phoenix. “With the opening of the Oracle on Linux Competency Center, I feel more confident well be able to migrate onto Linux clusters with lower upfront cost … and not lose by having increased downtime because of … grid computing.”