International Oracle Users Group survey on high availability trends

June 16, 2006

The International Oracle Users Group has published the results of its 2006 survey into high availability trends. Sponsored by GoldenGate Software, and produced by Unisphere Media, L.L.C., the survey concludes that continuous, 24x7 availability is no longer just a marketing slogan; it is now a necessity for eight out of 10 Oracle-based enterprises.

With the rise of Internet-based business and service-oriented architectures that require that networks of applications and data be available to enterprise users when and where they need it, companies can no longer afford the luxury of taking their databases offline for any reason.

However, the survey of Oracle database sites found that close to nine out of 10 have experienced significant amounts of unplanned downtime over the past year, arising from infrastructure, application, and database issues. In some cases, these outages totaled more than 24 hours over a 12-month period. Along with unexpected problems, there were also times when databases needed to be intentionally powered down for maintenance or upgrade work. One out of four companies report that their systems were down more than 24 hours for planned downtime.

The survey was distributed via an e-mail to the IOUG members in April 2006. Overall, 265 usable responses were returned, for a margin of error of plus or minus seven percentage points.

The survey explored the strategies Oracle-based enterprises have been undertaking to achieve higher availability and business continuity. In many cases, the survey found that organizations rely on high availability technologies, in combination with older disaster recovery methods.

Key findings from the survey include the following:

• Infrastructure issues are the source of most unexpected database disruptions, followed by software and database glitches. Surprisingly, few enterprises report problems from external events – such as disasters, accidents, or security breaches.
• In terms of planned downtime, relatively routine activities such as maintenance and upgrades are the most likely to require taking databases offline. Database migrations result in the longest stretches of downtime.
• Eight out of 10 sites need to have at least some databases available on a continuous, 24x7 basis. However, most have not adopted clustering or grid solutions to ensure availability.
• Enterprises are using both disk-based and tape backup solutions to help ensure availability and continuity. However, most do not yet have a comprehensive business continuity plan.

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