1. It’s the Back End for 14 Products and Connectors
The full list is
published here. The key is, a lot of products all leverage this single database, though not every customer runs every product. Over 20 years, the Orion Platform has evolved into, well, a pickup truck. It’s a utility vehicle, doing the best job it can for everyone who needs a ride. As such, this pickup truck works great most of the time. But every now and then a customer will hit an edge case, where some extra data love is necessary.
2. We Have Our Own Maintenance Jobs
In an effort to help customers with their Orion database running smoothly, we have our own database maintenance jobs. Here is the
full list of tasks our jobs will perform nightly. I know, you likely have your own database maintenance scripts. And that’s fine. Our index defragmentation routines are optional. You (and your DBA) should know you’re more than welcome to use your own. Just take the time to review our tasks and either turn ours off or modify your plan to avoid duplication of efforts. No need to rebuild an index twice. I said, no need to rebuild an index twice.
One note to our larger customers: our index defragmentation routine times out after 60 minutes. For larger databases, that’s not enough. Ask your DBA if improved index de-fragmentation is right for you.
3. We Published a Database Health Check
Even the best maintenance plans can drift away from the ideal over time. That’s how databases work. Data comes in, sometime data is removed, and it’s necessary to reconfigure some internal structures to keep the magic happening. Over the years, we’ve answered questions from customers regarding database performance. Many of those questions are published in this
database health check guide. This guide is meant to help you understand the warning signs of performance issues that may be directly related to the Orion database, and how to fix them.
4. Upgrades Are Easier Now Than Ever Before
We’ve spent years making the
upgrade experience better for our customers. I’m a huge fan of clean installs, on newer hardware, when possible. I like to take advantage of newer software on newer hardware as a rule—plus it gives me the opportunity to make certain everything is up to date regarding the
Orion requirements. The only possible downside is the loss of data, specifically any customizations. Well,
we have you covered there as well.
5. It’s Easy to Know if Your Database Is Safe From SUNBURST
One common question we have from customers today is “How do I know if my database is safe?” As of this time, we are not aware of any indications that the SUNBURST vulnerability routinely altered the Orion databases in any way. However,
the CISA bulletin provide far more details here. If you fall into Category 3, this is what they say:
“…Recovery and remediation of Category 3 activity requires a complex reconstitution and mitigation plan, which may include comprehensively rebuilding the environment.”
The choice of upgrade or reinstall may be made for you based upon the CISA bulletin. You’ll want to review the bulletin and our security advisory. Or, if you’re on active maintenance, you can utilize the
Orion Assistance Program and engage some of our partners to help you with your remediation efforts. This service is provided at no additional cost. You pay nothing. It’s free. As in beer.
We remain committed to building a strong and secure foundation for our customers and for the future of the software industry. The Orion Assistance Program is but the start of our efforts. And we’ll continue to provide updates on how we’re making our Secure by Design strategy more visible to customers.
