Parallel Database Technology

SUMMARY

Parallel relational database management system, MPP technology for commercial and scientific data processing, parallel database system performance evaluation, integration of data processing intensive and CPU intensive applications, parallel database superserver, high bandwidth network access, multimedia server.

PARTICIPANTS

Northeast Parallel Architectures Center
Oracle Corporation

KEY CONTACTS

Marek Podgorny, podgorny@npac.syr.edu, (315) 443-4879

IMPACT

Powerful database server integrating transaction processing and decision support. Unprecedented processing power and storage capacity outside of the mainframe realm open new possibilities for interactive applications with high data processing demands. Integration with high bandwidth wide area network offers a testbed for innovative distributed applications. Attractive platform for network multimedia applications, including video on demand. In NPAC environment, together with other resources, Parallel Server offers a distributed, heterogenous platform for the development of applications demanding both high CPU power and complex, time-consuming data processing.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The currently funded project includes parallel database technology evaluation for the purpose of military applications. In the course of the project we have analyzed performance of the hardware and software components of the Parallel Oracle Server installed on the nCUBE2 MPP platform.

We carried out a detailed analysis of the I/O subsystem performance, including a study of its scalability and of its impact on the overall performance of the parallel server. In addition, we implemented a number of parallel data query operations on top of Oracle Parallel Server v.6.2 to investigate the limits of the technology and to evaluate the potential of the upcoming Parallel Server v.7.1 which will support parallel execution of the decision support type queries.

The current configuration of the server includes a 64 processor array with 2GB of RAM, 32 I/O nodes with SCSI controllers forming a scalable parallel I/O subsystem, 0.2 TB on-line disk space, and additional I/O nodes for control and networking. The server runs Oracle RDBMS v. 7.0.13. The server is currently being integrated with the high bandwidth NPAC LAN and with the ATM-based New York State NYNET wide area network. A number of commercial and military/dual-use applications are currently under discussion with the InfoMall partners, including fraud detection, imagery on demand, real-time news video server, GIS applications, and real-time market analysis.

Further plans for development of the parallel database technology in NPAC include beta testing of the IBM SP1 version of the Oracle Parallel Server and integration of a number Oracle tools, including their text retrieval system, with the Parallel Server.

REFERENCES

1) M. Podgorny, S. Costicoglou, K. Mills, "Notes on Parallel Database Technology and the Status of Oracle 7", NPAC Technical Report, SCCS 373, November 1992.

2) S. Costicoglou, M. Podgorny, A. Choudhary, "Performance Evaluation of the Oracle Parallel Server v. 6.2 on nCUBE2", NPAC Technical Report, SCCS 489, May 1993.

3) S. Costicoglou, M. Podgorny, A. Choudhary, "On Benchmarking the Oracle Parallel Server on nCUBE2", Proceedings of the IEEE Workshop on Advances in Parallel and Distributed Systems, Princeton, October 1993, IEEE Computer Society Press, in press.

4) S. Costicoglou, M. Podgorny, "Parallel Query Processing with Oracle v. 6.2 on nCUBE2", NPAC Technical Report, SCCS 504, August 1993.