Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego (SSC San Diego) is one of five field activities of Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR). SPAWAR and its systems centers provide much of the tactical and non-tactical information management technology required by the Navy to complete its operational missions.

About JNetDirect's JSQLConnect Product
JSQLConnect is the fastest, most reliable way to access Microsoft SQL Server products from your Java, .JSP or J2EE applications. JSQLConnect is a robust type 5 driver that currently executes millions of transactions daily for SQL Server applications worldwide. It allows quick access of Microsoft SQL Server from Java applications, Servlets, EJBs, JSPs and applets. No other product offers the breadth of support for Microsoft SQL Server and the commitment to JDBC standards as JSQLConnect.

Capable for providing database access for any sized enterprise, JSQLConnect includes Trusted Authentication for Microsoft Windows 2000 and NT 4.0 user accounts, pre-verified connection pools, distributed transactions and secure JDBC/HTTP firewall tunneling. JSQLConnect supports Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 with the latest JDBC capabilities.

"Another very important issue for DIRECTV is the service behind the NetDirect products.  JNetDirect's staff has always been there to help with technical issues - long after the sale," says Edward Rickter, DIRECTV's Chief Architect, Internet Technology.  "In fact, I've been dealing with the same sales and technical contacts at NetDirect for the past three years.  In this day and age, performance and technology are nice, but they take a back seat to service, reliability and ROI.  NetDirect has exceeded our expectations on all fronts."

BENEFITS

• Ease of use
• Improved deployment process
• Automated maintenance and administration reduced errors
• Ability to automatically deploy SQL scripts to multiple databases simultaneously

VERTICAL INDUSTRY

Information Technology

INTRODUCTION

Internet Testing Systems (ITS) provides computer-based services for companies and organizations that deliver tests in an online environment. This can range from a standardized test at the K-12 education level to a board exam for professional fields such as medicine and information technology.

ITS hosts the databases and web sites needed for each client testing environment. The company creates the software and mechanism for test delivery; alternatively, customers may also create tests themselves in a self-service environment using ITS’ tools. With customers ranging from Google, Microsoft and Autodesk to the National Board of Medical Examiners and Educational Testing Services, ITS needs to be able to make sure all database objects and scripts needed in various testing environments are accurate and can be accessed quickly.

SITUATION

ITS has to distribute its database objects and scripts across the dozens of databases required for a single testing scenario. To do this, the company created a separate database for each test to make sure that all objects were in one place and easily accessible. This was a largely manual process, which sometimes resulted in human error and delays.

ITS looked for a solution that primarily offered ease-of-use for its 25-person development team, as well as support for security measures so it could enforce who has access to what, thereby improving accuracy and the speed of database object and script deployment.

SOLUTION

ITS was impressed with JNetDirect Combine’s feature set and price point and was especially interested in its ability to deploy to multiple databases simultaneously. The company was also drawn to the product’s administration and security functions, which allow ITS to control who is allowed in what areas and what they are able to do, which increases the integrity of each deployment.

BENEFITS

JNetDirect Combine helped ITS greatly improve its process of deploying database objects and scripts. Rather than having to create separate objects and scripts, the automated nature of the product has allowed ITS to create them once and ensure they get executed on all relevant databases, thereby greatly improving consistency and deployment speed. This is especially useful in situations where there might be 100 scripts that have to be applied across dozens of databases.

In fact, since 2007, ITS has created more than 3,000 Combine deployment packages, each consisting of one or more SQL scripts that could run on up to 45 databases simultaneously. The 3,000 packages contain more than 13,000 scripts, and without JNetDirect Combine each of those scripts would have to be manually deployed to each of the 45 databases. The product also provides management of logging and error notification.

ITS would like to continue improving automation within its environment, eventually adding the ability to automatically schedule and execute scripts, which today has to be done manually. But in the meantime, JNetDirect Combine has given ITS a stable, reliable platform to distribute database objects and scripts across multiple SQL Server databases and environments.

