Case Study

Mainfreight deploys WMS Disaster Recovery and reduces licensing by 80%

Mainfreight European operations recognized the need to protect mission-critical supply chain data within their Warehouse Management Solution (WMS) by implementing an Oracle best-practice Disaster Recovery solution.

Their situation

In 2011, Mainfreight Belgium implemented a new Warehouse Management System (WMS) to achieve a near real-time logistics service to support a key customer’s supply chain.

The WMS contains critical and sensitive information, and any unavailability results in delayed deliveries and interrupted assembly lines.

To protect the WMS, Mainfreight was seeking a full Disaster Recovery (DR) solution at a remote location to perform a database failover at a moment’s notice and have the DR site operational within minutes (RTO).

Overview

Solution:

Achieved robust offsite best practice DR for Oracle
Reached RTO requirements of recovery within a few minutes
Self-sufficient operation and support of the DR solution

Results:

Saving approximately 80% in up-front and ongoing licensing costs
Achieved robust offsite best practice DR for Oracle
Reached RTO requirements of recovery within a few minutes
Self-sufficient operation and support of the DR solution

How we helped the client

The IT department chose to evaluate Oracle Data Guard and Dbvisit Standby as both were proven, reliable physical data replication solutions that prioritized database integrity.

Mainfreight quickly ruled out Oracle Data Guard due to price. While the WMS was able to utilize Oracle Standard Edition, Data Guard required an Oracle Enterprise license, increasing the overall cost of the Oracle licenses by almost 600%!

The reliability and simplicity of Standby allowed the team to construct an operational test installation within a few hours of downloading the software. They were then able to successfully deliver the full production solution using only Dbvisit’s online training tools and documentation, without the need for any specialist training from Dbvisit.

Standby offers an intuitive user interface with guided workflows to effortlessly create standby databases and perform one-click failover. This design makes it unbelievably easy for new users to confidently use the software.

Such is the reliability and simplicity of Dbvisit Standby that the team was able to construct an operational test installation within a few hours of downloading the product. They were then able to successfully deliver the full production solution using only Dbvisit’s online training tools and documentation, without the need for any specialist training from Dbvisit.

The positive outcome

Mainfreight’s implementation of Standby delivered a cost-effective DR solution that met the demands of the business, including the Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for their WMS.

Dbvisit Standby allowed the customer to maximise their investment in Oracle Standard Edition, saving 80% on its total up-front license fees. The ease of implementation further reduced the up-front costs of the solution.

Standby’s usability and low overhead means the internal team have been able to support and operate the business continuity system completely in-house, delivering a low cost of ownership.

Tags: Case Study, Oracle SE, Minimal Data Loss, Disaster resilience, Warehouse Management System, Cost reduction, Transport