As the second largest container ship line in the world, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) relies heavily on its 1.8-terabyte MSCLink database that tracks more than 15 billion transactions a year. Enjoying annual growth of 30 percent and an ever-increasing level of data requests from its worldwide customers, MSC needed an enterprise solution that would scale with its growth and simplify database administration. The company upgraded its database to Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Enterprise (64-Bit) running on the Microsoft Windows Server® 2008 Enterprise Edition operating system. MSC found it was easy to upgrade from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008, and that the move provided the benefits of enhanced management tools, faster performance, and represented an enterprise-grade platform to support its worldwide operations.

Situation

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) is the second largest container ship line in the world, with offices or agents in more than 115 countries, and with some 40,000 employees worldwide. The company’s fleet of more than 400 ships calls on some 280 ports, moving more than seven million full containers each year. The company’s customer list reads like a guide to international commerce and features many Fortune 100 companies.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, MSC has three main data centers—in Geneva, Singapore, and Warren, New Jersey, in the United States. Several years ago, the company in the United States moved from an IBM DB2 database to

SQL Server 2008 helps us scale to keep pace with our rapid growth, and enhances our competitive edge, including our ability to provide customer service that is second to none. Andre Simha Chief Information Officer, Mediterranean Shipping Company

Microsoft® SQL Server® version 4.2.1, as it launched its internally developed application, MSCLink, to track all aspects of its shipping business. Over the years the company has steadily upgraded its SQL Server database and was using SQL Server 2005 running on the Microsoft Windows Server® 2003 Enterprise Edition operating system. SQL Server now stores some 22 terabytes of the company’s data, with 1.8 terabytes supporting its MSCLink and related applications.

The company has an ever-growing demand for information technology to keep up with its rapid growth and the increasing demands of customers who seek end-to-end tracking of shipped goods.

“For Mediterranean Shipping Company, and all other carriers, the global demands of shipping are always pressing,” says Bob Erickson, Senior Vice President for Software Development at Mediterranean Shipping Company. “In the United States alone, we move 1,200 inland containers per day. Even though our business is based on ocean shipping, we increasingly provide door-to-door service to meet customer needs. Looking ahead to growth in the number of containers moved and the need for more exacting data for customers, we know that our information systems have to scale up, for us to remain competitive.”

System scalability is especially important to MSC, because it has enjoyed annual growth of about 30 percent in recent years and expects the growth to continue into the future. “With 30 percent annual growth, our biggest challenge is to ensure that we can continue to provide services to our customers that are superior to that of our competitors,” observes Fabio Catassi, Chief Technical Officer at Mediterranean Shipping Company. “We have been very successful in doing so, and need to retain and build upon this tradition.”

MSC executives were eager to upgrade to SQL Server 2008, the Microsoft next-generation data management and analysis platform, to take advantage of new database management tools and enhanced performance.

Solution

MSC upgraded the server computers hosting its 1.8-terabyte MSCLink database to SQL Server 2008, and is in the process of upgrading its other SQL Server instances, which hold a total of 22 terabytes of data. Upgrading from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008 went so smoothly that Catassi termed it “a non-event” and has been delighted with the new features in SQL Server 2008. The company runs SQL Server 2008 Enterprise (64-Bit) on the Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (64-Bit) operating system.

Working with Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 development system and the Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0, MSC created additional applications, including XLink, which integrates with MSCLink to provide support for scheduling the company’s ships and tracking their real-time locations around the world.

MSCLink is based on a multi-tier architecture that includes:

• Client Tier. Client software was developed with the Microsoft Visual C++® development system and upgraded to Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005. The client software employs Microsoft Message Queuing, a technology in the Windows Server operating system that supports asynchronous message queues. Message Queuing communicates with the application tier. When the client tier receives a request for a

  At MSC my greatest challenge is to keep the operation running and at the same time to innovate so that we can provide the best service to our customers. SQL Server 2008 and the rest of the Microsoft Application Platform give us the foundation to do this. Fabio Catassi Chief Technical Officer, Mediterranean Shipping Company