BENEFITS

• Enterprise-grade reliability and scalability
• Ease of integration, no install costs
• Huge man-hour time savings

VERTICAL INDUSTRIES

Insurance Industry

COUNTRY / REGION

Worldwide

INTRODUCTION

Benfield offers a range of services that assist the majority of the world’s insurance and reinsurance companies in the structuring and execution of insurance, reinsurance and other forms of risk transfer. Benfield has an international network of over 40 offices.

As Benfield expanded its business and reliance on its data, it had trouble keeping its production database in sync across all 40+ servers that are currently responsible for serving complex CRM and ERP systems as well as custom applications in a global environment.

Benfield chose Combine because it provided a clear solution to a complex data environment. Not only could Combine create a true ROI for the Benfield database team, it also reduced errors, streamlined complicated processes, and eliminated daily pain points.

SITUATION

Benfield has 40+ instances of SQL Server running across a global network containing terabytes of business-critical data. Prior to JNetDirect Combine™, Benfield’s database change and administration process was manual and overly time consuming. The main issues revolved around a manual rollout process of script execution. Considering the number of SQL servers and instances in the company’s IT network, database synchronization was not a viable way to push out changes. Moreover, running change scripts required that the DBA in charge had a complete understanding of the entire environment and knew which servers matched the appropriate script.

With 40+ servers to maintain, users needed to log into each server and manually execute each script, or alternatively use command line features that are provided with the native tools which lack visibility, transparency, and are not acceptable as an enterprise solution. The complexity of this IT environment created a painful and error prone process. In most cases, errors weren’t discovered until days later which made it difficult to know what script was missed, where, and why.

Additionally, because of the complexity associated with these tasks, the rollout process could only be managed by a handful of experts on Benfield’s team. Benfield sought a solution that was cost-effective, reduced rollout and management time requirements, eased the rollout process, and reduced the error-prone nature of its daily and weekly tasks.

SOLUTION

Benfield needed to organize, track and execute scripts across a complex data environment. Benfield could develop proprietary software, or it could look for an off-the-shelf solution. Benfield did not want to support a proprietary system internally due to cost and maintenance constraints. Benfield initially experimented with other automated change management and synchronization tools however found that other products could not provide the flexibility, manageability, visibility and portability that are critical to DBAs and deployment/change managers.

Benfield found the JNEtDirect Combine solution ideal because it was the only solution that could execute scripts across multiple connections in one pass, while providing the user with complete real-time trail of messages and logging information. By using JNetDirect Combine’s™ dynamic containers feature, Benfield could generate a data store that automatically selected the servers and then applied the correct scripts depending on their configuration. Each of JNetDirect Combine’s™ dynamic containers is driven by a stored procedure that accepts a number of parameters. Once the parameters have been entered and executed, the result is a listing of databases and servers to which the changes will be applied. This alone solved the main issue of remembering which server received what type of change, but also passed the parameters entered into their scripts. Benfield could write one script and upon script execution apply the appropriate scheme change based on each unique server connection.

JNetDirect Combine™ not only helped Benfield build a database inventory to keep track of all its SQL servers, instances and databases, but also increased service levels because of consistency and reliable deployment. It also drastically reduced rollout change time. Most of Benfield’s rollouts occur afterhours and require an individual to log in and roll those changes in the evening.

Depending on the nature of the rollout, this could take a couple of hours to complete the manual process to get all servers in sync. By executing rollouts via JNetDirect Combine™, the process now only takes a few minutes and will eventually be completely automated. Additionally, by using the command line arguments Benfield believes it can eliminate the after-hours role of the individual.

BENEFITS

JNetDirect Combine solved many of the issues experienced by the Benfield database administration team. Importantly, it solved change management and deployment problems experienced by Benfield. By reducing risk and increasing efficiency of its operations, Combine provided Benfield with a real return on their investment.

Specifically, Combine saved each member of Benfield’s team 3 hours per week for DBA time and 2 hours per rollout (average of twice a week), or a total of 49 hours a week.

Overall, Combine reduced man-hour time requirements, improved accountability, and made managing Benfield’s databases much easier.