TOP-OF-MIND TIME for IN-MEMORY DATABASES PERFORMANCE 2 In-Memory Databases Help Meet Need for IT Speed
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VIRTUALIZATION CLOUD DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION IT HEALTH NETWORKING ARCHITECTURE STORAGE CENTER MANAGEMENT DATA BI/APPLICATIONS RECOVERY/COMPLIANCE DISASTER SECURITY 1 EDITOR’S NOTE Top-of-Mind Time for 2 IN-MEMORY DATABASES HELP In-Memory Databases MEET NEED FOR IT SPEED For all the promise they hold, in-memory databases and the process of implementing them require heavy investments in 3 IBM GIVES DB2 MORE GAS WITH company resources and skills. Is it worth it? IN-MEMORY ACCELERATOR 4 ADD-ON SOFTWARE TAKES ORACLE 12C IN NEW DIRECTION EDITOR’S NOTE 1 In-Memory’s Moment in the Database Sun In-memory databases used to be terri- 2014 report that in-memory databases could Home tory for niche technology vendors and equally provide “transformational performance im- niche applications. But today vendors of all da- provements” in operational and analytical ap- Editor’s Note tabase stripes—SQL, NoSQL, NewSQL—now plications. But in a video posted on YouTube offer in-memory technology, some as stand- the following month, Rosen said the heavily In-Memory Databases Help alone products and others as add-ons to disk- hyped technology also has “the potential to be Meet Need for IT based database management systems. That the next failed silver bullet from IT.” Challenges Speed includes relational database market leaders Or- abound, he cautioned, including data migration acle, IBM and Microsoft as well as business ap- issues and the proliferation of data silos that IBM Gives DB2 plications bigwig SAP with its HANA system. make it hard to do real-time analytics. More Gas With In an interview with SearchDataManage- This guide explores in-memory database In-Memory Accelerator ment’s Jack Vaughan, data management consul- trends and offers advice to help you get started tant William McKnight said that as the price of on deciding whether the technology is right for Add-On Software RAM declines, “memory in a lot of ways is be- your organization. First, we assess applications Takes Oracle 12c coming the new disk.” There are good reasons that are a good fit for in-memory software. in New Direction for that. Keeping analytical data in memory We follow that with a close look at both IBM’s can sharply reduce query response times and BLU Acceleration technology and Oracle’s in- enable end users to run deeper analyses, Mc- memory add-on for its 12c database. n Knight said. “When you can do that,” he added, “you’re hopefully producing a better business.” Craig Stedman IDC analyst Mike Rosen wrote in a January Executive Editor, SearchDataManagement 2 TOP-OF-MIND TIME FOR IN-MEMORY DATABASES PERFORMANCE 2 In-Memory Databases Help Meet Need for IT Speed Ten years ago, it would have been un- application performance in two ways. First and Home thinkable to imagine enterprise-class database foremost, maintaining data in main memory management systems running primarily in instead of significantly slower disk-based stor- Editor’s Note main memory. Yet over time, RAM prices have age minimizes or even eliminates the data steadily declined to the point where doing that latency typically associated with database que- In-Memory Databases Help is no longer prohibitively expensive. The cost ries. Second, alternative database architectures Meet Need for IT of memory is orders of magnitude less expen- amenable to in-memory processing enable Speed sive than it used to be, and the plummeting more efficient use of the available memory. prices have opened new opportunities for con- For example, many in-memory technologies IBM Gives DB2 figuring database systems to take advantage of use a columnar layout in tables instead of a More Gas With increased main memory capacities. row-based orientation. Values aligned along In-Memory Accelerator And it’s no longer just startup companies columns are more suitable for compression, developing in-memory databases designed to and the ability to rapidly scan all column values Add-On Software support high-performance processing needs. speeds query execution. Takes Oracle 12c Leading database and software vendors—IBM, in New Direction Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, Teradata—are market- ing in-memory database technology, putting A WINNING HAND? money behind their belief that mainstream or- Conceptually, it’s hard to argue against applica- ganizations are ready to consider incorporating tion speed-up and optimized organization of such software into IT systems. data. But in the real world, when should IT and In-memory databases provide accelerated data management practitioners recommend 3 TOP-OF-MIND TIME FOR IN-MEMORY DATABASES PERFORMANCE 2 that transaction processing or business ana- about the stocks of items on trucks or rail cars lytics needs warrant the investments in tech- en route between various sites, updates on traf- nology, resources and new skills required to fic and weather