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Building a Consolidated Data Center
2/27/2004
We chose the Linux operating system to reap the benefits of its low costs and scalability. The team determined that we could utilize three Linux servers for the price of one UNIX server. We also realized that achieving the required performance and availability from the university’s existing UNIX platform would be significantly more expensive than it would be in the Linux environment.
Vanderbilt also chose Oracle because the university’s studies proved the technology could provide savings up front in hardware costs and deliver additional economies over time.
New Application Server Improves Scalability, Simplifies Management
The need for higher availability, clustering functionality, and scalability drove Vanderbilt to select Oracle Application Server to replace our existing BEA WebLogic software. We found that Oracle offered greater scalability and simpler management capabilities. Capacity challenges, for example, are now addressed by simply adding a server to the environment and making minor configuration changes. Now, we can bring a server online in just a few hours with minimal system management burden.
The school’s new application infrastructure will have approximately 30,000 users, including students, faculty, and staff. We expect users to experience performance increases of up to 50 percent from using features such as Web caching.
The One-Enterprise Approach
While we considered many vendors for our data warehouse initiative, few shared Vanderbilt’s vision of a consolidated data center for university and medical center operations. The majority attempted to sell separately to the university and medical center. This represented a fundamental IT growth strategy stumbling block until working with Oracle, which took the time to recognize that Vanderbilt operates as one enterprise.
The university anticipates building on the benefits of a Linux-based environment by extending its power across all remaining databases. With the university’s data storage and processing rapidly expanding, we expect to add 20 processors a year—now a simple and iterative exercise.
Vanderbilt launched its Linux and consolidated database initiative to contain IT costs as systems scale and consolidate data for improved and secure access. Careful planning and analysis has built a solid foundation for future growth and allowed the university to maintain a single IT infrastructure across the academic and healthcare organizations.
Tim Getsay (tim.getsay@vanderbilt.edu) is assistant vice chancellor of Management
Information Systems at Vanderbilt University.
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