The dbSwitch is responsible for management, monitoring and notification of all database servers residing within the DAN. If a single database instance fails, the switch can move the instance to another server within the DAN in a matter of minutes, ensuring that the applications using the database do not suffer unacceptable downtime.
This is not a load-balancing solution. The dbSwitch acts like a proxy--requests to databases are handled by the switch, which directs eacn request to the correct database server in the SAN transparently. Administrators can move database instances from one server to another if desired, but the dbSwitch will move a database instance on its own only if a database instance fails.
Savantis' solution is available only for Oracle. The company says it will support other databases in the near future. As a general concept, the DAN is an indication that server consolidation can be performed on a per-application basis to provide cost savings, and in the process, offer features that make the investment in this type of technology worthwhile. --Lori MacVittie
NEC Express5800/ft
When we sent out a call for blade servers, we were on a bit of a fishing trip, seeing what we would reel in. In our invitation, we specified only that we were looking for servers in a blade format. The box NEC sent did come with four "blades," but all are part of a single computer. The two processor blades and two IO blades can be removed/added at any time. If you remove one of each, the computer still runs. Although the device did not meet the criteria for our tests, we decided to dig a little deeper and discovered a cool, albeit pricey, little box.
The NEC Express5800/ft is a 100 percent hardware redundant server using Intel x86 processors. Two of the blades are a set of redundant CPU modules; two are a redundant set of I/O modules that include the hot-swappable hard drives, network connections, and a couple PCI slots. Our system came with a floor-standing chassis, but a rack-mount option is available. The NEC Express5800/ft supports only Windows, but NEC says it plans to support Linux in the future. The previous version of this server does support Linux, if that is needed today.
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