FlexFrame for Oracle brings ground-breaking Grid Computing to
the Data Center
New offering enables IT managers to implement Dynamic IT for
Oracle
Augsburg, November 09, 2005 —Fujitsu Siemens Computers, the leading European IT provider,
and Oracle announce FlexFrame for Oracle, the first end-to-end
infrastructure for Oracle Grid Computing. This offering is designed
to automate all tasks across the Grid and to gain a single view of
the entire server environment - which means all servers can be
managed as if they were one - while saving valuable IT resources
through optimized utilization of the infrastructure. At the same
time it meets the need for application availability, eliminating
the slow-down or crash of corporate applications. FlexFrame for
Oracle brings together preconfigured and certified server, storage,
and software components, along with automation, virtualization and
deployment technologies and related services in one grid offering.
The combination of Fujitsu Siemens Computers Adaptive Services
Control Center (ASCC) and specific virtualization technologies
coupled with Oracle® 10g and Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid
Control Monitoring make this a ground-breaking capability in the
Dynamic Data Center. FlexFrame for Oracle will be available from
January 2006, pricing dependent on configuration.
The handling of application and infrastructure availability,
failover and load scenarios in a cost effective way is one of the
most challenging tasks IT directors face. FlexFrame for Oracle is
targeted at organizations that operate business critical
applications, whose usage amounts vary dramatically over time and
for whom continuous availability is essential. Usage peaks can
appear at any time and may differ on seasonal (e.g. Christmas and
Back-to-School), promotional (e.g. a one-time offer to reduce
inventory) or specific regular scheduled events (e.g. payroll or
month-end accounting tasks). FlexFrame for Oracle is designed to
address these specific issues and increase the overall service
level in a more dynamic, effective and efficient manner than
today’s normal solution of “server farms”.
FlexFrame for Oracle will address the entire market of J2EE based
applications, runs on blade servers and industry standard storage,
and is an open platform which enables companies to virtualize the
software stack and run application and database services on any
server in a grid at any time.
“IT Directors need infrastructures that enable them
directly to address the needs of their business. FlexFrame for
Oracle does just this and provides them with an answer that helps
them on two fronts: it brings down costs and increases efficiency
immediately and it fits into existing environments,” said
Dieter Herzog, Executive Vice President Enterprise Products and
Solutions. “Together with Oracle we provide an answer to
their needs. Oracle’s very advanced grid technology in
combination with our capabilities enables us to go to market with a
compelling proposition for IT Directors all over the world.”
Grid Computing turns the conventional attitude to IT
resources on its head. Traditionally, applications are installed on
their own systems and then wait for their services to be requested.
In a Grid Computing environment, IT components such as
applications, storage and processors are dynamically allocated
(provisioned) and freed again to serve other requests when they are
not being used. This gives a particular harmony between Grid
Computing and a Services Oriented Architecture, where an
organization’s business processes are orchestrated as IT
services, any of which may demand system resources that a Grid
Computing environment can allocate dynamically. Key characteristics
of Grid Computing are the separation of servers from data and the
separation of servers from applications. The key technologies for
Grid include: Virtualization (no static installation on real
components); Dynamic provisioning (mechanisms to allocate resources
to tasks); and Automation (of administration and management of the
Grid resulting in the Grid managing itself).
“Both Fujitsu Siemens Computers and Oracle see Grid
Computing as a major step forward in the evolution of IT
infrastructure,” said Sergio Giacoletto, Executive Vice
President, Oracle Europe, Middle East and Africa. “The recent
Oracle Grid Index shows that Grid Computing is on the verge of
becoming mainstream, with growing scores for adoption. However its
other message is that we, as vendors, must continue to drive Grid
Computing into the mainstream by offering whole solutions. No one
vendor offers the whole piece, and so partnerships are vital
– and the one between Fujitsu Siemens Computers and Oracle to
create the FlexFrame for Oracle is one such. The key thing is that
both companies bring unique contributions to a strategic
partnership.”
FlexFrame for Oracle components
Fujitsu Siemens Computers delivers the preconfigured building
blocks; corresponding integration functions (interfaces) assure
seamless interoperation.
• Oracle Application Server 10g and Oracle Database 10g
with Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) provide the basic
software stack for the application and database services. The
administration component Oracle Grid Control, part of Oracle
Enterprise Manager 10g monitors these services.