  booking, for example, it passes the request to the application tier for execution, and returns the result. The client software is deployed in more than 70 cities, covering every continent of the world.
• Application Tier. The application tier, written with Visual C++ and SQL Server 2008 stored procedures, is a set of modules including bookings, contracts, equipment control and trucking management, import operations, billing, electronic data interchange, reporting, e-commerce through MSCLink.com, and auditing. The MSCLink application includes some 700,000 lines of SQL Server stored procedure code. The Microsoft ADO.NET application framework from the Microsoft .NET Framework provides for database connectivity. The application tier makes use of Microsoft Network Distributed Transaction Coordinator. For load balancing, four servers at the Warren, New Jersey, data center host the application tier. Additional middle-tier servers are used throughout the rest of MSC’s global operations. Additionally, the MSC Web portal runs from the Swiss-based datacenter and provides customers worldwide access to MSC vessel schedules and other advanced Web-based customer service tools. The Web portal provides connectivity to the SQL Server 2008 database so that external customers can track shipments over the Internet, instead of relying on fax machines or the telephone. MSCGVA.COM was created using the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 development system and the Microsoft ASP.NET application framework, part of the Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0.
• Data Tier. MSC has some 22 terabytes of information stored on multiple instances of SQL Server across its global operations. The data tier has 1,934 tables and 4,959 stored procedures. The system supports more than 500 million database transactions per day. The data tier is hosted on 18 Unisys ES7000/600 and ES7000/520 servers, each with eight Intel Xeon Dual-Core processors and 32 gigabytes (GB) of RAM. The servers are configured as two-node active/passive clusters. SQL Server 2008 handles about 396,907 transactions per minute, and about 210 billion transactions per year. Copies of the core data synchronize between the ES7000 server clusters at three global data centers. MSC synchronizes its databases across its three major data centers with Microsoft Message Queuing technology, which enables applications running at different times to communicate across heterogeneous networks and systems, providing reliable message delivery, efficient routing, security, and priority-based messaging.
• Reporting Tier. MSC uses SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services to streamline reporting, including new data visualization and charting tools. Reporting Services is used to create about 300 recurring reports for about 400 regular users.
• Analysis Tier. MSC has a data warehouse, storing information from MSCLink and local agency accounting systems. The company uses SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services to support multidimensional reporting against the data warehouse information. Analytics are run against eight multidimensional cubes, and each cube has about 30 dimensions.

Benefits

Upgrading to SQL Server 2008 provided MSC with an enterprise-grade platform, and proved easy to accomplish. The company has benefitted from enhanced management tools and faster performance in SQL Server 2008.

Enterprise-Grade Platform
Supporting operations that truly circle the globe requires an enterprise-grade foundation, which is exactly what MSC enjoys with the Microsoft Application Platform including SQL Server 2008 Enterprise (64-Bit) running on Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (64-Bit).

“SQL Server 2008 is the foundation for all of our database systems, which support about 210 billion transactions per year.” says Andre Simha, Chief Information Officer at Mediterranean Shipping Company. “From our public Track and Trace Web sites to the daily millions of EDI [electronic data interchange] transactions, to the Analysis Services cubes that we use to mine data collected from our hundreds of offices worldwide, the Microsoft Application Platform helps us better serve our

Activity Monitor in SQL Server 2008 is a wonderful tool. We depend on SQL Server so much that we want to be able to see exactly what is happening with it at all times. Bob Erickson Senior Vice President for Software Development, Mediterranean Shipping Company

customers. SQL Server 2008 helps us scale to keep pace with our rapid growth, and enhances our competitive edge, including our ability to provide customer service that is second to none.”

The enterprise-grade performance of SQL Server 2008 enables MSC to enhance the services it provides customers. “At MSC my greatest challenge is to keep the operation running and at the same time to innovate so that we can provide the best service to our customers,” says Catassi. “SQL Server 2008 and the rest of the Microsoft Application Platform give us the foundation to do this.”

Easy Upgrade to SQL Server 2008
MSC was surprised at how easy it was to upgrade its database software from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008. The company cited two features that were especially appreciated during the upgrade process—SQL Server pre-validation tools that helped ensure data was ready for upgrading before beginning, and easy-to-use setup tools in Windows Server 2008 for deploying the clusters hosting the SQL Server instances.

“Upgrading SQL Server was easy because SQL Server 2008 has built-in tools to help ensure the process goes smoothly,” says Catassi. “When you begin the setup process, SQL Server pre-validates to make sure all required prerequisites have been installed. If anything is missing, such as an operating system service pack or update, it alerts you in advance, telling you exactly what is needed, so you can make sure everything is ready to go prior to launching the upgrade. These pre-validation checks are a big improvement compared to earlier upgrades.”

Nicola Dell’Anna, Business Intelligence Solution Manager at Mediterranean Shipping Company agrees: “What was amazing to me was to see how easy it was to upgrade to SQL Server 2008. You just start the wizard and everything goes very easily.”

Catassi notes that the setup process for upgrading Analysis Services was also easy. “Some years earlier when we upgraded from SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services to SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services we experienced some difficulty,” says Catassi. “Moving from Analysis Services 2005 to Analysis Services 2008 was easy because the syntax was nearly entirely the same.”

The Failover Clustering feature of Windows Server 2008 simplified setup and deployment of the server clusters MSC uses to host its SQL Server 2008 databases. Catassi says: “Clustering is important to our high availability efforts, so it was good to see how easy cluster configuration and deployment is with Windows Server 2008.”

Enhanced Management Tools
Database administration for MSC is easier with the enhanced Management Studio in SQL Server 2008. The company is especially happy with the new Resource Governor feature of SQL Server 2008 that enables system administrators to define resource limits and priorities for different workloads, enhancements to Activity Monitor, and expanding use of IntelliSense® technology. MSC has also found great value in SQL Server Extended Events (Xevents), a new general event-handling system for server systems.

