Assisting a local authority with reconfiguration of its mission-critical Oracle Real Application Cluster

A large local authority had implemented Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) to power its revenue and benefits systems. When it transpired that this infrastructure had been configured sub-optimally, the council called Xynomix for independent database consultancy.

Client

Large Unitary Council

Industry

Public Sector

Services

Database Consultancy

Technologies

Oracle Database

Background

The council required their database environment to be highly available and offered rapid data processing to meet high levels of demand.

However, after the initial ‘go-live’ of the systems, their internal Database Administration resource became depleted with the departure of senior personnel. This led to an immediate and continual decline in the function of the RAC environment. Processes were slow and the database became unstable, affecting service levels and leading to spiralling support costs.

Xynomix started by assessing the RAC database.  We quickly identified that a substantial portion of the council’s resource went towards supporting a poorly-configured physical cluster build. It became clear that the environment needed to be completely reconfigured to create a stable underlying database.

Making Improvements

Xynomix worked closely with the client’s remaining on-site DBA team and management to re-architect the entire Oracle RAC cluster. This included database patching for nine environments.

Our aim was to facilitate effective query performance, eliminate unnecessary downtime, and provide a robust, scalable database onto which they could build their systems.

The council made full use of our database consultants’ specialist skills. This covered everything from Oracle RAC reconfiguration, to database tuning, full documentation, skills transfer and general troubleshooting.

The Result

By consulting expert Oracle database support from Xynomix, the council were able to ensure:

  • Optimised query processing
  • 99.9% database uptime
  • Significantly reduced Oracle licencing and support costs
  • On-site DBAs can focus on specific tasks and projects to achieve business objectives

After the successful project conclusion, the council elected not to employ a new senior DBA and engaged Xynomix to provide 24×7×365 support on a proactive.

Need Help?

As both a G-Cloud and N-List Approved supplier, we regularly demonstrate our commitment to the highest standards of security and governance. We operate with stringent controls and procedures that underpin our commitment to data security. If you’re in a public sector organisation that requires database expertise, contact us, to discover our credentials and expertise.

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