Using Silver Peak to Accelerate SQL Across the WAN

Improve Database Performance, Management, and Protection with WAN Acceleration

The Structured Query Language (SQL) is a standard method of conveying information to and from relational databases. In many instances, these databases are centrally located, requiring SQL transactions to take place across a Wide Area Network (WAN). In addition, enterprises often replicate and/or backup databases across the WAN to ensure maximum data protection in the event of a disaster. When SQL tasks are performed across the WAN, they are subject to a variety of factors that can adversely affect performance, including limited bandwidth, high latency, and packet loss. These challenges can be partially addressed by modifying application behavior. However, this is often expensive and time consuming when performed across many database systems, and can sometimes lead to slower server performance due to increased CPU requirements. In addition, it does not address many WAN-specific limitations that can affect performance, and does not take into account the fact that SQL traffic typically shares the WAN with other business critical applications. As a result, mechanisms need to be put in place to ensure appropriate service vis--vis all traffic types. Silver Peak offers a scalable WAN acceleration solution that uses various optimization techniques to addresses the unique requirements of SQL over the WAN - from accelerating reads and writes to realtime replication and recovery. By delivering LAN-like performance with minimal latency Common CharaCteristiCs There are common characteristics when performing SQL transactions, backup, replication, and recovery across a WAN. These include: Large volumes of data. When performing backup and replication, database files, control files, and other information must be transferred across the WAN. As a result, WAN links are forced to handle hundreds of Megabytes (or Terabytes) of data when doing disaster recovery. Similarly, SQL queries can involve the transfer of large volumes of data that can tax limited WAN resources. sensitive to latency and loss. Replication and backup can suffer from high latency and packet loss, which can cause transfers to time-out across the WAN. This leads to file transfer failures and subsequent database synchronization problems. Real-time SQL queries are also susceptible to latency and loss, which can make database access and management difficult across geographic distances. repetitive information. A significant portion of information sent across the WAN for disaster recovery purposes and no application specific tweaking, Silver Peak is a strategic solution for improving the performance, management, and protection of all database applications.

Copyright 2007 Silver Peak Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

471 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95050

408.935.1800

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SQL Transactions
(create, retrieve, update, delete...)

the WAN, they do not address all of the challenges inherent to wide area networking, such as latency and packet loss due to router over subscription. In addition, given the many flavors of SQL available today, (e.g., Oracle uses PL/SQL; Microsoft uses TransactSQL, ), it can be complicated and time consuming to implement application-specific modification across an entire enterprise. Furthermore, a separate solution is required to ensure that SQL services receive the

Limited Bandwidth High Latency Packet Loss

WAN

sQL transaction often perform poorly across a Wan

Quality of Service (QoS) they deserve with respect to other network traffic sharing the same WAN connection. WAN acceleration is an important tool for ensuring fast and reliable SQL transactions between geographically disperse locations.

is repetitive. This can be somewhat solved by doing incremental network backups that update only those blocks of information that have changed since the last update. But, this often lacks the same granularity that can be achieved using byte-level data reduction and does not negate the need for regular full backups. In addition, most storage applications only implement data de-duplication during replication/backup, not during database recovery. As a result, alternative solutions are required to maximize WAN efficiency and accelerate transfer times in these instances. WAN acceleration overcomes the performance obstacles that can plague SQL operations across the WAN. By employing data reduction, compression and Quality of Service (QoS) techniques, enterprises can dramatically improve WAN efficiency. WAN acceleration can also significantly improve SQL transfer times by delivering duplicate information locally whenever possible, and using TCP acceleration and Forward Error Correction (FEC) to overcome latency and loss across the WAN. In addition, packet coalescing can be used to aggregate many

small transactions into larger ones for better SQL performance across the WAN.

sQL transaCtions aCross the Wan SQL is used to create, retrieve, update, and delete data. This can involve a multitude of queries, coupled with the transfer of large volumes of data. This is not a problem when the database is in the same physical location as the users and/or administrators. However, when SQL access is performed across a WAN, performance can be excruciatingly slow. There are numerous application-specific optimizations that can be performed to improve the performance of individual database applications. For example, query results can be cached and/or prefetched, some data can be compressed, packet sizes can be increased, SQL statements can be combined into batch requests, and queries can be bounded to limit the amount of data sent. While these adjustments can provide some benefits when communicating across

Performance improvements will vary greatly depending on the type of SQL transaction. Data manipulation and unique queries, for example, may result in a 5-20x improvement. Frequent retrievals or updates and transfers of large data sets will show greater improvements 30x on average. The performance range will vary depending upon the size of the data set, the amount of duplicate date being transferred, and WAN conditions that can affect performance.

