xkoto, a database virtualization software company, recently announced the availability of GRIDSCALE 5.1 for Microsoft SQL Server and IBM DB2 databases. GRIDSCALE is an active-active solution that virtualizes the database infrastructure. It enables businesses to distribute application loads horizontally across multiple database copies, resulting in better reliability and performance than that of more costly and complex legacy clustering solutions. This latest release of GRIDSCALE adds new features that enhance the performance and capabilities of both SQL Server and IBM DB2 databases.
For SQL Server, GRIDSCALE 5.1 features a new, "driverless" configuration mode. By implementing the Microsoft SQL Server tabular data stream (TDS) protocol, GRIDSCALE is now compatible with native SQL Server drivers, including ADO, .NET Framework, and OLE DB. Plus, GRIDSCALE can now simultaneously manage multiple SQL Server instances using popular tools such as Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Manager. Additional new features for SQL Server include automatic recovery of database failures without IT intervention, automatic recovery for clients that need seamless access across data centers, and support for Microsoft SQL Server 2008.
For IBM DB2, GRIDSCALE 5.1 features a new cluster management system that dramatically improves the performance of online transaction processing (OLTP) applications. The product also is now available on the Amazon Elastic Computer Cloud (Amazon EC2), delivering the first cloud-based scale-out solution for DB2. With GRIDSCALE, businesses can eliminate DB2 downtime, implement real-time disaster recovery solutions, and lower the costs for business-critical DB2 databases running on Linux, UNIX and Windows systems. Prevention of downtime is enabled with GRIDSCALE's active-active architecture that allows multiple DB2 databases running in the cloud to work together and avoid the limitations caused by lack of shared storage and individual server capacity.
Additional new features for DB2 include a scripted GRIDSCALE catalog that provides better support for dynamic SQL within stored procedures, client redirect whichfacilitates the configuration of databases that span multiple data centers, and support for Kerberos security authentication.
"GRIDSCALE sits between applications and physical databases and abstracts those databases to an active-active virtual database grid," Charlie Ungashick, vice president of marketing for xkoto, tells 5 Minute Briefing. "This provides the benefits of high availability, scale out (application load balancing), and disaster recovery, while shielding applications from the complexities of managing the underlying physical server environments."
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