In a bid to prevent downtime within its IT infrastructure, the Swaziland Electricity Board (SEB) has turned to a locally developed database monitoring and management solution to detect potentially destructive errors in its computer systems.
Mbabane-based SEB acquired PM Ora Professional and PM Monitor from Johannesburg-based PM Tech, an IT company that supplies IT services, skills, high-tech solutions and related equipment.
"Our key objectives are to improve the quality and reliability of power supply, emphasise customer focus and business performance within our organisation and ensure competitiveness in the energy market," says Ephram Kunene, systems analyst at SEB.
SEB, which has 750 employees, supplies electrical power to private and commercial customers throughout Swaziland. It is currently involved in many projects, including the Maguga dam development and an initiative to build a coal-fired power station in the country.
Mike Leeuwen, director of PM Tech, says SEB - like many other global institutions and companies - is experiencing a database administrator (DBA) skills shortage.
"There is a particularly high demand for Oracle database administrator (DBA) skills worldwide and SEB found that recruiting fulltime staff is expensive and time-consuming. In addition, it is difficult to retain DBAs when they are trained. Without access to Oracle DBA expertise, SEB`s Oracle-based IT systems may not achieve full performance."
Kunene agrees. He says the two Oracle databases run by SEB initially had no monitoring tools thus could not detect potential errors. However, PM Ora Professional and PM Monitor have resolved this problem.
Leeuwen says PM Ora Professional includes a DBA solution, which enables the centralised administration and monitoring of the Oracle database through a browser. "It allows SEB to retain its DBA skills of senior administrators, and give junior ones meaningful access to real data, without jeopardising data security."
The solution contains the complete tool suite of DBA - browser, preventative maintenance, performance and health checker, as well as capacity management and versioning. PM Ora Professional enables SEB`s DBAs to manage the Oracle database environment to maximise time for planning, development and expansion. In addition, the Oracle databases can be managed and administered from any Web-enabled client.
"PM Ora Professional also comes with several modules containing key features for administering the database. Running the versioning technology allows SEB IT staff to take defined snapshots of the database, save it and use it for comparison against another database at anytime," says Leeuwen.
"Also as PM Ora is Web-based, there is no need for any client software to be installed, and the management of the database can be done remotely."
Leeuwen points out that proactive management of the Oracle environment prevents the SEB databases from crashing and eliminates application-processing problems. "PM Monitor monitors the databases for the DBAs and identifies potential problems before they occur.
"The DBAs now have early notification of database problems and better performance. Other benefits of PM Tech`s solutions for SEB include the enhancement of current skills and resources, the development of DBA skills, and growth of the database disk space," Leeuwen adds.
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