Database baCkups aCross the Wan Given the mission critical nature of many databases, most enterprises will implement processes to protect against a mishap. Database backups are an easy way of accomplishing this goal as they typically only involve the transfer of .bak files between systems. This makes recovery easy, as well, as these files can be restored using native SQL commands.

Copyright 2007 Silver Peak Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

471 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95050

408.935.1800

www.silver-peak.com

Database backups look and feel very similar to other large file transfers. In many instances, standard file copy utilities, such as FTP and Microsoft CIFS, are used to get the backup files from one location to the other. This means that WAN acceleration can have a significant impact on SQL backups. The amount of improvement provided by WAN acceleration will depend upon the type of backup being performed. For example, when performing a complete backup there is a significant amount of repetitive data being sent across the WAN, which can be eliminated with the right optimization tools. As a result, WAN acceleration will lead to significant performance improvements up to 100x in some instances. While the same techniques can be applied to differential and file backups, these data sets contain less repetitive patterns. Therefore, it is more likely to see performance improvements in the 10x to 30x range (which is still quite substantial a 30x improvement would mean a 2 hour database backup is reduced to 4 minutes!) The greatest performance gains are experienced when backups are sent across the same WAN connection that is used for other enterprise traffic, such as email and web access. That is because a WAN acceleration device learns a network as it is used. For example, if a file is sent via email, it will be stored in a WAN acceleration devices local network memory. When that file is then sent across the WAN as part of a backup, it can be immediately treated as a warm pass whereby the information is delivered locally from network memory instead of re-transmitted across the WAN.

In other words, even though it is the first time the data is being sent as part of a backup process, it is not the first time it is being sent across the WAN. Therefore, it can be delivered locally using references, providing immediate benefits that otherwise would not be had without a WAN acceleration solution in the equation.

benefits. For example, by implementing data reduction, compression, latency mitigation, and loss correction, WAN acceleration results in faster replication times, better WAN bandwidth utilization, and faster host server performance all across wider geographic distances. Some replication techniques, such as snapshot replication, involve the transfer of large amounts of repetitive data. As a result, it is common to see 50x improvements when using WAN acceleration in these environments. Transactional replication, on the other hand, eliminates some (but not all) data repetition. As a result, WAN acceleration typically provides a 10-30x average improvement in these environments.

sQL repLiCation One of the best ways to protect against database failures is to replicate data to a remote standby server, preferably in a separate geographic region. This provides failover options that protect against hardware and software issues, as well as network connectivity failures and catastrophic disasters. The result is lower recovery times and better recovery point objectives. Replication ensures that data is always available, when and where it is needed. In addition, it enables multiple sites to access the same data, which can improve database performance by bringing information closer to the users that need it. From a WAN perspective, SQL replication is very similar to storage replication. As a result, WAN acceleration provides similar

FauLt toLeranCe According to Gartner Group, the average cost of network downtime for large corporations is $42,000 per hour ($700 / minute). As a result, significant attention is given to ensure that mission critical databases remain accessible in the event of a failure, regardless of the cause (i.e. system failure, loss of network connectivity, catastrophic disaster, etc.).

SQL Backup and Replication

Limited Bandwidth High Latency Packet Loss

WAN

backup and replication often involve the transfer of large volumes of information across long distances

Copyright 2007 Silver Peak Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

471 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95050

408.935.1800

www.silver-peak.com

In the event that clustered servers or standby devices are geographically separated from other servers, the loss of a server will result in an increase in SQL queries across the WAN as local users are redirected to the backup device. As described above in the SQL Transactions across the WAN section, this can lead to poor application performance if WAN acceleration is not in place to mitigate the impact of latency, loss, and WAN bandwidth constraints.

WAN acceleration is essential to ensuring that this process happens as quickly as possible, helping enterprises meet and exceed their Recovery Time Objectives (RTO). In addition, WAN acceleration squeezes more data into limited WAN pipes. This provides greater flexibility in terms of Recovery Point Objectives (RPO), allowing more data to be expeditiously recovered in the event of a disaster.

