Offload Querying/Reporting from the Host to Commodity Systems
Figure 1 — Old Adapter Architecture: Reporting Application with Remote Enscribe Database Access
Situation
A large European steel tubing manufacturer runs its shop floor control applications on an HPE NonStop system. The manufacturer periodically generated reports on Linux systems using a connectivity tool that remotely accessed the NonStop Enscribe database.
Problems
- The architecture was susceptible to network failures, timeouts, and/or slowdowns when operating at full capacity.
- The remote query activity grew to the point that it interfered with the HPE NonStop system processing.
- The manufacturer needed access to its Enscribe data using standard ODBC connectivity for querying, reporting, and online analytical processing (OLAP) to leverage new analytical tools.
- The manufacturer needed to share the OLAP results back with the NonStop applications to optimize shop floor control.
Solution
- Use HPE Shadowbase Data Integration to offload querying/reporting from the host to commodity systems.
- Use HPE Shadowbase Essentials (which includes SBDDLUTL) to convert Enscribe DDL into the target SQL database formats.
Figure 2 — New Architecture: Replicated and Transformed Oracle Database for Reporting and Analytics
Shop Floor Control Reports and Analysis
In Figure 2, a shop floor application is making changes to an HPE NonStop Enscribe database. HPE Shadowbase software picks up these changes from the TMF Audit Trail, replicating and transforming them to the Linux system, and applying them into a replicated Oracle database. This architecture enables local data access for new Linux query and report applications to run query, analysis, OLAP, and decision support systems.
Shop Floor Control Alerts and Management
- Additionally, when a Linux query and report application reads shop metrics that are out-of-band, outside of acceptable or safe parameters, or that need to be optimized, it can update its local database with that information.
- HPE Shadowbase software will then pick up these changes, transforming the information in-flight into a readable format for the HPE NonStop shop floor application, and deliver that information either directly to this application or deliver the changes into a NonStop-based file or table that the application can access.
- This architecture creates a real-time alerting system for shop floor management and employees to quickly react and fix any potential problems before they become emergencies that would cause greater damage and disruption to manufacturing operations.
Outcomes
- Offloads querying/reporting from the host to commodity servers
- Creates a master-subordinate relationship between the host HPE NonStop and commodity Linux servers
- Increases availability for both applications since it eliminates the heavy strain on the network between the systems
- Converts Enscribe DDL into SQL formats to create the Oracle replicated database
- Introduces a new, upgraded architecture that can dynamically scale with query loads
- Creates new analytical functionality
- Enables local data access for queries with ODBC
- Replicates data bi-directionally, unleashing even more benefits from data sharing
HPE Shadowbase Products of Interest
Contact us or your HPE Shadowbase representative, and learn how Shadowbase software will benefit you.
Further Reading
Case Study: 
Large Manufacturer Uses Data Replication to Offload Online Host Processing and Enable New Business Applications
Related “Asymmetric Capacity Expansion” Case Studies:
Related Use Case: Scale Look-to-Book Ratio for Online Travel Agent System
Related Presentation: Is Your Data Sharing Solution Going E-O-S-L? Avoid Vendor Lock-in and Expose Your Valuable Enscribe Data
