It doesn't have to be hard

A common problem we've encountered is the need to replicate storage between sites for availability, performance or disaster recovery.

In the absence of any open standard for storage replication, this can be difficult to do across storage vendors and even across products from the same vendor.

It can be easily handled in sites which run Oracle Solaris, however, thanks to Storagetek Availability Suite. This particular solution can provide point in time snapshots and/or remote mirroring with _any_ storage connected to a solaris server. A link to information about this most interesting--and unique--product is here:

• http://www.oracle.com/us/products/servers-storage/storage/storage-software/034791.pdf

Other replication solutions available from Oracle work with storage devices from the same family--the Unified Storage or 7000 series, or the Pillar Axiom range of storage systems. Sun Cluster also supports vendor specific replication from Hitachi and EMC, as well as Oracle Data Guard and MySQL replication.

There are thus multiple ways to tackle this particular issue.

Development of a comprehensive claims, risk management and incident management system

We take pride in our high quality work and development of tailored software for our clients. The most rewarding part of building tailored software is gaining insight and knowledge into the workings of other real world industries. Remora doesn't just build software to a script, we work with our clients to completely understand their needs and industry to ensure the best results.

A long running project we have undertaken has to develop a WorkCover claim management web application from the ground up to replace a legacy system. This meant addition of new features, such as risk management, OHS components and including nation-wide insurance claim management. After 3 years of building, maintaining and extending this software, Remora engineers have gained a detailed understanding of the WorkCover industry and can anticipate the client needs and provide relevant and concise feedback and progress. In short, we speak their language.

MySQL in financial services

MySQL has a well deserved popularity as the backend database for both small and large websites. With ever increasing features, reliability and performance it has now also found it's way into many other areas including those which traditionally have used more expensive proprietary relational database systems.

When one of Australia's largest financial services companies required support and advice in ensuring their MySQL infrastructure remained performant, operational and secure they turned to Remora. We have provided ongoing support to IOOF over several years, helping ensure that their mainstay business and trading applications continued to work in a fast, secure and reliable manner. MySQL is now used in vital applications across the IOOF organisation, proving it's utility in mission critical systems.

Monitoring MySQL with Splunk

Splunk provides a platform upon which custom monitoring systems can be built quickly and easily. Many apps exist at http://splunkbase.com providing monitoring and visibility for different hardware and software platforms, however none existed for the MySQL database.

When REA group were looking to increase visibility of their MySQL server performance and pre-empt problems, having Remora tailor a solution on Splunk was a good choice. This monitor integrates with their other Splunk monitoring allowing not just visibility of changes in their MySQL performance but how that performance is affected by web traffic or internal systems. When built the Splunk MySQL application allowed us to find and fix several problems with their database performance before they caused any serious problems.

The Splunk MySQL monitor application will soon be implemented again at one of Austrlia's largest online retailers.

MySQL database consulting

From optimisation to clustering Remora can make your MySQL install better.