VERITAS Storage Foundation 4.0 TM for Databases

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1 VERITAS Storage Foundation 4.0 TM for Databases Powerful Manageability, High Availability and Superior Performance for Oracle, DB2 and Sybase Databases Enterprises today are experiencing tremendous growth in the number of database dependent applications, thereby increasing the demand for large, complex, mission critical database environments. This has resulted in more stringent service level agreements - namely the requirement for higher performance and greater availability from existing databases. These higher service level requirements have in turn created an operational requirement to shrink database backup windows, recover more quickly from outages and move non-critical - yet resource intensive - workloads offline. VERITAS Storage Foundation for Databases is integrated solution that delivers optimum performance with powerful manageability and continuous database access for Oracle, DB2 and Sybase databases. VERITAS Storage Foundation for Databases is built upon VERITAS Storage Foundation, which comprises the industry s leading file system and volume management technologies. In addition, database-specific enhancements such as I/O accelerators, database recovery tools, and extensive online administrative capabilities provide the breadth and depth to manage large, mission-critical database environments. VERITAS Storage Foundation for Databases is available in multiple versions. The Standard version is designed for databases that support small office environments. The Enterprise version is ideal for large, rapidly growing, database configurations that benefit from the complete suite of Storage Foundation for Databases capabilities. The High Availability (HA) version, Storage Foundation HA for Databases, enables databases to meet high availability and fast recovery requirements. It uses VERITAS Cluster Server and database-specific VERITAS Cluster Server Agents to automatically and proactively manage database, server and application failover in clustered configurations of up to 32 nodes all from a centralized console. The new 4.0 version of VERITAS Storage Foundation for Databases includes a number of database storage management enhancements. For example, administrators can now provision or migrate their critical data over time to the appropriate class of storage based on pre-defined attributes and values without changing the way data is accessed by users or applications. On-line configuration now allows administrators to provision or grow database storage using company-defined standard templates. The Database FlashSnap snapshot feature, now enables administrators to create and use point-in-time database snapshots and space-saving storage checkpoints even easier and faster than before. Using the Instant Volume Snapshot capability the newly created duplicate database is immediately mountable and write-accessible. The snapshot can be migrated to a secondary server and used for resource-intensive processes such as backups, decision support, reporting and testing without impacting production applications and users. These snapshots can be quickly resynchronized with the original data or reverse synchronized as well. The Storage Mapping feature enables administrators to detect and analyze the placement of database objects such as datafiles or containers in the storage stack and correct performance hotspots. Database objects can be mapped throughout the entire storage hierarchy, down to the LUN or even disk level. Storage Mapping is an open solution that supports all major hardware RAID vendors. No other third party tools are required. Additional Storage Foundation 4.0 for Databases enhancements include multi-volume file system support, 64-bit file system, and in-place database migration from raw volumes or native file systems to VERITAS File System. VERSION 2 1

