SharePlex for SQL Server Improving analytics and reporting with near real-time data replication Written by Susan Wong, principal solutions architect, Dell Software Abstract Many organizations today rely on data analytics to glean critical business intelligence and gain a competitive edge. Many organizations consolidate their Oracle data on SQL Server instances for that purpose. But quality data analytics requires more than a consolidation of data in a central location; it also requires up-to-the-minute data. Snapshots simply don t cut it a snapshot of the data at any point in time becomes out of date as soon as it is taken, and refreshing snapshots is timeconsuming and resource-intensive. There is a better way: Dell SharePlex for SQL Server can replicate changes from an Oracle database to a SQL Server, maintaining real-time images of the source tables or subsets of tables for all your data analytics needs, whether your data is on premises, remote or in the cloud. This tech brief explains how. Introduction Traditional relational database management systems (RDBMs) remain a critical source of data for analytics. SQL Server is often used as an economical reporting or analytics data store, often populated from Oracle data sources. But today s analytics demand up-to-the-minute data, not snapshots. Snapshots only show a single moment in time they become out of date immediately and are time-consuming and resource-intensive to refresh. SharePlex provides an affordable, easy-to-use alternative: near real-time data replication.
SharePlex also facilitates better business intelligence (BI) and analytics by ensuring that only the most recent and most relevant data is analyzed, since replication can be limited to specific schemas, tables, or columns or rows within tables. SharePlex Impact-free database replication for better business intelligence and analytics SharePlex is a logical data replication solution for SQL Server, Oracle and other databases. It provides one or more near real-time copies of production data without impacting the primary database s performance and availability. The data is replicated from the source database to one or more targets. SharePlex runs continuously on the database server itself, replicating data in real time with sub-second latency and no perceivable impact on source database performance. On the source database, the transactional data changes are captured directly from the Oracle redo logs or archive log files using a proprietary capture mechanism. SharePlex replaces traditional data extraction with change data capture (CDC) only data that has changed in the data sources is moved to the transfer and load components of the data aggregation process. In addition to significantly reducing overhead and speeding replication, this brings an inherent method for addressing auditing and compliance concerns. SharePlex also facilitates better business intelligence (BI) and analytics by ensuring that only the most recent and most relevant data is analyzed, since replication can be limited to specific schemas, tables, or columns or rows within tables. Easy installation, configuration and administration SharePlex is quick and easy to install, configure and administer. Simply install the SharePlex binaries, establish a connection with appropriate security to the database as well as the SharePlex repository, and create a simple, threecolumn configuration file that specifies what is to be replicated and where: the source table, the target table and the target host/instance. Activation of this file starts the s and processes on both the source and target servers; there is no need to configure each and process separately. You can download SharePlex from the Dell website and get started with a free 30-day trial license that allows all functionality. SharePlex for SQL Server Near real-time data replication from Oracle to SQL Server SharePlex for SQL Server delivers near real-time replication of Oracle data to SQL Server via open database connectivity (ODBC). SharePlex captures changes made to the Oracle table and posts those changes to SQL Server, as illustrated in Figure 1. Export Export Import Post SQL Read Redo/archive logs Post Oracle Source Capture Capture Microsoft SQL Server Target Figure 1. SharePlex for SQL Server delivers real-time replication of Oracle data to SQL Server. 2
Data replication and consolidation for data warehousing, analytics and more By providing a near-real time copy of your Oracle data in SQL Server, SharePlex for SQL Server enables you to offload reporting from your production databases, eliminating the impact reporting or any other extraction process can have on Oracle performance. There s no need to wait for events to complete as part of the migration process and you no longer have to immediately react to events finishing within a downtime window. SharePlex allows changes to and puts you in control of the migration schedule, you determine when to proceed with the next steps in a lengthy migration process. Moreover, SharePlex for SQL Server can receive data from transactions on one or multiple Oracle databases, so you can consolidate all or subsets (by table, row and/or column) of your Oracle data to a SQL Server data warehouse or data store for analytics, reporting or dashboarding. Plus, you get these additional benefits: Horizontal scalability Having one or more near real-time copies of your database on different servers enables you to reduce the load on the source database without upgrading your existing server. With SharePlex, you can have as many copies of the database as you need, all running on less expensive hardware and lower-cost database technology. Load isolation With SharePlex for SQL Server, you can isolate loads to a particular server. Data integration In addition to replicating data form Oracle to SQL Server, SharePlex can facilitate data integration by replicating from Oracle to other structured or unstructured targets such as SAP ASE, and Hadoop as well as to SQL or XML files. Migration without downtime If your organization has a requirement to move an Oracle database to SQL Server, using SharePlex will dramatically reduce the downtime required to move the data. SharePlex will accumulate the Oracle user transactions while the data is being moved and apply only those changes that were not included in the data that was moved, thus allowing creation of the SQL Server data with no interruption of user access to the Oracle instances. Archiving and purging Similarly, SharePlex for SQL Server makes it easy to archive Oracle data to a SQL Server data warehouse you specify the criteria, and SharePlex migrates the data to the archive of your choice without impacting the performance or availability of the source database. This allows you to select only the Oracle data that you want to maintain in your SQL Server instance. Comprehensive support Supported datatypes BLOBs and CLOBs, TIMESTAMP, LONG, LONG RAW, ANYDATA and more. Supported platforms SQL Server 2008R2 and 2012 on Windows 2003 and 2008, and Windows Server 2012 and 2012R2. Supported replication of operations with encryption Includes operations encrypted by those with TDE encryption, and those residing in encrypted tablespaces. Supported operations and mapping Supports DML operations, DDL operations (ALTER TABLE ADD and DROP COLUMN), and direct-path loads (INSERT and FULL ROLLBACK). To replicate ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN, SharePlex creates a SQL Server column based on the datatype mapping. When replicating DML operations, SharePlex will query SQL Server to determine an appropriate datatype mapping for each table column that it replicates. This mapping applies to the entire configuration (not per table). Default mapping can be customized but SharePlex will not validate the accuracy of a custom mapping. SharePlex for SQL Server makes it easy to archive Oracle data to a SQL Server data warehouse you specify the criteria, and SharePlex migrates the data to the archive of your choice without impacting the performance or availability of the source database. 3
SharePlex for SQL Server enables you to easily maintain one or more near real-time copies of your production data in SQL Server for all your analytics and data warehousing needs. Conclusion Data analytics is the key to success and growth for many organizations today, and SQL Server provides a powerful platform for analyzing your Oracle data. SharePlex for SQL Server enables you to easily maintain one or more near realtime copies of your production data in SQL Server for all your analytics and data warehousing needs. Download your free 30-day trial today and see for yourself. About the author Susan Wong is a principal solutions architect with Dell Software. She has been supporting business continuity and Oracle performance management and tuning for more than 15 years. Susan has performed numerous consulting engagements, implementing configurations such as reporting, migrations, and high availability, and has been ensuring organizations meet Oracle database business continuity from Oracle7 through 12c. Prior to joining Dell Software, Susan worked as a mechanical engineer at Fluor Daniel and subsequently managed the CAD solutions and database teams. Susan holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA. 4
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