Sybase Releases Adaptive Server Enterprise Cluster Edition

New edition features shared-disk clustering, virtualized resource management technology

• By James E. Powell
• 02/21/2008

Sybase, Inc. has released the Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) Cluster Edition. The company says its Virtualized Resource Management (VRM) technology simplifies deployment of database applications across a shared disk server cluster and can reduce hardware and power costs through “optimal resource utilization.” VRM provides application workloads with a virtual view of the physical cluster that can be dynamically changed, simplifying system installation, configuration, and maintenance.

"Enterprises today are struggling to reduce their infrastructure costs yet at the same time meet high-availability requirements,” said Carl Olofson, research vice president for Information Management and Data Integration, IDC, in a statement. “Shared-disk cluster architecture helps to meet these key enterprise requirements for mission-critical database applications. Sybase's focus on building in capabilities to reduce IT complexity through a shared-disk cluster architecture to improve system availability and reliability, and to simplify administration will go towards enabling further adoption of this approach."

The Cluster Edition is designed for large transaction volumes in OLTP environments, from small and mid-sized databases to VLDB systems with high reliability.

The VRM technology provides or enables:

• A logical view of physical cluster resources so users can dynamically change database resources %%Configuration and deployment of workloads across cluster nodes

• Full information about the physical cluster’s physical state so users can fine tune the overall system

Sybase says users can take advantage of the Cluster Edition to:

• Maintain optimal service levels during system failures and peak loads

• Consolidate database workloads on underutilized hardware onto fewer machines

• Reduce infrastructure costs by replacing expensive, high-end hardware with a grid of lower-cost servers while maintaining the same service levels

ASE Cluster Edition is now available for ASE 15.0.1 on RedHat Enterprise Linux 4, 5 (X86_64), 64-bit Solaris 9 and 10 on SPARC platforms, and SuSE Linux 9 and 10 (X86_64). More information is available at http://www.sybase.com/clusters.