Good-bye, Oracle: The producer of the Russian nuclear bombs passes to Postgres

Since September, 2015 "The Russian federal nuclear center - the All-Russian Research Institute of experimental physics" (VNIIEF) started migration of the application software with DBMS Oracle on PostgreSQL.

In particular, ERP was going to subject to migration, management systems for fixed assets, maintenance and repair of the equipment (EAM) and also a production management system [1] (MES).

All of them are a part of the Standard information system of the enterprises of a nuclear weapon complex (TIS NWC) which is created in RFYaTs and is replicated on other weapon enterprises of Rosatom.

As of 2014 in management systems of RFYaTs more than 3000 employees^[1] worked^[1].

All listed application software is based on the Alfa platform developed by the Russian company "Informkontakt". It was created and implemented in 2011-2014.

As DBMS the solution of Oracle was originally used, but since 2012 RFYaTs began to develop own software based on open system of Postgres.

The thermonuclear AH-602 bomb (it is Kuzkina of mother or "Tsar bomb") - one of epoch-making developments of domestic nuclear physicists created in the late fifties - the beginning of the 1960th years

Term and cost of migration

For the aid to RFYaTs looked for the contractor who had to modify the used application software for work with Postgres. The corresponding request for proposals was announced on August 20, 2015^[2].

The nuclear center estimated the cost of these works at 58 million rubles. Its only participant - Informkontakt consulting became the winner of the tender without decrease in the starting price. It had to complete the works till December 31, 2015.

The winner of request for proposals had to update the Alfa platform used in the applied systems to version 4.2, modify schemes of operation of systems, transform the applied code to the type compatible to the PostgreSQL environment (except for the applied code which is directly relating to basic software of Alfa).

Updated software it had to be tested both in the environment of Postgres, and in the environment of Oracle, said in terms of reference. After that it was necessary to develop migration techniques and also a technique "synchronization of statuses of subjects of databases of systems when using the scheme of the distributed information processing in heterogeneous environments" (for the period of a transient period of migration).

What migration cost depends on

The main factors influencing migration cost with Oracle on Postgres at the request of TAdviser were listed by Ivan Panchenko, the deputy CEO of Postgres Professional company:

• The volume of a program code, including determinations of tables and other objects of base, stored procedures, SQL queries on client side;
• Complexity of this code which, it is normal, difficult to measure quantitatively;
• Use of the non-standard SQL elements and other expansions and additions of Oracle (for example, hierarchical requests, Oracle Text, Oracle Spatial, RAC, OLAP, etc.);
• Use dynamic, i.e. programmatically generated on the server or the client of the SQL code;
• Need of migration of the working system under loading with a transient period when both versions of a system are synchronized;
• Increased requirements of information security;
• Absence or incompleteness of technical documentation on the migrated system, lack of support from the developer, unavailability of source codes of a client part.

"Generally, the closer to the standard and the less focuses - the it is simpler to migrate", - the expert concludes.

Amount of data in a DB, according to Panchenko, influences migration cost too, but is weak.

Requirements to the contractor

Could not participate in the tender of RFYaTs "Postgres Professional" in connection with mismatch to requirements which were imposed to potential contractors.

Applicants for a victory had to "have quantity of own personnel resources of the corresponding qualification, sufficient for agreement performance", in particular, the project manager and not less than five employees with experience of implementations of information systems on the Alfa platform.

Prohibited to attract subcontractors of a condition of the tender.

The TAdviser base contains information on 40 projects of implementations of the software based on the Alfa system. The Informkontakt company - developer of this system was a contractor in one and all projects.

In a case with projects in RFYaTs "Informkontakt" worked at subcontracting at Greenatom - the subsidiary company of Rosatom which is the general contractor on creation of a standard information system of a nuclear weapon complex.

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