2 SUPERIOR DATABASE PERFORMANCE VERITAS Storage Foundation for Databases provides performance that scales as the environment grows. VERITAS Storage Foundation for Databases improves the overall performance of database environments in the following ways. 5. Dynamic Multipathing increases performance by load balancing of I/O activity across all available paths from server to array. 160% 140% 1. Quick I/O, a database accelerator unique to VERITAS, delivers OLTP performance equal to that of raw disk partitions, while maintaining all the manageability benefits of the VERITAS File System. Quick I/O presents file systems to the database as raw devices, thereby removing the inefficiencies associated with traditional UNIX file systems that use double buffering (caching at both the database and file system levels) and enforce single-writer locks that serialize write operations at the file level. Eliminating file system buffering provides performance and data integrity advantages, since data can be written directly from the database buffer pool to disk. Because Quick I/O files appear as raw devices, they can also take advantage of asynchronous I/O, a performance benefit typically only associated with raw devices. Percentage of RAW Performance RAW=100% 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 1GB 2GB 3GB 4GB 5GB 6GB 7GB 8GB Oracle Buffer Cache Size Quick I/O Cached Quick I/O ODM Direct I/O Buffered I/O 2. In addition to OLTP performance benefits, VERITAS Storage Foundation for Databases also helps readintensive environments, such as data warehousing. Cached Quick I/O enables databases to utilize available system memory (beyond the database buffer pool or cache allocation) for data caching and thereby take database performance even beyond that of raw device performance. Cached Quick I/O caches frequently accessed database blocks, reducing the number of physical I/O calls. (see chart below) 3. VERITAS Storage Foundation for Databases utilizes VERITAS File System s extent-based block allocation to lay data out on disk. This feature provides excellent performance for large database files such as audio and video and minimizes file system fragmentation. 4. VERITAS Storage Foundation for Databases enhances performance with on-line software RAID reconfiguration options. For example, striping improves throughput and bandwidth by enhancing parallel data transfer in most database environments. IMPROVED MANAGEABILITY VERITAS Storage Foundation for Databases improves manageability by automating many of the manual tasks typically associated with database management, thereby reducing administrative workload as well as human and operational errors. Storage Foundation for Databases allows administrators the flexibility to manage the volumes and file systems of Oracle, DB2 or Sybase using the same VERITAS Enterprise Administrator (VEA) graphical user interface that manages VERITAS Storage Foundation. In fact the same VEA interface is also used to manage all supported storage devices and operating systems, so companies no longer have to spend time and money on specially trained administrators for each database environment. VERSION 3 2

3 Intelligent Storage Provisioning (ISP) allows administrators to use new automated configuration templates to efficiently create or grow database storage environments confidently and accurately, based on company-wide policies. These configuration templates can be customized to include specific information such as storage vendor id, location, preferred layout and other variables. The templates can then be exported to other servers to support company-wide standards and reduce configuration errors. Quality of Storage Service (QoSS) enables administrators to set policies that segment company data based on various characteristics and assign the data to appropriate classes of storage over time. QoSS can thereby help maintain performance and availability on high-end storage arrays. It also allows administrators to proactively identify and move unimportant or out-of-date files to less expensive storage without changing the way users or applications access those files, thereby significantly reducing the average cost of stored data. HIGH DATABASE AVAILABILITY Storage Foundation for Databases protects essential data from system and subsystem failures, reducing costly downtime. It enables on-line storage management for a variety of database applications by performing nearly all storage-related administrative tasks online (such as RAID reconfiguration, file system defragmentation, and file system and volume resizing). Storage Foundation for Databases reduces the amount of time required to perform regular maintenance functions. Hot Relocation is a utility that automatically replaces a failed disk with one from an available free space pool, and then restores the original disk configuration. To maintain data access from database server to storage, the Dynamic Multi- Pathing (DMP) feature can spread I/O across all available paths to prevent downtime in the event of I/O path, HBA or switch failures. Storage Foundation HA for Databases VERITAS Storage Foundation HA for Databases provides a comprehensive failover management solution to increase the availability of Database servers and address both planned and unplanned downtime. Storage Foundation HA for Databases enables databases to meet service level agreements that mandate high availability and fast recovery. It incorporates VERITAS Cluster Server along with database (and application) specific VERITAS Cluster Server Agents to automatically and proactively monitor, restart and manage the failover of missioncritical databases, protecting against instance or application failures. Up to 32 nodes can be clustered and managed via a single console. INCREASED RECOVERABILITY Quick database recovery is another important advantage provided by Storage Foundation for Databases. Storage Checkpoints a snapshot technology that enables point-in-time images of the database to be taken at the file system level. Storage Checkpoints reside on the same host as the database and each checkpoint tracks only the changed data blocks from the previous checkpoint, thereby saving time and valuable disk space. Storage Checkpoints reduce the database backup window and allow administrators to perform more frequent backups for faster performance and recoverability. Storage Checkpoints can also be used with VERITAS NetBackup to enable faster, incremental backups. A split second is all it takes for an administrator to make a logical error, such as dropping a table. However recovering this table from last night s backup can be a very time consuming and costly process. The Storage Checkpoint Rollback feature enables the administrator to go back in time, to the specific point when the fault occurred, enabling database recovery in minutes rather than hours. VERSION 3 3

