Versant Object Database

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Database Management & Storage

Applicable Industries

Telecommunications

Applicable Functions

Business Operation

Services

System Integration

The Challenge

Verite Group was developing a packet reconstruction and network intelligence application, Netscope, which was expected to handle diverse deployment environments and large, complex data streams. The original designs for Netscope called for a relational approach, with the IBM DB2 PureXML to drive the application. However, during testing, it became apparent that the computational cost of retrieving and translating XML from the database into in-memory objects was prohibitive, to the point where enterprise scaling would be limited. Turning to an object-oriented approach, Verite looked to the Hibernate framework and ran simulations with both MySqL and PostGres powering the system. While the object approach proved the right path, the Hibernate setup put a drain on CPU and disk usage, to the point where it impeded performance at even modest network data volumes.

About The Customer

Verite Group is a software product development company and a consultancy, specializing in mission-critical systems, reverse engineering of hundreds of network application protocols, and developing tools for complex data and network analysis. The company works with customers to understand their operational challenges, constraints and requirements, and to develop solutions to protect sensitive assets and identify potential adversaries. Projects often include secure communications, detailed protocol analysis and customized analytical tools. They began developing a packet reconstruction and network intelligence application in 2009, with the objective of empowering network providers, analysts, engineers, and security personnel with the ability to identify, target, and monitor network traffic at line speed.

The Solution

The Versant Object Database (VOD) provided Verite with the engine they needed, and on this they built Netscope, a combination that allows for easy scaling to meet customer needs without overly taxing CPU or disk usage. Versant’s scalable architecture provides the additional benefit of enabling different form-factors for Netscope. For smaller deployments, the system can run on a single laptop or a server. For enterprise web-scale deployments the Netscope system sits comfortably across distributed server architecture common across large enterprises and government organizations. Another benefit of the Versant database was that Verite developers weren’t required to learn new and sophisticated programming languages to manipulate the VOD code. Right out of the box, VOD fit the Netscope architecture without any modifications required.

Operational Impact

Versant’s scalable architecture provides the additional benefit of enabling different form-factors for Netscope.
For smaller deployments, the system can run on a single laptop or a server.
For enterprise web-scale deployments the Netscope system sits comfortably across distributed server architecture common across large enterprises and government organizations.

Quantitative Benefit

When tested against the Hibernate setup, the Versant Object Database (VOD) was able to process captures more than twice as fast and with minimal resource (CPU/disk) load.
On average, a 30 second capture took 45 seconds to process and store with Hibernate, while only 20 seconds with VOD.