Virtual databases: An alternative solution

Server virtualisation is an efficient way to save on server hardware
costs, real estate, and management resources, but it isn’t the
only way. Just ask the folks at Avanade, a systems integrator
specialising in Microsoft solutions. For one government customer,
Avanade had originally designed hundreds of SQL Servers in highly
available MSCS (Microsoft Cluster Server) clusters, but the system was
spiralling out of control.

“We had roughly 50 percent of the SQL Server nodes acting in a
passive capacity,” says David K. Miller, Avanade’s director
of technology and infrastructure in the U.K. “This was a
potentially huge expenditure in server hardware, rack space, network
and storage infrastructure. And we still had to monitor and patch them
all.”

To reduce both its hardware and database software costs, Avanade
turned to PolyServe Database Utility for SQL Server, which is based on
the company’s Matrix Server virtualisation technology. As opposed
to traditional server virtualisation, PolyServe uses a symmetrical
cluster file system to allow all servers in a cluster to see all the
data within the Windows file system, creating a single, virtualised
storage and server pool. Previously, some instances of SQL Server might
have used only 10 percent of their available storage, whereas others
were bursting at the seams and would need to be taken offline to expand
their storage. Sharing the storage pool improves overall storage
utilisation, while still giving the performance benefits of dedicated
servers.

PolyServe also gave Miller more hardware flexibility. “Unlike
with MSCS, all the nodes in the cluster don’t have to be
identical, so we had the option to mix two-way, four-way, and eight-way
servers in the same cluster,” he says. “This would allow us
to move an instance of a SQL Server from a two-node to an eight-node
server for heavy overnight batch processing, while moving the off-peak
online traffic from the eight-way to a four-way or two-way server at
the same time, then moving them back the next morning.”

PolyServe’s “dynamic rehosting” feature can move
SQL Server instances from server to server in seconds. It also allows
every server in a cluster of as many as 16 nodes, active or passive, to
act as a fail-over target for every other server. Compared with MSCS,
which limits a cluster to eight nodes, Miller estimates that
PolyServe’s approach has reduced the number of passive nodes by
80 percent across the enterprise.

“Server virtualisation was not the answer for us, as the
processing requirements of our SQL Server deployments really required
us to put them on their own physical platforms,” Miller says.
“PolyServe’s product allowed us to reduce the number of
physical servers by reducing the number of passive nodes.”

Contact:

PolyServe, Inc. (001 503-617-7574)

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Mozilla Patches Firefox, Thunderbird

Mozilla Corp. Thursday updated its Firefox browser to fix 7 flaws, including 4 pegged by the open-source developer as "Critical."

Of the four critical vulnerabilities patched in Firefox 1.5.0.7, none are currently being exploited, Mozilla said in detailed descriptions of each fixed flaw.
In fact, Mozilla said in several of the descriptions that it was not
sure whether the specific vulnerabilities could be exploited, but had
issued patches just in case.

"We presume that at least some of these could be exploited to run arbitrary code with enough effort," Mozilla stated in one patch's explanation.

That jibes with recent comments made by the company's new security chief, Window Snyder, who pointed out in a Tuesday interview that Mozilla's developers fix bugs even if they can't prove they are exploitable.

Two of the remaining 3 patches were labeled as "Moderate," while the third was tagged as "Important" by Mozilla. Danish vulnerability tracker Secunia, on the other hand, gave the update a collective "Highly critical" rating, its second-most-dire ranking.

Mozilla also updated the Thunderbird e-mail client to 1.5.0.7, and patched 6 vulnerabilities, 2 of them critical.

The independent Camino and SeaMonkey projects updated their applications Thursday, too. The former, a native Mac OS X browser, moved up to version 1.0.3
by fixing several critical security and stability problems, and
integrated the patches to the most recent Gecko rendering engine. SeaMonkey, which is a follow-on to the discontinued Mozilla browsing suite, migrated to version 1.0.5.

Firefox 1.5.0.7 and Thunderbird 1.5.0.7 can be downloaded from the
Mozilla site. Existing users, meanwhile can update from within the
browser or e-mail client (Help|Check for Updates in the Windows
version), or wait for the automatic update service to kick in.

The new versions are available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in 37 language-localized versions.

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Adobe profit tops forecast

Design software maker Adobe
Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:ADBE - news) on Thursday posted a lower quarterly
profit as expenses rose, but results topped average Wall Street
forecasts and shares rose 8 percent.

Martin Pyykkonn, an analyst at Global Crown Capital, said
the results reassured investors that demand remained healthy
for Adobe's Creative Suite 2 offering and other products and
that customers were not putting off purchases until new
software releases next spring.

"The results showed some unexpected upside," Pyykkonn said.
"It looks like the situation is playing out where you don't
have a dramatic fall off in a product cycle and then a rise."

The maker of PhotoShop software said third-quarter net
income fell to $94.4 million, or 16 cents per share, from
$144.9 million, or 29 cents per share, a year ago as the
company.

Excluding items such as expenses related to its acquisition
of Macromedia, the company said it posted a per-share profit of
29 cents.

On that basis, analysts on average were expecting the
company to post a profit before items of 26 cents per share on
revenue of $594.2 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Adobe bought Macromedia last December for $3.4 billion to
complement its strength in editing and distributing static
content such as text, photos and graphics with Macromedia's
ability to create Web graphics and advertising in its Flash
technology.

The company said expenses rose to $422.7 million from
$276.0 million as the software maker spent more in areas such
as sales and marketing and booked charges related to
Macromedia. Still, Chizen said the company was able to keep
costs down.

Revenue rose to $602.2 million from $487.3 million as sales
of the company's Acrobat file-sharing product were better than
expected, said Chief Executive Bruce Chizen.

Looking ahead to the current fourth quarter, Adobe forecast
revenue of $655 million to $685 million, with earnings per
share before items ranging from 32 cents to 34 cents.

The Wall Street view was for fourth-quarter revenue of
$670.5 million and earnings per share before items of 32 cents.

Adobe shares rose 8 percent to $36.26 in extended trading
from a Nasdaq close of $33.65.

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