4 Features VERITAS Enterprise Administrator (VEA) graphical user interface VxDBA management utility for DBAs Customizable, application-level fault monitoring Increased Manageability Benefits Common user interface reduces training costs and provides easy online database resizing and storage reconfiguration DBA-specific capabilities of VEA that monitors and automatically grows database file systems and volumes; saves critical database configuration for faster recovery Allows quick deployment of high availability services for any application environment to meet customer-specific needs Policy-based allocation of data to appropriate class of storage over Quality of Storage Service (QoSS) time, maintaining performance/availability on high-end storage without impacting the way users access the data Automatically provisions and grows database storage based on predefined templates that determine the storage type/configuration, Intelligent Storage Provisioning (ISP) enabling company-wide standards and elimination of errors Supports files larger than 2GB and virtually unlimited file system size 64-bit File System to simplify administration of very large databases Faster Backup and Recovery Reduces system and network overhead during backup, enables Storage Checkpoint & Storage Checkpoint Rollback [2] more frequent backups, and fast point-in-time recovery of data from on-disk backup images Checkpoint Quota Simplifies management of disk space for storage checkpoints VERITAS NetBackup Advanced Client support [2] Minimizes database backup windows and amount of backup media required Improved Performance Delivers raw device I/O performance with the administrative ease of Quick I/O file systems Increases database performance beyond raw I/O by using available Cached Quick I/O (feature of Quick I/O) system memory to cache frequently accessed data Oracle Disk Manager (ODM) [1,2] Provides optimal performance and manageability for Oracle9i databases Accelerates I/O performance for large files such as audio and video Extent-based allocation Striping (RAID 0), striped mirror (RAID 1+0) and mirrored stripe (RAID 0+1) Online performance monitoring and tuning Storage Mapping [2] Dynamic Multipathing (DMP) Journaling file system RAID 1 (Mirroring) RAID 5 Online storage reconfiguration Hot relocation Database FlashSnap Storage Foundation/HA for Databases (includes VERITAS Cluster Server; database-specific agent) and minimizes file system fragmentation Increases I/O throughput and bandwidth, while providing scalable performance and load balancing Maximizes I/O performance of production databases without requiring downtime for tuning Enables DBA to identify and remove I/O bottlenecks by providing mapping of database objects through storage hierarchy down to the physical disks Increases performance and data access by spreading I/O across all available paths between the server and the array. High Availability Speeds overall database recovery in the event of a system failure Improves data availability while increasing throughput Cost-effective data redundancy for read intensive environments Maintains data access during database resizing, file system defragmentation, or changing RAID layout Automatically detects failed disk and replaces disk from available free disk pool Quickly duplicates database on secondary host for backups, testing and reporting without impacting production environment Intelligent cluster management, automatic database failover and quick database restoration after a system or application failure VERSION 3 4

5 FOOTNOTES FROM FEATURES AND BENEFITS TABLE ON PREVIOUS PAGE [1] Not applicable / not supported on Storage Foundation for DB2 [2] Not applicable / not supported on Storage Foundation for Sybase SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS SUN SOLARIS SYSTEMS Solaris 7, 8, 9 Oracle 8.0.x, 8i, 9i, 9iR2 10g DB2 UDB 7.2 (EE and EEE); 8.1 ESE Sybase ASE , 12.0, 12.5.x IBM AIX SYSTEMS AIX 5.1 and 5.2 Oracle 8i, 9iR2, 10g DB2 UDB 7.2 (EE and EEE); 8.1 and 8.2 ESE VERITAS Software Corporation Corporate Headquarters 350 Ellis Street Mountain View, CA or For additional information about VERITAS Software, its products, or the location of an office near you, please call our corporate headquarters or visit our Web site at VERSION 3 5

6 Copyright 2002 VERITAS Software Corporation. All rights reserved. VERITAS, VERITAS Software, the VERITAS logo, and all other VERITAS product names and slogans are trademarks or registered trademarks of VERITAS Software Corporation in the US and/or other countries. Other product names and/or slogans mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Specifications and product offerings subject to change without notice. June