Companies are looking for a more flexible, scalable, cloud-like approach to database platform modernization. Database platform automation from HPE delivers the goods.
Enterprises run hundreds or thousands of applications to meet growing business demands, creating database sprawl over time. Public and private cloud solutions essentially enable organizations to consolidate infrastructures, applications, and databases onto shared hardware and software-defined infrastructure to effectively manage the hardware and software platforms, avoiding the silos. A modern hybrid cloud database includes workloads that can be moved, managed, metered, and optimized in either public or private clouds. As enterprises move their default databases and management to a hybrid cloud combination, there is an increasing number of considerations to include when developing a data/database architecture.
The potential benefits of a hybrid cloud database environment include:
- Flexibility and agility
- Elasticity and cost optimization
- Self-service capabilities
- Faster delivery of data
- Ability to avoid deployment bottlenecks
- Ready access to the latest technology.
As new applications move to the hybrid cloud, data and analytics capabilities will need to follow. Business initiatives such as digital business transformation will require a greater diversity of data and analytics capabilities; theyโll need the flexibility and agility a hybrid cloud database platform provides. In a multi-tier application stack, the presentation service could be on a public cloud, the application service might reside on a managed private cloud, and the database service might reside on-premises. Increasingly, the database layer can exist on any or all of these.
In a hybrid world, every application aims to be as nimble as possible, often adopting an as-a-service approach, reducing capital investments in infrastructure and data centers. Designing data centers to accommodate peak loads, with infrastructure sitting idle much of the time, is far costlier than adding cloud resources when needed to accommodate peak periods.
A well-designed hybrid cloud database can allow both developers and line of business managers to gain access to IT infrastructure and services through a self-service portal. Access to services in this manner reduces the burden on IT and greatly increases the agility of the business operation by promoting the delivery of new products and services more quickly. It eliminates the barriers that slow business and development teams down. New sources and types of data become easier to create and deploy, while developers and test engineers can better access the resources needed.
4 key aspects of database modernization
The major considerations for database modernization include:
Capacity Planning. The process of right-sizing database instances at scale on either a private or public cloud platform is always based on performance metrics measured in time series.
Transformation needed, both at the application and database levels. Application and SQL modernization and migration to the cloud or hybrid cloud is the process of redeploying an application with the goals of leading to financial and operational efficiencies as well as increased scalability and resiliency capabilities.
Each transformation approach will impact the application stack at different levels as each approach presents new challenges and cost implications to obtain all the benefits of cloud services.
Grouping of applications and databases into logical units. Developing practical and effective waves of database migration typically includes a methodical and iterative approach. Scoring applications for migration involves applying a set of rules, objectively, against application components, clusters of applications, and so on. The preferences of the business/client are of course paramount.
Load balancing, high availability, and disaster recovery. High availability, by definition, permits a database to continue to function, even when major components fail. Mission-critical systems that cannot tolerate interruption in service and any downtime may cause damage or result in financial loss. Ensuring that databases can fail gracefully and restore operations without disruption of service is crucial.
What to look for in a database platform automation solution
An automated deployment process minimizes the chance of errors and failures. The release process for database change should enable updates with minimum disruption of service. Versioned release into the production environment allows for simultaneously switching between the new version and previous releases, should a previous release fail.
A database platform automation solution provides on-demand access to database services using a self-service portal and is elastically scalable. A self-service portal integrated into the common control plane enables the on-demand access of infrastructures and the different platforms to meet business needs. Such a solution provides accelerated time to value with simplified, self-service provisioning in minutes. Standardized processes provide rapid, consistent deployment and lifecycle management, maintaining security, compliance, and data sovereignty, while controlling sprawl, reuse of infrastructure, and software licensing cost.
Key strengths of a successful database platform automation solution include:
- Database provisioning of single or multitenant instances on bare metal and hypervisor (like VMwareยฎ) with all the best practices applied.
- Ability to scale up and scale down compute/storage resources on-demand, including add node, delete node.
- Management of end-to-end database lifecycle management including patching, backup/restore, clone, and upgrade.
- Integration with DBMS vendor patching and provisioning to keep the environment evergreen using golden images.
- A Workload profiler for better consolidation and DBMS license usage metrics to optimize future support costs.
- API-based modules that provide seamless integration with your existing infrastructure/control plane solution (such as Terraform, ServiceNow, etc.).
- Support for a wide range of server/storage/network infrastructure configurations.
- Integration with backup and restore for data protection
A flexible, scalable solution
Addressing database sprawl and lowering the cost of database operations is top of mind for most organizations, particularly since getting control of it allows you to focus on innovation. Simplifying database service provisioning allows DB operators to focus on high-value tasks. HPE can help reduce acquisition and operating costs of database platforms, improve ease of use and responsiveness, and simplify management. Our database platform automation solution brings together our full compute and storage technologies along with our software stack capabilities, our consulting and our support expertise. Itโs offered in an as-a-service model through HPE GreenLake, or self-managed. The time is now for a flexible, scalable, cloud-like approach to database platform automation.
Learn more about IT infrastructure solutions from HPE.
This article was co-authored by Kevin Lange, HPE Performance Engineer and Master Database Architect.
Ian Jagger
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
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IanJagger
Jagger is a content creator and narrator on the Digital Transformation topic for HPE Pointnext Services. He adds further focus on container and SAP topics. He holds an honors degree in economics, an associate degree in social psychology, and a master's in marketing. He is also a Chartered Marketer with the Chartered Institute of Marketing
