SQL/MX DBS, Ease of Installation

For almost a year the NonStop community had the feeling that NonStop SQL was going to break new ground for NonStop, but until the announcements occurred it was only the subject of speculation. But as of now, it is real and has become the subject of a number of videos from HPE Technologists, including Frans Jongma, Master Technologist at HPE. What we are covering here is NonStop SQL/MX DBS – Database-as-a-Service or, as it’s often shortened to, DBaaS!

Followers of Frans will have become aware of his latest video update posted to LinkedIn, Installation of SQL/MX DBS.  By way of introduction to this video, Frans writes of how there have been many people who have asked him, “Very nice and useful this Database as a Service, (DBS) but how much work is it to install this? “ According to Frans, the good news is that “it only takes a few minutes and only needs minimal configuration. “

With the video above, Frans shows how he was able to configure and install DBS on a system that runs SQL/MX 3.7.2 on L20.10. Installation took less than two minutes to complete! “The video turned out to be a little longer,” said Frans, “because of my explanation.” As for the reason as to why Frans wanted to post this installation video is to perhaps “help people overcome the barrier.” What barrier you may ask and yet, according to Frans, there is a lot of well, “Hmm it looks nice but maybe it is some work and I don’t know where to start. There is a lot of information in the SQL/MX Database Services Manual, but I’m afraid to install this.”

The Database Services Manual is a very good read as an introduction into DBS. “The nice folks of ATC Operations provided me a vNS system that I could use to install and remove DBS a few times, and with this experience I made this video. And it is really easy. SQL Engineering have made some improvements to the installation process in L20.10, but also in earlier releases, configuration and installation worked the same way.”

Knowing now that it is easy to install and that it can readily interface with applications already running on platforms such as Linux or even Windows, gives NonStop customers even more reasons to promote NonStop SQL for use in their most critical of mission critical applications. When it comes to meeting the needs of enterprises today, accessing a database like NonStop SQL, whether operating out of an adjacent server or better yet, deployed within a private cloud, these enterprises know that the investments that they make in NonStop SQL will provide a level of availability unmatched by any other database implementation.

On a separate but related note, if you caught the opening keynote addresses by HPE HPC / MCS executives at this year’s NonStop Technical Boot Camp (held as a NonStop All-Digital Experience) you would have heard about NonStop SQL Cloud Edition. According to Jeff Kyle, HPE Vice President Mission Critical Servers, NonStop SQL Cloud Edition will be “a perfect environment to take a scalable, distributed database – in this case, NonStop SQL – and offer it up for DevOps environments; offer it up to Linux based application environments.”

Connecting the dots is quite simple even if there is as much marketing behind this as there is technology. However, it’s clear that NonStop SQL Cloud Edition will be part of an enhanced marketing message as it ties together a software bundle based on three existing products – what we now know as NonStop SQL/MX DBS with SQLXpress and NonStop Database Analyzer (NSDA). It’s important that we acknowledge just how much work has gone into NonStop SQL to deliver NonStop SQL Cloud Services. When available, it will include support for multi-tenancy, the necessary automated provisioning that is expected in cloud environments, including a degree of elasticity that can meet the needs of data that is rapidly growing and capability of integration with cloud orchestration models. The advantage of having a multi-tenancy database is in the fact that it allows some central form of management.

As Kyle continued with his update on NonStop SQL Cloud Editions, he talked of “Cloud Anywhere” and what this all meant for the future of NonStop SQL. “NonStop SQL Cloud Edition is the first time we are seeing our customers deploy an extremely available, distributed database environment that supports any application environment,” said Kyle. As such, with NonStop SQL so deployed, it represents “a great place to start your journey to NonStop.”

So yes, getting DBS up and running – which we now see is easy to do – we should consider that it is part of a much bigger play being pursued by the HPE MCS NonStop team. NonStop systems continue to be the best choice for those enterprises looking to run mission-critical transaction processors but now there is a legitimate reason to consider your NonStop system as the most reliable, host available, DBaaS offering on the market today!

Should you have any trouble with the embedded video above, you can cut and past the following URL into your preferred browser:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/DZakzmGeDI0