The cloud that comes to you

NonStop SQL/MX in a cloud that comes to you?

By the time you read this article I had the pleasure to appear on a live stage with a real audience in my country where the first INNIG NonStop user-group meeting for three years was held. I used this event to recap the work that has been done by teams from different development organizations within HPE to improve the SQL/MX user experience.

I hear from customers that the NonStop platform lives up to the promise, namely being there when it counts and support for increasing capacity when required. Still, ease of access to enjoy these promises, according to some customer, requires too much platform-specific knowledge.

The purpose of NonStop SQL/MX Database Services (DBS) is to provide a cloud-like environment where the NonStop system is presented as a database server, where the applications, even cloud-native applications, run on other platforms, typically in Windows or Linux operating environments or in containers.

The database lifecycle actions, such as provision database, delete, scale-out storage and user management are supported through a set of APIs, which are invoked from webservers, Ansible playbooks or even the OSS shell. This removes the need for platform access for the typical database user.

At the same time, SQL/MX DBS allows consolidation of databases, allowing for centralized services such as backup and recovery. This also prevents data to be placed on many instances in your own network or even in a public cloud environment, which known as “database sprawl”.

I have described the advantages to system administrators in earlier articles: remember it only takes less than two minutes to create an isolated, fault-tolerant environment for a database user, who does not need to manage their own copy of a Linux or Windows (virtual) machine.

The advantage to the database user is that they can build upon the knowledge they already have. The tools, like DBVisualizer, or DBeaver which are database independent, or a simple command interpreter like the HPE remote mxci (rmxci) program, are used to connect to the database and be productive right away.

Gone is the requirement to start a TACL or an OSS shell first and the need to know those shell environments and commands.

Even though they share the NonStop resources, users can only access their databases through their designated data sources, and they can only see their own data.

Integration with pan-HPE Solutions

SQL/MX life-cycle management has now been included in an HPE solution called HPE Database Platform Automation (DBPA). This solution allows an end-user to request deployment one of currently three databases: NonStop SQL/MX, Oracle, or EnterpriseDB/PostgreSQL from the very same web user interface. This is true database platform automation from a single pane of glass.

Under the covers, different actions will be performed, depending on the choice of database, from configuring and deploying Linux images first on virtual machines followed by the installation of the database software to simply requesting a database of a certain size on a virtualized of converged NonStop server.

This really brings the cloud experience to the users. The ease-of-use and speed of provisioning of a database, but under their own control, in their own private cloud environment or existing infrastructure.

Free access to a NonStop SQL DBS database

HPE and NonStop Academy bring the SQL/MX cloud experience to you. Recently, we have started to use the new web-based user-interface that is also part of the HPE DBPA solution. Customer response was very good; they liked the information and the way it is presented to them very much.

The invitation to join this program is still open. Get your free ticket to SQL/MX DBS via the request page at: https://www.nonstop-academy.com/dbs-access-request/

NonStop Academy provides 50 GB of storage space for your database free of charge for two months. Upon acceptance you will get the credentials to manage your already provisioned database.

As a user, you will not be able to see the Administrator tasks of SQL/MX, however, the web-interface allows for changing your preassigned password (very much recommended), the download of drivers, the WebDBS user guide and the DDL that you can use to create a test database along with the data to populate the tables. In addition, you can also make certain modifications to the data source configuration that controls your access, stop, and start the database, freeing up the resources and more.

SQL/MX DBS is included in the SQL/MX product, so if you want, you could do such a setup in your own environment, however, testing the water using the free trial will be the quickest way to move ahead. If you do not have SQL/MX available on your system or lack the time and resources to set up your own DBS environment, here is your chance!

Experience from earlier engagements is that users do not require much support to use SQL/MX this way. I can be reached via email for questions, and a few times we have set up a MS Teams or other call to discuss some questions and show some examples, based on such questions.

Learning more about SQL/MX

HPE and NonStop Academy have scheduled a technical webinar on Friday, April 29, 2022.

This webinar will feature the enhancements that are in the latest SQL/MX version, release 3.8. HPE SQL/MX architect Stan Kosinski will focus on the PL/MX language, a compatibility feature for Oracle PL/SQL, and its practical application for implementing user-defined functions (UDFs). The new implementation of Large Object (LOB) support will also be covered.

Registration can be done via https://lnkd.in/dcCwq6Bx or via nonstop-academy.com