My NonStop Journey
Over the past 10 years, my foray into the HPE NonStop world has been nothing short of eye-opening and full of experiences I never could have imagined.
Entering the working world after college, I held several false assumptions regarding technology and especially enterprise IT. Here are a few examples:
- All IT is created equal.
- My minor in Information Technology at York College and West Chester University fully prepared me to enter any IT industry and be able to know exactly what technologists are talking about.
- Enterprise IT “just works.”
- Since problems (credit card and cellphone issues) are rarely visible to end users like me, IT systems are always running smoothly and flawlessly, and everything is perfectly organized and error-free.
After my first few tradeshow experiences and discussions with deep technologists with decades of experience, my perception changed. Fairly quickly, I learned that there are levels to technology:
- Just because you know something about the Windows world does not necessarily mean it applies to the NonStop world.
- Not all IT systems are created equal.
- IT architectures and systems are inherently imperfect, not because of the architects or how they are designed, but because there are limits (whether theoretical or physical) to everything in life.
- Just because something may seem like a simple concept (on the surface), it does not mean that everyone knows about it.
This thought process takes us into this concept of customers upgrading and the benefits of Audited vs. Unaudited Database Management Systems (DBMS).
HPE Shadowbase Customers are Upgrading: Here is Why
While BASE24™ is a very popular HPE NonStop app used worldwide, by default, it uses legacy-style database interaction: non-audited Enscribe files. While this approach to managing and protecting your data may have been acceptable 25 years ago, best practices have progressed beyond this approach to provide database consistency and data integrity using an audited Enscribe database. (See the “why” below.)
Many customers also are upgrading to BASE24-eps when doing their hardware platform refreshes. BASE24-eps provides more auditing out-of-the-box, enables scripting functionality to change business logic, a GUI, powerful routing capabilities, additional authorization features, customized scripting and processing at the individual cardholder level, and more.
As part of these migrations, many customers ask themselves what it takes to switch to HPE Shadowbase software. They first need to switch to an audited architecture, and for good reason. On HPE NonStop, the Transaction Management Facility (TMF) is a free, OEM-provided Database Management System (DBMS) available out-of-the-box.
Technologists Often Ask, “Why do we need TMF?” If Only They Knew
The protection and host of other benefits it provides is unmatched:
- Obtain data consistency, integrity, and database auditing
- Get faster application, database, file system, and user response times
- Manage databases more easily
- And much more
It Changes Everything
- Better performance
- Faster response times
- Safer transactions
- More resilient transactions
- Better data integrity
- Easier database manageability
- Revolutionizes the NonStop filesystem
Secure the Benefits of Database Management Systems
- Data consistency for database files and tables
- Data integrity for ACID business transaction protection
- Audit file and table activity to know what was done and when
- Faster application, database, file system, and user response times
- Easier Database Manageability
- Ability to decouple replication from Application Processing
- TMF provides an additional interface for database management
- Roll-back and roll-forward database transactions
- There is even a way to implement TMF transaction protection automatically
Avoid Existential Risk for the HPE NonStop
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, audit protection and database management systems help ensure application longevity within the enterprise. Auditing and database management systems are a decades-long best practice used across industries. Newer management teams typically view unaudited environments as legacy, risky, and hence ripe for replacement.
In this era of sophisticated database management systems, modernize your application and database environment with TMF transaction protection to enjoy the benefits that an audited database provides. HPE Shadowbase software integrates directly into this approach to provide unparalleled business continuity features and support, allowing for the highest levels of data integrity, recoverability, management, and availability.
Customer Story
Large Resort Island’s Bank Upgrades to Audited Environment & Reduces Recovery Time from Hours to Seconds
“Relationships are everything” to this island bank, putting its customers, shareholders, and stakeholders first. Since 1974, the bank provided ATM and POS services for the island’s residents and tourists. The bank’s BASE24™ environment and HPE NonStop systems must achieve 100% uptime since they are core to its IT operations.
Over time, the bank’s NonStop systems and BASE24 Classic application aged, requiring an upgrade. Over a four-month period, the bank upgraded its NonStop systems, upgraded to an audited BASE24-eps environment, replaced its legacy, costly replication product with HPE Shadowbase software, implemented reliable failover procedures that increased application availability and recovery time from hours to seconds, and provided a simple method for periodically testing the failover process.
The bank now processes and responds to transactions more quickly in a safer, audited environment. Plus, it performs regular failover testing, running tests that bring its backup systems into full service so it is 100% confident it can recover to a known-working system.
Customer Story
Major UK Bank Migrates its BASE24 Application to Active/Active for Continuous Availability
We selected HPE Shadowbase, which had a strong technical evaluation. We utilized BASE24 dual-site functionality. [Gravic] has an excellent long-term relationship with HPE and provides very good additional support and professional services. It was a good solution for us in the end.
— Asst. VP of BASE24 Development
A Major U.K. bank required an Active/Active datacenter to replace its previous Active/Passive architecture to eliminate downtime and increase data resilience. HPE Shadowbase software was selected to fulfill these requirements due to its strong technical evaluation, POC results, and exceptional additional support and professional services. HPE Shadowbase solutions were implemented in three phases:
- Prepare existing RDF environment,
- Implement Active/Active with Shadowbase, and
- Implement BASE24 dual-site functionality.
After implementation, many technical objectives were met:
- The bank achieved its Active/Active datacenter, with both sites fully active and processing transactions while being tightly coupled.
- The databases are actively accessed with full utilization of data assets.
- Data collisions may occur but will be automatically resolved by HPE Shadowbase.
- Faster RTO was achieved by using bi-directional replication.
- The need for planned downtime was eliminated.
Several business outcomes were also met:
- The bank has continuous availability with its Active/Active payments engine, utilizing its full infrastructure with increased capability.
- The bank is more secure with better data resiliency, improved recovery service, and a superior technical solution.
Digital Resilience
Digital ResilienceIn addition to these application modernization projects, customers are evolving beyond traditional Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery practices into the digital resilience realm. These practices must also provide application availability that can survive malware, ransomware, and cyberattacks.
With the implementation of the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) in the EU and similar regulations developing worldwide, data resilience is coming to the forefront of regulatory concerns.
The ability to identify, detect, protect against, respond to, and recover from these attacks is of the upmost importance in maintaining the safety and availability of your data to provide continuous application services.
Keep in mind that new Digital Resilience requirements necessitate additional infrastructure; existing disaster recovery (DR) systems will not suffice. Because a low-latency network typically connects PROD and DR systems, it means that any Malware that gets onto PROD can almost immediately traverse to DR. (Note that this traversing often happens in silence as the mean time to detection currently stands at 277 days.)[1]
Please contact us to learn how we can help you protect your data with TMF auditing, help protect against cyberattacks, and reduce your RTO and RPO from a day+ down to minutes or seconds.
Your NonStop Journey?
You now know what my NonStop journey has been like. We would like to hear from you—what about your journey? Did you know about the possibilities that await switching to an audited database by modernizing your application environment? What kinds of challenges are you facing regarding your daily IT operations? More importantly, how can we help?
Contact Us Today
Hewlett Packard Enterprise globally sells and supports Shadowbase solutions under the name HPE Shadowbase. Contact your local HPE representative for further information about how HPE Shadowbase software can assist you in protecting and increasing the availability of your data.
For more information, please contact us or visit our website. For additional information, please view our Shadowbase solution videos: https://vimeo.com/shadowbasesoftware, or follow us on LinkedIn.
Specifications subject to change without notice. Trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. Copyright © Gravic, Inc. 2025.
[1] For more information, please visit: “What is the Average Response Time to Detect a Cyber Breach in 2024.”
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