• The ASCC™ (Adaptive Services Control Center) is
Fujitsu Siemens Computers’ automation solution for automating
server operation. The ASCC™ software runs on two clustered
Intel-based servers (control nodes) and monitors all servers in a
farm based on agents and standardized SNMP traps. Should changes in
the farm occur, i.e. a server fails; this is noticed by the ASCC.
The embedded decision engine now automatically triggers corrective
actions according to rules that have been pre-defined by the
administrators. For instance the ASCC can start RemoteDeploy to
load a certain service on another server.
• Netboot is a tool for loading software images (of the
operating system and application) to take PRIMERGY Blade servers
into operation from a centralized location. All services, boot
images, settings and database data are maintained in a centralized
store. The service data can also be stored in an additional storage
infrastructure – for example, in an NAS environment. The
images can be adapted for each server as required (IP addresses or
other server-related data).
• The FlexFrame for Oracle Gridpack V1.0A software has
been specially developed for FlexFrame™ for Oracle to provide
optimum harmonization and interworking of the components described
above.
• PRIMERGY BX620 blade servers are an ideal platform in
such setups as their hardware architecture allows an easy
maintenance and scaling of server farms with reduced manual
efforts. This also applies to the high interoperability with the
PRIMERGY blade server management functions with RemoteDeploy and
ASCC.
Configuration example
The configuration below describes a server farm consisting of
a set of resources necessary to fulfill the set of service levels
needed to support a dedicated business process. In this case, a set
of dedicated applications and database services runs on a pool of
PRIMERGY blade servers under Linux. Once the server farm is in
operation the fail-save redundant ASCC permanently monitors the
availability of the server farm via agents running on each server
node over a special control network.
The business-critical applications on this configuration are
realized within Oracles grid core technologies, Oracle Application
Server and Oracle Real Application Clusters, permanently logically
controlled from a special monitoring component, Oracle Grid Control
(GC). In the event of abnormal situations (high load, insufficient
response time, service not available, etc) the GC acts like an
agent and sends respective traps to the ASCC. If an error condition
is reported, the ASCC initiates a check in the corresponding
inventory list for the failed server. Depending on the policies and
actions that are defined for the failed system, it automatically
triggers a corrective action. This action could result in a reboot
of the same server or the provisioning and boot of a spare server
with an identical image.
Customer benefits
• optimizes resource utilization by
• server and storage pooling
• automatic, policy-based allocation of CPU power to
application and database services
• guarantees defined service levels by
• continuously monitoring health & performance
indicators and automatically revitalizing failed services and
allocating resources on demand
• minimizes total cost of ownership by
• consolidating server resources
• automating administrative tasks and thus reducing
human interactions
• offering an attractive software licensing model
-End-
About Oracle
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) is the world’s largest enterprise
software company. For more information about Oracle, visit our Web
site at
www.oracle.com
About the Dynamic Data Center
The Dynamic Data Center (DDC) is a concept for a
new-generation hardware and software architecture that focuses on
end-user services and service level agreements (SLAs) which enables
on-demand computing to become a reality. With the DDC Fujitsu
Siemens Computers enables companies to move from system-related
tier-IT structures into service-oriented architectures. This means
for example that computers and database resources can be
dynamically aligned to applications and the result is increased
flexibility and reliability, as well as considerable improvement in
the cost-effectiveness of the IT infrastructure.
About Fujitsu Siemens Computers
Fujitsu Siemens Computers is the leading European IT provider
with a responsible strategic focus on next-generation Mobility and
Business Critical Computing products, services and solutions. With
a portfolio of exceptional depth, our offering extends from
handhelds through desktops to enterprise-class IT infrastructure
solutions. Fujitsu Siemens Computers has a strong presence in all
key markets across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Leveraging
the strengths, innovation and global reach of our joint
shareholders, Fujitsu Limited and Siemens AG, we make sure we meet
the needs of customers: large corporations, small and medium
enterprises and private users.
For further information about Fujitsu Siemens Computers,
please visit:
www.fujitsu-siemens.com
PR Contacts
Amy M.K. Flécher
Senior Director Communications
Tel.: +49 (0) 89 3222 4460
Mobile: +49 (0) 171 86 50 101
Fax: +49 (0) 89 3222 4466
amy.flecher@fujitsu-siemens.com
Ulrike G. Droeschel
Senior PR Manager
Tel.: + 49 (0) 89 3222 4454
Mobile:+ 49 (0) 172 980 1979
Fax: + 49 (0) 89 3222 329 4454
ulrike.droeschel@fujitsu-siemens.com
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