BGR

Actian Open Source Database Gives Germany an Unshakeable Foundation for Monitoring Earthquakes and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty

German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources Loks to Actian for High Availability, Sta bility, and Scalability

Background

As an agency of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), the Hannover based Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) is the geoscientific center of excellence within Germany’s federal government and is part of the government’s scientific and technical infrastructure. In this capacity, the institute gives neutral and independent advice and information to ministries, authorities, and businesses on geoscientific and natural resource issues. With a view to stimulating Germany’s economic development, BGR provides recommendations on the exploration of georesources and natural resources, and their sustainable use under protection of the environment and the climate.

Challenge

Due to the institute’s expertise in seismology and its involvement in the technical design of the international monitoring system for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), BGR was assigned by the German federal government to act as the national data center for the CTBT organization in Vienna. The CTBT, signed in 1996, prohibits all forms of nuclear testing in any environment, whether it’s underground, underwater, or in the atmosphere. The international monitoring system monitors compliance with the treaty, and comprises a global network of monitoring stations. One of BGR’s primary tasks includes monitoring seismometer and infrasound stations in support of the CTBT. Within BGR, a small group of scientists and engineers is responsible for operating four of these highly sensitive listening posts in the Bavarian Forest and the Antarctic.

In addition to monitoring the CTBT, the second key task of the BGR research group is the monitoring of earthquakes. Even today, it is still almost impossible to forecast when and where an earthquake might occur. Germany has seismically active regions that are repeatedly subject to earthquakes. Due to the high population and industrial density, continuous monitoring of seismic activity is essential – even if these earthquakes typically have nowhere near the strength reached by those in other regions of the world. Only by careful monitoring is it possible to identify long term trends and make forecasts on future earthquakes and the accompanying seismic hazard. Both current and historical data on earthquakes form the basis for many scientific investigations.

Using BGR’s Earthquake Monitor System (ERMOS), the institute provides virtual real time information on earthquakes in Germany, Europe, and around the world. ERMOS data is available on the Internet in the form of maps.

On top of preserving data on earthquakes going back to 800 AD, BGR maintains metadata on more than 2 million seismological events – in a database that is continually growing. Fast access to data and permanent availability are two of the key requirements for successful operation of the institute’s mission. Furthermore, as a government agency commissioned to monitor and ensure compliance with the CTBT, BGR is obliged to ensure a minimum 98% availability of data at all times. This requires a robust and, above all, scalable database to enable a small number of staff to cope with the continually growing data volume.

Solution

Beginning with Ingres® Database Enterprise, BGR has relied on Ingres for more than two decades. Throughout this period, the institute has reaped the benefits of working with the Ingres database – in particular, leveraging the database’s stability, user-friendliness, and high-storage capacity. More recently, BGR has adopted the open source business model that Ingres has developed.

Benefits of the Ingres Business Open Source Model

Failsafe, Effective Data Processing
Markus Dohmann, BGR geophysicist, says, “We opted for an Ingres database and after more than two decades, which have seen countless migrations and restructuring measures, I can only say: the Ingres database has never let us down! The Ingres database is extremely robust and is a major contributory factor towards the fact that we always exceed the required 98% data availability.”

Although there were moments in these 20 years when BGR considered the merits of switching to another database provider, Ingres would always win based on its cost-effectiveness and robust functionality. BGR concluded the benefits of working with Ingres outweighed any potential gains from alternative solutions. Says Dohmann, “Our work group did occasionally consider switching to another database, but ultimately we decided that not only were there no functional advantages to be gained, the business case didn’t add up either: as well as paying higher licensing fees, we would also have required considerably more personnel for the database management.”

Flexibility and License-Independence
In the summer of 2007, the BGR took its first step with Ingres into the open source world and is looking forward to enjoying the additional advantages brought by this changeover. “When we heard about the Ingres Open Source business model in 2006, our main thought was, ‘Okay – but only if we can keep the Ingres database,’” says Dohmann. BGR’s transition to open source has been a positive experience. “We’ve really benefited from the flexibility of an open version,” says Dohmann. He especially likes the ability to access the database from different PCs.

With the open source Ingres Database, BGR doesn’t have to worry about licensing restricting activities – it can simultaneously start queries and applications from different computers, as well as access the database from multiple PCs. This flexibility has accelerated BGR’s research and analyses considerably. The institute now implements an overall open-source concept: its programs run on Linux operating systems and, using the Ingres 2006 open source database, the team now also creates its maps using Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) developed by Hawaii University and made available under the GNU General Public License.

A Stable, Scalable Database Solution
Although migrating to the Ingres 2006 open source database presented a few challenges to the institute, the overall experience was positive. “Thanks to Ingres we did not lose a single bit of data,” says Dohmann. “During our migration to Ingres 2006, we also took the opportunity to redefine the structure of our database. This of course required a series of application adaptations – for example, we needed to adapt approximately 100 programs in a single night. I’m glad to say that everything went without a hitch.”

Small Team, Easy Management
Due to the stability, high availability, and userfriendliness of the Ingres database, BGR only needs a small management team – in spite of its high data volume and sophisticated structures. “The database is really easy to manage,” confirms Dohmann. “Although we now have two database administrators, this is not because of an increase in complexity, but rather due to the fact that we preferred a distribution of the knowledge content in order to ensure a similar distribution of the risks and responsibilities.”

Results

BGR relies on the comprehensive support services of the Ingres team and appreciates the Ingres community for its open knowledge exchange. The institute benefits from the active Ingres user groups, capitalizing on the tips and suggestions exchanged in user group forums, and also actively participating in lively exchanges. “The comprehensive support from Ingres itself, and the rapid feedback received from the community to our queries on specialist topics is also a major plus for working with Ingres. Because the reliability and availability of data are decisive criteria, in our sector in particular, I think it is safe to say that the next 20 years will also see a continuation of our close collaboration with Ingres,” concludes Dohmann.

For further information about the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, please visit www.bgr.bund.de.