E-book 9 Ways to Lower Costs & Increase Database Performance

9 Ways to Lower Costs & Increase Database Performance

E-book

By: Eric Russo

1. Improve Overall Database Performance to Lower Compute Costs

2. Improved Handling of Unplanned Downtime

3. Planning for the Cloud

4. License Optimization & Consolidation

5. Protecting Data

6. Archiving

7. Security

8. Connection Methods

9. Data Warehouses

Final Thoughts

Contents

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9 Ways to Lower Costs & Increase Database Performance | © 2020 Datavail, Inc. All rights reservedPage 2 9 Ways to Lower Costs & Increase Database Performance | © 2020 Datavail, Inc. All rights reserved Page 3

IntroductionPeople in database professional roles generally focus on maximizing performance, data security and availability of the databases. However, they don't include "cost savings" on their priority list. Upper management often views IT departments as a cost center, which can impact the budget that they allocate for vital projects and resources.

Due to COVID-19, many businesses needed to spend rapidly to put remote work technology in place. Now a global recession demands that organizations take a hard look at the cost of their database administration and other operating expenses.

A database administrator needs to explore ways to manage overall costs while improving database performance. There are nine ways database administrators can directly impact the bottom line.

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1. Improve Overall Database Performance to Lower Compute Costs

Some companies take an approach that essentially boils down to "throwing money at the symptoms, not the cause." They add more compute resources rather than looking for ways to fix the performance issue. While this method solves the problem in the short run, they end up in the exact same situation. The compute resources go up exponentially and create a significant set of expenses.

Database administrators can step in to address the bottlenecks through database tuning. Three areas that can result in performance improvements include changing setting indexes, fixing bad code, and changing the way log files are distributed.

Another performance issue that we’ve seen is a retailer that spent $1M on a hardware upgrade, but their database had a parameter set for a memory maximum that was less than the original machine. The DBA solved the performance issue and eliminated the need for extra hardware.

The database administrator can use solutions to learn more about what is happening with the database and how the current processes create bottlenecks. Once it's optimized, it costs less overall and no longer needs as much compute power. Proactively monitored databases reduce the workload needed to maintain performance and address any issues that occur.


Performance bottlenecks create many problems within the enterprise, from lost productivity to unplanned downtime. Without high availability of the database, business continuity is impossible to maintain and has direct financial consequences.

While productivity loss is typically measured by the time spent by end users, it's also important to consider how much IT time it eats up. Trying to find the root cause of the performance bottleneck and then resolving it requires specialist attention and resources.

2. Improved Handling of Unplanned Downtime

A reactive approach rarely works well in IT. While that might take care of the current set of fires, another incident looms over the horizon and results in a frantic, inefficient pace. Database administrators need a proactive approach that addresses potential problems before they ever lead to unplanned downtime.

Organizations can accomplish this through a strategic mindset that's powered by proactive practices. Database administrators have the time and the resources to look into new technology that could reduce costs or look deeper into database analytics to see how users access this resource and how that could change in a beneficial way.

They also stay ahead of unplanned downtime by identifying the early warning signs of an impending error or crash. It gets fixed then and there, rather than leading to a more catastrophic failure.

3. Planning for the Cloud

Many organizations are currently or planning on using the cloud for applications, platforms, infrastructure and other areas. Database administrators can prepare for this by creating a strategy that includes how the cloud fits into the infrastructure and the way they can leverage it to decrease database costs. The scalability of the cloud and the lack of upfront costs and most ongoing maintenance can make a big difference in the budget.


4. License Optimization & Consolidation

The license cost for the database may be a small part of the expenses, but it can add up quickly when the company uses a high license cost solution. Decreasing this expense or moving to open source systems is another way for database administrators to help improve cost savings in the organization.

You can also realize savings through verifying that the correct version is licensed. It’s common to find databases running on expensive versions when they only use the standard edition features.

You can move from physical to virtual deployments, but make sure to verify the license terms before using this approach. You may trigger licensing increments based on the complicated rules that each vendor deploys.

Database installation spread occurs frequently. As departments purchase new applications, they also provision a new database server. Individual databases that have their own servers may be able to be consolidated onto the same server to reduce the need for more server operating system licenses.

5. Protecting DataWhen companies lose critical data and have no way to retrieve it, they may lose millions of dollars as a result. It’s not unheard of to see a business shut its doors due to the direct and indirect expenses related to lost data. Effective backups protect this information and provides a way for organizations to minimize lost work.

Ensure that disaster recovery plans are tested and working. Learning that a backup didn’t operate, or the files are corrupted are not discoveries that anyone wants to make in the middle of an emergency response.



6. Archiving

You don’t need to store every bit of data for all time, and historical data rarely needs to be on the same type of equipment as the files you access every single day. A few ways database administrators optimize older data is to move it to table partitions that reside on slower, less costly disks, reduce database sizes by using archival systems, and purging data once it’s no longer legally required.

7. Security

Data breaches are an expensive prospect for companies, as they suffer the immediate damage that comes from the downtime and potential data loss, and then the long-term impact to their reputation when customers find out about the attack. By putting proper controls in place to protect information against data breaches, you can reduce these costs.

8. Connection MethodsThe database administrators can optimize protocols and ways that applications connect to databases, in order to streamline data retrieve. Optimizing protocols and ways applications connect to databases to streamline data retrieval.

9. Data WarehousesPurpose-built data lakes and data warehouses support business analytics and reporting needs in the most efficient way possible. Since all of the settings, hardware, and software are centered around this use case, it gets the job done in a cost-effective and high-performance manner.



Final Thoughts

Datavail has the specialized DBAs that you need to support your cost savings and performance increasing efforts. We have extensive experience with supporting databases across many industries and have leading partnerships with major database platforms including AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, and MongoDB.

Contact us to discuss your database optimization and spend needs.

https://www.datavail.com/database-cost-savings/

https://www.datavail.com/about/contact-us/

About DatavailDatavail is a company of over 1,000 professionals helping clients build and manage applications and data via a world-class tech-enabled delivery platform and software solutions across all leading technologies.

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Documents

E-book 9 Ways to Lower Costs & Increase Database Performance