• Overview
  • SchoonerSQL
  • Membrain
    • Benchmarking NoSQL
    • Reducing TCO through Dramatic Server Consolidation
    • Minimizing Downtime with Schooner Replication and Failover
    • 100% Memcapable Memcached
    • Using the Same Server for a Transient Cache and a Persistent Data Store
  • Supported Platforms
  • Pricing and Licensing

Minimizing Downtime with Membrain Replication and Failover

When you rely on your NoSQL data store or cache to deliver superior application performance, failures really hurt. NoSQL or cache failures can lead to large, unexpected loads on the database that significantly degrade the end-user experience. Membrain™ — the smart memcached, optimized for flash memory — removes the pain of failure by offering enterprise-grade high-availability and disaster-recovery (HA/DR) capabilities.

Membrain ensures comprehensive service and data availability. Membrain protects you from the full range of possible failures including outages, data loss or corruption, unexpected surges in traffic, administrative errors, and scheduled maintenance. Membrain includes:

• Schooner Persistent Caching: This ensures that all cached data is immediately available even after a power outage, unlike with traditional memcached where cached data can be lost in an outage. Membrain eliminates performance-degrading, multi-hour or multi-day cache warm-up periods.
• Synchronous Replication & Automated Failover: You can configure Membrain such that if one server node fails for any reason (or needs to be taken offline for maintenance), another node will transparently take over and serve the clients of the node that is offline. Schooner offers Active/Active replication which fully utilizes all nodes and Synchronous Replication that ensures no data is lost on failover. These Membrain benefits add no application overhead. And no manual intervention is required for failover or recovery.
• Schooner Backup & Restore: You can perform full and incremental backups to any local HDDs on your server(s). Performing scheduled backups enables the cache data to be restored to a previous state in the event of application-driven data corruption, user error, or other data loss.
• RAID: Where available depending on the SSDs, RAID on the SSDs protects against downtime from SSD failures and planned SSD maintenance. Some SAS/SATA SSDs can be hot-swapped for maintenance. RAID5 minimizes the capacity overhead required for redundancy.
• Rolling Upgrade: Membrain-powered servers can be upgraded to new software releases without a disruption to service.

Membrain is 100% compatible with the standard memcached protocol, so installing and using Membrain is a breeze. It's easy to immediately enjoy the benefits of Membrain.

Membrain's HA/DR capabilities dramatically reduce the downtime for your applications and reduce the time your IT team spends fighting fires.

• Fully automated failovers eliminate the need for manual intervention.
• Hot-swappable SSDs (when in SAS/SATA form factor) enable maintenance without impacting service.
• Backup & Restore enables IT groups to quickly bring a system back to optimal performance after catastrophic data corruption or loss.

Membrain's HA/DR capabilities are completely transparent to applications and impose no additional overhead. Application development is greatly simplified by eliminating the need for applications to be defensibly programmed to have their own high-availability mechanisms. Developers can focus their efforts on the core business functionally and leave HA/DR to Membrain.

"In the wonderful world of Schooner, failovers go away. Schooner replication means that you're sure that what you have on one node will also be on the other." — Ethan Erchinger, Director of Operations at Plaxo.

It's said that in business, only the paranoid survive. Membrain's enterprise-grade HA/DR support lets you rest easy, without the paranoia.