The scope of this project will be to build a new virtual MySQL environment, in order to maintain O/S support.

Our current MySQL database estate currently resides on the same infrastructure as Oracle 11g, running on Linux Redhat 6 servers. The Oracle databases are in the process of being migrated to Oracle 12c and onto new Infrastructure running on Linux Redhat 7. Redhat Linux 6 will be end of life (production) on November 30th 2020.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux)

We therefore, minimally, need to build a new environment on a later version of Linux and upgrade the version of MySQL available. The new environment should be built on VMware, in accordance with our enterprise infrastructure platform strategy.

At the same time we are intending to migrate from MySQL to MariaDB (https://mariadb.org/). MariaDB is an “identical” clone of MySQL. This has some potential advantages, such as saving up to £30k year in Oracle licence costs, and moves the University towards a better supported open source community. This option will be fully investigated as part of the project design phase.

The project will build the new platform in advance of the final end-of-life support so that business-driven projects can migrate applications as part of follow-up projects.

There are an estimated 10-30 application that use MySQL, including Microservices. The project will migrate at least one smaller application that uses MySQL, in order to prove the new platform and establish it as part of a live service.

Additional application migrations will be included in scope, should there be sufficient budget and time. This is based upon the learning experience of the recent LAMP upgrade project and considered to more efficient approach than separate projects, keeping focus where there is hard deadline to exit the existing infrastructure. The major application using MySQL is the University Website (www.ed.ac.uk). This is a priority one service. 

The deadline for migration to Maria DB is 25th October 2019.

Test Plan https://www.wiki.ed.ac.uk/display/ProdSRV/INF143+Testing+Summary

AP89-021