noaa webshop 20041 a low-cost standby system for an oar-wide budgeting application eugene f. burger...
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NOAA WEBShop 2004 1
A low-cost standby system for an OAR-wide budgeting application
Eugene F. Burger (NOAA/PMEL/JISAO)
NOAA WebShop
July 27-29 Philadelphia PA
NOAA WEBShop 2004 2
Overview The systems in question Existing contingency planning The type of standby system we chose Alternatives Architecture Implementation Recovery scenario
NOAA WEBShop 2004 3
The challenge Continuation of Operations (COOP) planning is
a requirement with all operational systems. Backups Full standby system
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FDMS is
OEORTAPO
Financial Data Management System• OAR Commitment tracking system• Supports NOAA business practices• Operational since January 2001• Envisioned as the “core” element of the NOAA Research Science Management Information System
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FDMS is FDMS built on Access Source data bases
MS SQLServer Oracle 8i (soon 9i)
Server through Citrix Secure Gateway and Citrix Metaframe
Daily downloads of CAMS data to FDMS
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FDMS Server architectureFDMS
Inte
rnet
FDMS Domain
Databaseserver
FDMSApplication
server CSGServer
Webserver
OAR HQ
FSL
NSSL
OAML
SEC
OAR offices
Firew
all
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Existing precautions Redundancy in server storage devices
RAID 5 disk array’s with spare drive’s Database backups Backups of backups Offsite backups
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Objective Investigate options
To provide a low cost contingency (failover) system Addresses potential disaster scenario:
operations in Seattle are disastrously disrupted (earthquake) backup tape recovery difficult network infrastructure disrupted
FDMS recovery period of 7 to 14 days is tolerable Although application not critical to NOAA’s mission Downtime will cause administrative disruption
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OptionsFull FDMS standby system
Complete replication of the FDMS infrastructure Cost
Backups What about catastrophic disaster?
Backups and replication
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Our choice Remote storage device with complete
application and data file replication Lower cost Lower maintenance overheard More infrastructure flexibility
When we change hardware or software infrastructure
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Recovery scenario Purchase new hardware (server) infrastructure
CSG Application Web Database
Install and configure applications FDMS DB Servers Active directory Citrix
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Recovery scenario Two options
Serve data from NAS box Copy data files to Server
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Replication challenges Replicate everything needed to rebuild system
Multiple server machine state Active directory Relational databases (Oracle 9i & SQL Server)
Database user information encapsulated in backups MS Access data files FDMS application data FDMS tools FDMS Documentation Citrix application Citrix configuration information
System restore documentation
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Standby infrastructure Hardware
NAS Box Software
Mirroring software Extensive and detailed documentation
Installation information Data linking Server configuration
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Replication infrastructure
FDMS - PMEL, Seattle
FDMS Server 1
FDMS Server 2
FDMS Server 3
RepliWebR1 controller
(software)
OAR HQ - Silver Spring
NAS devise
Repliwebsatellite(client)
Internet
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Hardware considerations Network Attached Storage device
IOMega 320Gb NAS Cheaper than a full server
$2k vs. $12k
Server could be obsolete by the time it is needed
Chose windows OS to sync with the FDMS application platform
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Mirroring software requirements Mirror over the internet Transport encryption
Including authentication Differential mirroring Continuous file replication Multiple channels per file
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Mirroring software Applications considered
Peer software PeerSync
Availl Availl Replication
Falconstor software Hardware & software solution
Repliweb RDS & R1
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Testing Replication over LAN
To familiarize ourselves with software Test software compatibility
Ensure data are encrypted Time to first complete snapshot FDMS failover test
Serve data from NAS box
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Results Mostly positive Replication software works well
Replicates very large files in reasonable time 2 hours for 12Gb file
Hardware acceptable Some issues, but may be related to the
IOMega NAS device. Very little impact should FDMS change
hardware/software architecture
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Tradeoffs Unable to mirror open files
Copying backups of the databases Do replication when there are no users
online Works with “OpenFile Manager” (third party
software) No immediate system to revert to
not really a requirement
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Tradeoffs Mirroring relies completely on network
(Internet) No FDMS usage during internet outage –
acceptable risk
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Conclusion Viable, cost effective solution as a
standby file system to ensure COOP Will be implemented as a operational
component of FDMS
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Contact information
Eugene F. Burger
OAR/PMEL – Seattle
(206) 526-4586