Stock Exchange Bullish; May Yield 171% Grid ROI

By Mainstay Partners

In 2002, the Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX) was exhausting the capacity of its legacy database server. The way the server was configured then made its management cumbersome. Recovery from a hardware failure could take up to three hours, at worst, but outages of 15 to 20 minutes, which were more common, were also unacceptable.

When it decided to replace its legacy system, CHX faced the challenge of how to estimate capacity for a new system, as the stock market was entering a downturn at that time. If CHX bought more server power than it needed, it would be paying for idle capacity. However, if it purchased too little capacity, the exchange risked throwing away the hardware investment when market activity picked up and business needs required a larger machine.

Then CHX found a way to meet both its high-availability and hardware-economy requirements. It chose an enterprise grid solution using Oracle Database with Real Application Clusters, Oracle Application Server and Oracle Enterprise Manager. This move allowed CHX to limit its initial hardware investment to the server power it currently needed and provided the flexibility to incrementally scale-out system capacity as demand dictates.

CHX is upgrading its system to Oracle 10g to further improve system automation and centralized management. CHX increased the number of servers in its grid configuration from two to four, further minimizing the risk of downtime.

Servers at Work
Prior to using Oracle Real Application Clusters, CHX ran on two HP AlphaServer GS60 servers. "We recorded a lot of trading information during the day, and then at night we would process it," says David Milne, director of database technologies for the Chicago Stock Exchange. "That meant one of these big machines was virtually idle while the other was very busy. We could failover and run on one machine, but that was just to get us through a crisis."

CHX runs its online customer service, batch reporting and data mining systems along with a near-real-time decision support system on Oracle. Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control manages the system and runs on economical HP ES40 servers. The resulting infrastructure has greater flexibility for allocating workloads to get the most out of the resources. "Since I now have jobs divided onto four machines, it's easier to see where the problems are and better tune the systems," Milne adds. "We can now quickly identify and fix problems instead of just having to live with the problems because we weren't able to see what was going on."

CHX officials also note the system consistently achieves more predictable CPU utilization rates with Oracle's grid environment than in the past and is capable of handling mixed workloads, including batch loads and online transaction-processing systems. Over time, CHX can expand its 10g environment by scaling out with additional server and storage modules - a strategy that Mainstay predicts will avoid costly hardware replacements.

Productivity Boost
CHX officials expect significant productivity increases, operational benefits and improved customer satisfaction levels with its Oracle enterprise grid solution. These benefits can be attributed to the built-in automation in Oracle Database 10g and the self-tuning capabilities of Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g, such as Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM). ADDM simplifies the query-tuning process, eliminating routine diagnostics and manual performance "fire drills."

Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control will also provide CHX greater visibility through centralized system management. This approach will ease the challenge of managing mixed workloads in an enterprise grid by dynamically monitoring and shifting resources, as predetermined according to CHX's business rules. The increased automation allows CHX to shift DBAs and systems administrators away from routine maintenance tasks to more strategic projects.

"One of my biggest goals is to continuously improve our computing environment, making it seamless and transparent, so the customers never know that there's a database serving them," Milne says. "Oracle Real Application Clusters on HP keeps our database up and running, allowing our customers to conduct business on their schedule. Oracle helps us ensure maximum uptime so we're here whenever our customers need us."

Clear ROI
The Mainstay study predicts CHX's investment in Oracle technology will yield a return on investment of 171 percent over five years and an internal rate of return of 47 percent. According CHX executives, Oracle's enterprise grid computing solution has provided opportunities for improved operations and customer service, as well as cost savings stemming from headcount avoidance due to improved overall system manageability.