Silver Peak protects enterprise data by providing the following advantages across all SQL applications, including Microsoft SQL, MySQL, Oracle, Siebel, and other leading solutions: improve data transfer times. Silver Peaks Network Memory, the premier solution for data reduction, recognizes repetitive information and delivers it locally. This eliminates the transfer of significant portions of data across the WAN, which can significantly delay data transfer times. Fingerprinting is done at the byte level, minimizing the amount of latency imposed on SQL traffic during the data reduction process. Silver Peak also employs additional latency mitigation techniques, such as selective TCP acknowledgements and adjustable TCP window sizes, to further improve data transfer times across long WAN links. maximize Wan efficiency. Network Memory can reduce as much as 99% of WAN traffic by eliminating the transfer of duplicate information. By performing this data reduction on individual bytes of traffic, Silver Peak offers unsurpassed granularity. Silver Peaks Network Memory works across all applications, enabling enterprises to fully maximize WAN efficiency. In addition, Silver Peak leverages advanced compression techniques to further reduce the amount of WAN bandwidth required for backup and replication. By providing this functionality in a dedicated device,

siLver peak proteCts Database reCovery A Pepperdine University report in 2003 estimated that it costs the average enterprise $10,000 for each MB of data lost. This makes SQL database recovery an essential component of disaster recovery planning. There are several ways to recover a lost SQL database, from simple recovery to full recovery. Each involves the transfer of large volumes of data across the WAN. As a result, business Data Poor WAN performance can compromise data protection by reducing the frequency of backups/replication and limiting the effectiveness of failover solutions. It can also increase the cost of these initiatives as IT resources are required to troubleshoot and correct errors. Either way, enterprises can be exposed to a vulnerability gap that may compromise their business continuity plans.

SQL Transactions

PRIMARY

SQL Replication

STANDBY

enterprises can improve SQL server performance by offloading CPU intensive processes.

the loss of a primary sQL server can result in more sQL transactions across the Wan

Copyright 2007 Silver Peak Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

471 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95050

408.935.1800

www.silver-peak.com

 support real-time operations. Silver Peaks Network Memory adds less than 1 ms of latency when performing data reduction. This makes Silver Peak better suited for SQL applications than other WAN acceleration solutions, which utilize slow TCP session buffers to fingerprint data. Buffering actually slows down the performance of small SQL transactions as it attempts to optimize larger data transfers. reduce packet loss and delivery errors. Silver Peak reduces the impact of both packet loss and jitter that occurs when router links are oversubscribed and drop or re-order packets. Adaptive Forward Error Correction (FEC) for example, can reduce effective packet loss by an order of magnitude, ensuring significantly higher SQL performance across the WAN. ensure appropriate Quality of service (Qos). Silver Peak offers robust QoS policies to ensure adequate bandwidth and prioritization for all applications. This enables mission critical operations, such as SQL replication, backup, and recovery, to be handled appropriately when a multitude of traffic is vying for shared WAN resources. end-to-end data security. Silver Peak NX appliances use hardware-based AES encryption to protect network traffic and local content, ensuring that all business critical information stored within databases is fully protected. This includes data stored on Silver Peak appliances, as well as data sent across the WAN between appliances.

Cost effective scalability. Silver Peak can support a full 500 Mbps WAN capacity in a single NX appliance, with several variants available that support over 45 Mbps. This enables enterprises to cost effectively support data center to data center links, as well as network-based backups across many remote locations

Silver Peak typically provides a 3x-20x improvement on SQL transactions across the WAN, and 10-50x improvement on database backups and SQL replication. Given the type of data being transferred, peak improvements can exceed 100x under the right circumstances. Silver Peak combines LAN-like performance and reliability with unsurpassed WAN capacity and end-to-end data security. In addition, Silver Peak optimizes all SQL applications out of the box no special configuration is required. This makes Silver Peaks WAN acceleration solution an ideal fit for enterprises looking to accelerate database access, management, and protection across the WAN.

a CompLete soLution For sQL aCCeLeration WAN acceleration is an important tool for enterprise database management. By overcoming the ill effects of low bandwidth, high latency, and packet loss, Silver Peak improves the performance and reliability of most SQL operations, including: sQL transactions across the Wan Database backups and copies sQL replication Fault tolerance, including connectivity to standby sQL servers Database recovery

Copyright 2007 Silver Peak Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.

471 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95050

408.935.1800

www.silver-peak.com