conditions—could help drive transition to an in-memory framework? faster decisions on routing and distribution The practical aspects of that question in- to ensure that goods get to where they need volve weighing the need for increased database to be, when they need to be there. A resulting Home performance versus the associated costs of increase in sales clearly could justify the in- acquiring and deploying an in-memory plat- memory investment. Editor’s Note form. Even though RAM costs have decreased dramatically, systems with large-scale memory In-Memory Databases Help configurations will still carry a healthy price TAKE A LOOK INSIDE Meet Need for IT tag compared with database servers that stay It’s a good idea to take the overall character- Speed with disk storage only. Corporate and busi- istics of your organization into account. In- ness executives might experience sticker shock memory databases are worth considering if one IBM Gives DB2 when they see the in-memory bill. To make an or more of the following terms can be used to More Gas With in-memory technology purchase pay off, you describe the environment you work in. In-Memory Accelerator need to find applications with characteristics that make them a good fit. Open to investing in IT. Corporate execs must Add-On Software The answer lies partly in assessing your or- be willing to spend money on hardware with Takes Oracle 12c ganization’s demand for processing increased enough memory to satisfy the processing needs in New Direction data volumes and the business value of reduced of business applications, even though scaling database response times. Consider this exam- out systems to support in-memory computing ple: Enabling real-time analysis in supply chain carries a higher price than buying disk-heavy management applications that incorporate a database servers does. variety of data streams—inventory data from warehouses and retail locations, information Analytically agile. In-memory systems can 4 TOP-OF-MIND TIME FOR IN-MEMORY DATABASES PERFORMANCE 2 power reporting and analysis applications database. According to a 2013 white paper from that help improve business processes—and data warehouse and database vendor Teradata, results—by enabling end users to make in- 43% of queries against data warehouses it formed decisions on a shorter cycle. For exam- studied accessed just 1% of the available infor- ple, transitioning from weekly to hourly sales mation, while 92% of queries used only 20% of forecasting can lead to the creation of real-time the data at hand. Identifying “hot” data that’s Home product pricing models that increase profit- accessed frequently and keeping it in memory ability—as long as pricing decisions can also should greatly reduce query response times. Editor’s Note be communicated and executed rapidly. In summary, organizations whose business In-Memory Databases Help Supportive of mixed-use development. processes can benefit from real-time data avail- Meet Need for IT Allowing transactional and analytical appli- ability, simultaneous mixed-use applications Speed cations to simultaneously access the same and noticeably faster reporting and analytics database is another way to provide real-time are good candidates for deploying in-memory IBM Gives DB2 analytics capabilities. But resource conflicts databases. There are some scenarios in which More Gas With can cause performance problems with a con- the decision to do so is a no-brainer. But in In-Memory Accelerator ventional relational database, largely due to most cases, the consideration of in-memory the latency associated with finding and access- databases must be aligned with IT spending Add-On Software ing data records stored on disk. With an in- priorities and corporate business objectives— Takes Oracle 12c memory configuration, latency becomes less including a demonstrable awareness of how key in New Direction of an issue. areas of corporate performance could be im- proved by the faster transaction processing and Data-aware. In-memory technology can also access to reports and ad hoc query results that be a valuable tool when a large percentage of in-memory software makes possible. data access calls touch only a small part of a —David Loshin 5 TOP-OF-MIND TIME FOR IN-MEMORY DATABASES TOOLS 3 IBM Gives DB2 More Gas With In-Memory Accelerator In recent years, technology vendors, in- Some of those traits are the kinds of things Home dustry analysts and corporate data managers that have given analytical databases and have focused much of their attention on ad- NoSQL upstarts much of their allure as alter- Editor’s Note vances in specialized data warehouse engines natives to DB2 and other top relational data- and NoSQL databases. But relational databases bases. For example, columnar table structures, In-Memory Databases Help aren’t standing still. IBM’s addition of a set of often coupled with advanced compression Meet Need for IT in-memory software called BLU Acceleration to techniques, have become associated with the Speed its DB2 database is a case in point.