“There are a lot of benefits to running SQL Server 2008,” says Erickson. “For us the top items have to be in the management tools. Resource Governor gives us predictable performance. Activity Monitor is a one-click tool that lets you see exactly what a SQL Server instance is doing anywhere in the world. Data Collection collects any number of statistics about SQL Server and how it has been running. Policy-Based Management allows us to make sure that all of our SQL Server instances around the world are running with a configuration that is optimal. SQL Server 2008 Clustering Services gives us a more reliable and consistent solution. With SQL Server 2008, Microsoft has provided us with a much bigger toolbox that allows us to build better, more reliable applications and more consistent solutions.”

What was amazing to me was to see how easy it was to upgrade to SQL Server 2008. Nicola Dell'Anna Business Intelligence Solution Manager, Mediterranean Shipping Company

Erickson credits the management tools, along with the robustness of SQL Server and the rest of the Microsoft Application Platform, with providing excellent availability. “Our applications are running at the 5 nines,” says Erickson. “We’re enjoying 99.999 percent uptime, which really helps to keep our business running.”

One reason MSC likes Activity Monitor in Management Studio so much is that just one click brings up live graphs and the related detailed information to show what is happening with CPU utilization, I/O, processes, resource waits, recent time-consuming queries, and a wealth of other information.

“The presentation of information makes it easy to immediately spot and resolve performance problems,” says Erickson. “Activity Monitor in SQL Server 2008 is a wonderful tool. We depend on SQL Server so much that we want to be able to see exactly what is happening with it at all times. If our database responses should ever slow, it could delay the sailing of one of our ships, or in any number of other ways keep employees or customers waiting.”

IntelliSense technology, first introduced as a time-saving feature in Microsoft Visual Studio development system, has made it easier to work with databases whether during development or in administration. “Our biggest database has 500 tables in it and thousands of columns in those tables,” says Erickson. “Even somebody that's well familiar with the data model cannot remember all of those names, so IntelliSense saves time and helps ensure accuracy by offering name completion as you type. Query executions go faster because IntelliSense shows you where you may have some typos before you execute the statement.”

Debugging is easier, too. “When developing or working with stored procedures, Management Studio enables us to step through the code and see the execution process,” says Erickson. “This greatly simplifies the process of verifying the correctness of the procedure and identifying where a problem occurs.”

New for SQL Server 2008, Xevents provide deep visibility into the inner workings of SQL Server and give the power to diagnose what were once difficult problems while having minimal impact on a running system.

“We use Xevents to collect detailed information such as the call stack of the procedures,” says Erickson. “Extended Events enables you to collect critical data without the processing overhead that you would encounter using SQL Profiler. You can use Xevents to collect a tremendous amount of data without impacting performance because it is extremely lightweight. We have 1,200 users on our biggest server hammering the database and the last thing we need is to use a monitor that’s going to make performance worse. That’s why we like Xevents so much.”

Faster Performance
Performance is important because MSCLink and the other applications supported by SQL Server are so essential to MSC operations. “MSCLink is the core enterprise application that runs our operations—tracking our containers, and managing all the EDI communication,” says Erickson. “This is a critical operation that has to go 24 by 7. When you consider the cost of a delay, of a ship staying in port for even an hour, it costs huge amounts of money, not to mention the dissatisfaction of any of our customers.”

“We need to know how the shipments are doing to be as competitive as possible,” says Dell’Anna. “This is why we upgraded our core systems to SQL Server 2008. What we noticed, from just upgrading, is a 30 percent improvement in performance.”

The speed of performance is especially impressive when considering the large amounts of data the company manages. “The volume of data moving through our system is massive,” Catassi says. “We have more than 22 terabytes of data in our system and we have to provide uninterrupted access to this data to keep our shipping lines going. We haven’t found any type of workload that we can’t handle with SQL Server.”

The company also found that processing times were faster when working with multidimensional data cubes created with SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services. “Immediately upon upgrading to Analysis Services 2008 we saw cube processing times decrease by 70 percent,” says Erickson. “We are also seeing even faster performance with SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services.”

Summary
In summary, MSC found it was easy to upgrade from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008, and that upgrading provided a number of benefits including enhanced management tools and increased performance.

 

Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Visual Studio 2008
Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, and Visual Studio 2008 provide a secure and trusted foundation for creating and running your most demanding applications. Combined, the products offer advanced security technology, developer support for the latest platforms, improved management and Web tools, flexible virtualization technology to optimize your infrastructure, and access to relevant information throughout your organization.

For more information about Windows Server 2008, go to: www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008

For more information about SQL Server 2008, go to: www.microsoft.com/sql/2008/default.mspx

For more information about Visual Studio 2008, go to: www.microsoft.com/vstudio.

For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com

For more information about Mediterranean Shipping Company products and services, visit the Web site at: www.mscgva.ch

 

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published January 2009