Fault-tolerant system based on Oracle Real Application Clusters
"Already, we can confidently say that after the implementation of Oracle RAC the Bank can easily cope with the doubling in the number of transactions and still ensure the reliability of the system", - Alexander Zharkov, head of the department of automation MBC.
1. Client
2. Client information
3. The Goals of the Project
4. Progress of the Project
5. Why Oracle?
Client: Moscow Credit Bank
Client information
Moscow Credit Bank (MCB) has been working in the Russian financial services market since 1992 and is now the among the largest financial institutions in Russia, successfully operating in all sectors of the financial market. The bank works in the market of corporate and retail business, continuously improving technology services and expanding its product line.
For corporations and individual entrepreneurs MCB offers a range of modern banking products and services, including cash services, collecting, acquiring, factoring, leasing, services in the securities market, and various forms of credit. MCB pays particular attention to financing small and medium-sized businesses.
For individuals the bank offers deposits, credit and debit cards, money transfers, safe deposit boxes, as well as all types of credit products - mortgages for the purchase of flats in the primary and secondary housing markets, acquisition and construction of dachas, land, renovation, auto loans, credit cards and loans for any purpose.
The territorial network of Moscow Credit Bank is continuously growing. Currently, the Bank has more than 50 offices in Moscow and the Moscow region. In October 2007, the bank launched a regional development program by opening offices in Tula and Ryazan.
MCB is actively deploying innovative technologies for the organization of business processes and customer service, while ensuring high quality and maximum efficiency.
The Goals of the Project
The aim of the project - to increase productivity and scalability of the bank's computer systems to enable the processing of ever-increasing volumes of transactions. In doing so, the systems require high fault tolerance. As the head of the department of automation for Credit Bank of Moscow, Alexander Zharkov, noted "30 minutes to start the backup system - that's 30 minutes of downtime in customer service, which at the current level of our business is a prohibitively expensive waste of time".
In this regard the deployment of a fault-tolerant system should guarantee the absence of unplanned downtime due to software, as well as maintain uptime during natural disasters and human error.
Progress of the Project
The MCB system uses a 64-bit Oracle RAC-based cluster with hardware from HP and IBM, which increased the number of transactions processed and streamlined customer service. To ensure greater reliability, the system has been implemented as a so-called "stretched" cluster in which the nodes and disk subsystems are spread around various sites. Because of this, the system remains operational when a node or site fails.
In addition to the capabilities of Oracle RAC, RDTEX also used Oracle Data Guard technology, which provides data security and high availability in the event of hardware failure of a disk subsystem, damage to the database and human error. To assure the rapid restoration of the database, a backup is made and constantly updated on an independent disk storage system (usually on a separate site, geographically distant from the location of the primary disk subsystem). In the event of a catastrophic failure at the main site or the inability to recover within a certain time limit, the backup database is activated, and services continue to operate at the new site.
A distinctive feature of the system is the ability to quickly bring on line servers of the "stretched" cluster, members of the main cluster that are located at the backup site, ensuring business continuity and the ability to respond quickly to any changes by efficiently reallocating resources.
Why Oracle?
According to Alexander Zharkov, the choice of Oracle cluster technology was based on positive experiences of the bank over the past 7 years, during which time Oracle technical was provided by RDTEX.
"In solving the task of scaling information systems, we understood that the option of using monolithic multiprocessor systems would be more expensive than Oracle RAC, considering the full cost of ownership with training and maintenance" - commented Andrew Kriushin, an expert in the RDTEX Oracle Technical Support Center. "The MCB transition to the new system required only two pre-planned shutdowns for a period of five minutes each. Oracle RAC technology was the best solution for scalability using standard hardware components, increasing the level of uninterrupted service while reducing costs for IT".
Oracle Real Application Cluster Technology allows you to build a fault-tolerant and scalable information system, combining a large number of standardized low-cost servers in clusters. Oracle RAC Cluster combines several network servers via fiber-optic interface.
