Vista looks to PM Ora for database monitoring

Vista University, the South African contact and distance learning tertiary education facility, has implemented locally developed solutions from PM Ora Software to monitor and manage its Oracle-based environments.

The university has campuses in Pretoria, Soweto, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Mamelodi, Potchestroom and Sebokeng.

It is currently using an Oracle proprietary package (Focus Oracle) to monitor its two 11GB Oracle databases, but intends utilising the wider functionality of PM Ora`s Enterprise System Monitoring (ESM) and Enterprise Focus products for monitoring more elements of its IT infrastructure - including operating systems, servers and networks - when it completes its upgrade to Oracle 8i later this year.

Victor Botlhokwane, database administrator at Vista, says the university`s current focus is on the databases - one production, the other a backup system.

"They contain everything we need to run the university, so making sure they operate at peak efficiency is critical, and the ability to identify and respond quickly to problems has become even more important."

Botlhokwane says that in addition to personnel, management and financial data, the databases also support the ITS student administration system, which currently manages about 25 000 students.

"The system monitors the databases online providing real-time problem alerts, which, because Focus is Web-based, can be sent directly to a DBA`s browser. The solution also has detailed graphical reporting functionality, also with remote Web access," he says.

Prior to implementing PM Ora solutions, Vista had to extract performance data on the system manually import it into spreadsheet for presentation to management. This is now done automatically.

"We are much more efficient in monitoring and responding to database statistics as we no longer have to extract the data ourselves. It is very easy to draw and present data in graphical format making it much easier to reach management," he adds.