GridGain Systems Introduces Next-Generation In-Memory Computing Platform

GridGain Systems, provider of enterprise-grade in-memory computing platform solutions based on Apache Ignite, has introduced GridGain 8.1. The new release provides a new memory-centric architecture that leverages advancements in memory and storage technologies.

According to the company, GridGain 8.1 extends the SQL capabilities of the GridGain platform, with expanded SQL Data Definition Language (DDL) capabilities added to its existing DML and ACID transaction support. The new release also provides higher performance on hybrid memory/disk infrastructures using a new Persistent Store feature. For organizations using Persistent Store in production, the new GridGain Ultimate Edition includes a cluster snapshot backup feature, which is recommended when utilizing the memory-centric architecture in mission-critical environments.

Key elements of GridGain 8.1 include:

1. Data Definition Language - Building on DDL support, which was announced in the previous version of GridGain, users can now manage caches and SQL schema with commands like CREATE and DROP table. This provides the ability to connect to GridGain using JDBC or ODBC drivers and fully configure the cluster using well-known DDL statements. This eliminates the need to deal with Spring XML, Java or .NET-specific configuration options for the cluster. Instead, users can now communicate with the ANSI SQL-99 compliant GridGain platform using standard DDL and DML commands.
2. Persistent Store - According to GridGain, Persistent Store is a distributed ACID and ANSI-99 SQL-compliant disk store available in Apache Ignite that integrates with GridGain as an optional disk layer (which may be deployed on spinning disks, solid state drives (SSDs), Flash, 3D XPoint and other storage-class memory technologies). Persistent Store keeps the full dataset on disk while putting only user-defined, time-sensitive data in memory. With Persistent Store enabled, users are no longer required to keep all active data in memory or warm up RAM following a cluster restart to utilize the system's in-memory computing capabilities. The Persistent Store keeps the superset of data and all the SQL indexes on disk, making GridGain fully operational from disk. The combination of this new feature and the platform's SQL capabilities allows GridGain to serve as a distributed transactional SQL database, spanning both memory and disk, while continuing to support all the existing use cases. Persistent Store allows organizations to maximize their return on investment by establishing the optimal tradeoff between infrastructure costs and application performance by adjusting the amount of data they keep in-memory.
3. Cluster Snapshots - With GridGain, 8.1, the new GridGain Ultimate Edition introduces a Cluster Snapshots feature. Cluster snapshots are essential for production implementations of GridGain when using Persistent Store. Cluster snapshots allow users to create both full and incremental snapshots, which can be used as restore points for later recovery or as a source of reference data in staging and test environments. GridGain Web Console and the Snapshot Command Line Tool can be used to schedule full and incremental snapshots according to user business requirements.
4. .NET Peer-Class Loading - According to GridGain, for several GridGain versions, the GridGain peer-class loading feature has supported Java, eliminating the need to manually deploy Java or Scala code on each node in the cluster and re-deploy it each time it changes. With GridGain 8.1, .NET developers can now benefit from the same capability. A .NET assembly can be automatically preloaded to an already running .NET cluster node if an implementation of a distributed computation task is missing locally. The unloading is also handled automatically.
5. C++ for Design and Development - Developers can now design and develop GridGain Compute Grid tasks using C++ and send the tasks for execution to a GridGain cluster. Ignite.C++ automatically serializes, deserializes and runs the computations.

Commenting on new features in the new release,said Abe Kleinfeld, President and CEO of GridGain Systems, said the expanded SQL DDL makes GridGain easier to work with using standard SQL commands, and the addition of Persistent Store and Cluster Snapshots means it can be used for a broader range of production applications, allowing each organization to set the right balance between operating costs and application performance by adjusting the amount of data kept in-memory. In addition, he noted, the expanded .NET and enhanced C++ capabilities allow development teams to work with GridGain using the skills they already possess.

For more information, visit gridgain.com.