New HiT Software Moves Data To Google App Engine

January 22, 2013 Alex Woodie

HiT Software last week unveiled a new version of its data replication software that’s designed to keep customers’ Google cloud apps in synch with their on premise relational databases. DBMoto Cloud G Edition automatically pushes data from any backend database, such as DB2/400, into the Google App Engine Datastore using the Internet giant’s Web service APIs, providing another way for companies to present their valuable data to new Web and mobile apps.

Google App Engine (GAE) is a platform as a service (PaaS) cloud offering that Google first rolled out as a beta in 2008 and as a fully supported product in September 2011. The GAE allows developers to build Web and mobile applications using Java and Python languages and frameworks (among others), and then deploy those apps in Google data centers. Small applications (if 5 million page views per month can be considered small) are hosted for free, while Google collects a fee for larger applications that consume more CPU, storage, and bandwidth. Customers who design and run their apps on GAE don’t need to worry about administering the apps or monitoring the infrastructure.

A key component of the GAE is the Datastore, which Google describes as a NoSQL schema-less object datastore built on a distributed architecture to automatically manage scaling to very large data sets across multiple datacenters with high level of reliability. Google provides APIs for accessing Datastore in its Python and Java development kits. Access to the Datastore through its Google Query Language (GQL) is more restrictive than SQL. For example, join statements are not supported. But Google says the queries that are supported can be expected to perform and scale at very high levels (in the range of hundreds of requests per second).

As more developers begin using the GAE to develop applications (such as data warehouses, analytics, collaboration apps, or to serve as a data backup), they face the need to integrate their GAE applications with traditional on-premise applications, such as ERP or CRM systems. That’s where DBMoto Cloud G Edition comes into play.

At the core of DBMoto Cloud G Edition is DBMoto itself, HiT’s flagship change data capture (CDC) engine that features hooks into all major databases, including DB2 for i (DB2/400), DB2 for LUW, Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, Informix, Sybase, SQL Anywhere, Ingres, PostgreSQL, and Gupta SQLBase.

Surrounding the DBMoto engine are the various Cloud G Edition components, including the DBMoto GBroker and the GBrokerConfigurator, which sit on the same Windows server as the DBMoto engine, and the Google App Engine Servlet, which installs on the GAE cloud.

Data can be moved between source databases and the GAE Datastore in either refresh or mirroring modes. In refresh (or snapshot) mode, DBMoto Cloud G Edition reads data on the source system, and writes the result on the target system. In mirroring mode, the software can perform either one-way or bi-directional mirroring using CDC to synchronize data between the local database and the GAE Datastore.

HiT includes graphical wizards to help speed the installation process for DBMoto Cloud G Edition. Users can select from pre-defined transformation functions, or define their own custom functions at any time. Administrators gain a visualization tool for monitoring replication status and any errors. All data movement is logged and accessible at any time.

HiT managing director Giacomo Lorenzin says the new software will provide decided benefits to organizations deploying apps using GAE. “The ability to integrate corporate data with the Google App Engine Datastore, and then update it using CDC, helps businesses access the most fresh and complete data for reporting, analysis and other important tasks,” he says.

DBMoto Cloud G Edition is the second cloud integration tool from HiT Software, which is a subsidiary of BackOffice Associates. Last June, HiT unveiled DBMoto Cloud Edition, which allows users to replicate changes in local database tables to a disconnected database in the cloud via Web services protocols.