Tag Archives: server
Effective database activity monitoring (Page 1 of 2)
There are a number of reasons for organisations to deploy Database Activity Monitoring or DAM solutions, which can range anywhere from compliance to cover overall security.
DAM is a data centre technology, which monitors how the data that is stored in core databases and file servers is being accessed; it works on analyzing access behaviour to detect data breaches, if any; and takes action accordingly to mitigate them.
Various rules and regulations, compliance laws, etc also are increasingly forcing organisations to tighten their control over sensitive data they store, and have a verifiable audit trail that can be signed off, if required, by the appropriate organisational executives.
Database Activity Monitoring Architecture
Different DAM vendors have different ways of tracking activities in a database and therefore implementation of architecture is also slightly different.
A DAM with single appliance or single server architecture provides 1-to-1 mapping of a database server with a monitoring appliance; thus it acts both as a sensor and a collector of appropriate data. DAM with this configuration is good for a small database; however, for larger databases it might not be enough effective. Then there is DAM with 2-tier architecture, consisting of a centralised management server; this server collects information from a set of remote sensors or collection points. With this architecture there is a better degree of system scalability.
DAM with hierarchical architecture builds further onto the 2-tier architecture; this system is best suited for larger organizations; these DAMs are capable of supporting a larger number of sensors and collectors, distributed across a large enterprise.
Advanced Database Activity Monitoring Techniques
The process through which all SQL traffic to a database is monitored is called Network monitoring. Network monitoring allows monitoring multiple databases simultaneously; all the commands that are sent across to databases under scrutiny, are kept track of. The activities of users that are logged directly into the server via a local console are not recorded. Performance of a database is not affected by network monitoring, as no overhead is placed over the database directly.
In remote monitoring, a SQL collector is placed on the database with administrative privileges; the native database auditing is also enabled. The collector aggregates all activity collected by the auditing tools. This type of monitoring imposes an overhead on the database as logging is enabled on the database server, causing it to work more. The advantage of remote monitoring is that all database activities are collected, including that of a user who is logged directly into the server.
One can install local agents on each database that is being monitored, but it is not necessary that they would be successful in detecting all database activity; it would depend on how these agents have been configured, and how much closer to the database they are allowed to sit.
Differences between web hostings and cloud computing
The term “cloud” has become highly present in the web hostings market during recent times. Making something available or putting something “in the cloud” is a major trend. So what is the fuzz all about?
There are several distinct differences between web hostings and cloud computing. In a clouded environment the web hosting provider maintains greater control, but given the elasticity of a virtualized environment the server is much more capable of meeting rapid influxes in traffic than it would be in a regular hosting scenario. That elasticity amounts for one of the most advantageous benefits of a clustered hosting environment. Previously a rapid influx in traffic had the potential to crowd a server to the point of failure, making it a distinct possibility that the website would crash.
Cloud computing, or cluster hosting as it is more commonly being referred to enables a single server to be virtually divided into a multitude of individual virtual servers. Data or information stored on each clouded server can be backed up with greater CPU power than would have been available by conventional means.
Cluster hosting works by taking advantage of the virtually connected servers to meet the fluctuating demands of the websites housed on the server. Overcrowding is unlikely to become a problem in a clouded environment, since there is little chance that each website on the server will experience high traffic simultaneously.
The advantages are pretty straight forward. You (your application or website) is hosted on a big server farm, where each server is performing a special task and being a backup or fallback for other machines in the farm. Your web application can use resources across the various machines, hence making it extremely simple to host many services on one big server farm (cloud). The biggest advantage for you as a user is the (almost) unlimited scalability your application can achieve within the cloud. By adding further resources to the cloud, the provider can deal with an increase in resource usage by the users, thus giving the users the ability to grow their projects within the same environment, without having to switch product or provider every time they reach a certain size, disc space or bandwidth.
Some of the most common problems associated with web hosting(especially the top web hosts) can be mitigated by electing to deploy a cluster hosting solution. Not only does it provide the confidence that comes with knowing that a website will receive optimal uptime and resiliency it also enables webmasters to take advantage of the power, space and security of the websites of their peers since everyone shares the process and features virtually while still having their own personal server allocation.
the top ten web hosts list some web hostings providers which supports cluster hosting.
Differences between web hostings and cloud computing
The term “cloud” has become highly present in the web hostings market during recent times. Making something available or putting something “in the cloud” is a major trend. So what is the fuzz all about?
There are several distinct differences between web hostings and cloud computing. In a clouded environment the web hosting provider maintains greater control, but given the elasticity of a virtualized environment the server is much more capable of meeting rapid influxes in traffic than it would be in a regular hosting scenario. That elasticity amounts for one of the most advantageous benefits of a clustered hosting environment. Previously a rapid influx in traffic had the potential to crowd a server to the point of failure, making it a distinct possibility that the website would crash.
Cloud computing, or cluster hosting as it is more commonly being referred to enables a single server to be virtually divided into a multitude of individual virtual servers. Data or information stored on each clouded server can be backed up with greater CPU power than would have been available by conventional means.
Cluster hosting works by taking advantage of the virtually connected servers to meet the fluctuating demands of the websites housed on the server. Overcrowding is unlikely to become a problem in a clouded environment, since there is little chance that each website on the server will experience high traffic simultaneously.
The advantages are pretty straight forward. You (your application or website) is hosted on a big server farm, where each server is performing a special task and being a backup or fallback for other machines in the farm. Your web application can use resources across the various machines, hence making it extremely simple to host many services on one big server farm (cloud). The biggest advantage for you as a user is the (almost) unlimited scalability your application can achieve within the cloud. By adding further resources to the cloud, the provider can deal with an increase in resource usage by the users, thus giving the users the ability to grow their projects within the same environment, without having to switch product or provider every time they reach a certain size, disc space or bandwidth.
Some of the most common problems associated with web hosting(especially the top web hosts) can be mitigated by electing to deploy a cluster hosting solution. Not only does it provide the confidence that comes with knowing that a website will receive optimal uptime and resiliency it also enables webmasters to take advantage of the power, space and security of the websites of their peers since everyone shares the process and features virtually while still having their own personal server allocation.
the top ten web hosts list some web hostings providers which supports cluster hosting.