ScaleOut StateServer Linux & Solaris Versions

Now the leading distributed cache for .NET is available for Linux and Solaris 10 users. The Linux version of ScaleOut StateServer runs under the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5 and Fedora 7 operating systems. These versions contain all the features found in ScaleOut StateServer for Windows. Unlike other distributed caching products, which just provide cross-platform support via interfaces, the Linux, Solaris, and Windows versions of ScaleOut StateServer fully interoperate so that you can now:

create a distributed cache which mixes Linux, Solaris, and Windows hosts,
access and manage Linux and Solaris hosts from Windows clients,
access and manage Windows hosts from Linux and Solaris clients, and
mix Linux, Solaris, and Windows clients accessing the same distributed cache.

As a native implementation on all supported operating systems, ScaleOut StateServer delivers the highest possible performance on all platforms.

The Linux and Solaris versions include two new Java APIs which closely correspond to their Windows C# counterparts and give direct access to ScaleOut StateServer's distributed store from Java applications. Additional APIs provide access for C/C++ applications. This gives you the flexibility you need to incorporate ScaleOut StateServer's distributed caching into your existing applications to boost both their performance and scalability.

The Linux and Solaris versions introduce Web-based management using a PHP Web site that closely resembles the familiar Windows GUI management console. In addition, you can seamlessly manage Linux and Solaris hosts from a remote Windows system using ScaleOut StateServer's Windows management console.

We invite you to download and evaluate the Linux version. Following installation, please consult the comprehensive Web-based help files in the installation directory for detailed information on configuring, managing, and accessing ScaleOut StateServer. Our standard download evaluation license supports a single server 32-bit RHEL5 environment. If you would like to evaluate on multiple servers, evaluate a 64-bit version, or evaluate the Solaris or RHEL4 versions, please contact us and we will be happy to get you started. If you have questions, please feel free to contact support for assistance.

The following paragraphs describe ScaleOut StateServer in more detail and explain how it can help you reach your performance and availability goals.

Scalable, In-Memory, Distributed Caching

ScaleOut StateServer runs as a distributed, software service on every Web or application server in your server farm to cache data objects in memory and make them globally accessible across the farm using an identifying 256-bit key. These data objects contain serialized program data, such as session data, business logic objects, and datasets. Stored objects can be accessed from any server in the farm.

Once installed, ScaleOut StateServer automatically balances the amount of storage used by each server in the farm, adjusting the relative usage by each server to the amount you require. As new servers running ScaleOut StateServer are added to the Web farm, they automatically expand its storage capacity and performance.

ScaleOut StateServer scales throughput and maintains fast response times by partitioning and dynamically load-balancing cached data across the servers within a farm. This scales storage capacity as the farm grows and enables simultaneous access to multiple data objects stored on different servers. When a new server is added to the farm, ScaleOut StateServer automatically integrates the server into the store and migrates a portion of the distributed cache to it, dynamically adjusting the amount of data that is stored and managed by each server in the farm.

Breakthrough Performance

ScaleOut StateServer's scalable, distributed cache delivers the fastest possible access time of all "out of process" solutions, including database servers and stand-alone caching servers. Performance tests have shown that ScaleOut StateServer quickly outpaces its competitors in repeatedly accessing stored data.

What really sets ScaleOut StateServer apart from its competitors is its ability to scale both its storage capacity and throughput as your server farm grows. As server farms grow to handle additional load, they need to avoid bottlenecks that limit scalability. ScaleOut StateServer is designed from the inside out to scale every aspect of its performance. Tests confirm that its throughput linearly scales to keep access times low as servers are added to the farm. This lets your server farm deliver the highest possible performance while simultaneously keeping unnecessary access loads off of your database server.

Patent-Pending Technology for High Availability

High availability of cached data is essential for mission-critical applications. ScaleOut StateServer ensures that cached data is never lost - even if a server in your farm fails - by replicating all cached objects on up to two additional servers. If a server goes offline or loses network connectivity, ScaleOut StateServer automatically retrieves its objects from replicas stored on other servers in the farm, and it creates new replicas as necessary to maintain redundant storage. To avoid the "split brain" problems of traditional master/slave replication schemes, ScaleOut StateServer employs patent-pending technology which guarantees that replicated objects always have the latest updates.

ScaleOut StateServer also uses a patent-pending, scalable heartbeat protocol that quickly and efficiently detects server failures without flooding your network with multicast heartbeat packets. Heartbeat failures automatically trigger ScaleOut StateServer's "self-healing" technology, which quickly restores access to cache partitions and dynamically rebalances the storage load across the farm.

To simplify application development and keep management costs low, ScaleOut StateServer automatically handles all aspects of data replication and recovery. Its intelligent replication architecture is specifically designed to maintain high performance and scalable storage as your server farm grows. Internal caching of recently accessed data objects on each server keeps data close to the application and avoids the need for you to choose replication schemes. ScaleOut StateServer lets you keep your focus on application development and not on the details of distributed caching.

Simplified Management

ScaleOut StateServer's self-managing features make installation quick and keep your management costs low. Servers automatically join together to form or expand a "farm-wide" store. ScaleOut StateServer automatically balances its storage workload and employs internal caching to maintain high performance, and it automatically recovers and "self-heals" after a server fails. Application programs can uniformly access and update any stored data object from all servers in the store.

You can manage ScaleOut StateServer from any server in the farm or from a remotely connected workstation using its easy to use Web-based console or a command line control program. In addition, you can seamlessly manage both Linux and Windows hosts from a remote Windows system using ScaleOut StateServer's Windows management console. These management tools give you complete control over ScaleOut StateServer operations, notify you of failures and configuration changes, and ensure close coordination with your Web load balancer.

The command-line program provides all of the capabilities of the Web-based management console with individual commands that can be run from a command prompt or incorporated into command-line scripts.

Comprehensive APIs

Java and C/C++ applications can directly access ScaleOut StateServer's distributed cache using comprehensive application programming interfaces (APIs) supplied with the product.

ScaleOut StateServer's APIs provide simple, straightforward access to the distributed store to:

store serialized data objects identified by a 256-bit key,
read previously stored data objects,
update previously stored data objects, and
remove data objects from the store.

ScaleOut StateServer incorporates extensive and flexible caching features that give you the flexibility you need to build powerful server farm applications, including:

distributed object locking that synchronizes access by multiple servers,
optional object expiration after sliding or fixed timeouts, LRU memory reclamation, or object dependency changes,
asynchronous events to signal object expiration,
optional, automatic replication to a remote cache using the ScaleOut GeoServer option, and
optional, "in process" caching of recently accessed, deserialized data.

ScaleOut StateServer takes full advantage of its built-in scalability and high availability to automatically distribute the event handling load across the server farm and to ensure that asynchronous events are always delivered even if a server or network outage occurs.

Summary

Server farm applications have the potential to deliver the performance and scalability required to handle fast-growing, mission-critical workloads. ScaleOut StateServer's distributed caching lets you unlock this potential by always keeping fast-changing data where it's needed by your application. ScaleOut StateServer can give your application a big performance boost while carefully protecting your cached data. Now you can take advantage of these powerful capabilities on Windows, Linux, and Solaris servers with native caching performance on all operating systems.

Perhaps best of all, ScaleOut StateServer makes distributed caching easy to use and straightforward to manage. ScaleOut StateServer's ability to mix servers as needed and to perform remote management from Windows, Linux, and Solaris systems gives you exciting new options that help keep your deployment and management costs as low as possible.