Microsoft SQL ServerCustomer Solution Case Study

Radio Station Uses Hybrid Cloud to Boost Availability, Efficiency, and Global Scalability with Hybrid Cloud Solution

OverviewCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Media and entertainment—Radio, television, cable, and satellite

Customer ProfileKEXP is a publicly supported radio station based at the University of Washington, Seattle. The station’s 50 employees broadcast a variety of musical genres and programs terrestrially in Seattle and online to millions of people.

Business SituationThe station wanted to increase employee efficiency and data insight. KEXP also needed to implement a disaster-recovery plan to help maintain high availability.

SolutionKEXP worked with Microsoft, Wowrack, and Vertigo Software to design a hybrid solution based on Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and Windows Azure.

Benefits Provides 99.99 percent availability Increases efficiency and agility Boosts data insight and service levels Facilitates manageability and scalability

“By using SQL Server 2012 and Windows Azure, we automated processes so that our employees can focus on playing music and creating programs, rather than seeking information or managing services.”

Louis O’Callaghan, Application Developer, KEXP

Radio station KEXP 90.3 Seattle wanted to improve data insight and speed processes to help employees create unique and interesting programs. The station also wanted to be able to develop new online services for a virtually unlimited number of people around the world. To achieve these goals, KEXP needed to improve IT scalability, performance, and disaster recovery—and still maintain manageability. To help, KEXP engaged Microsoft and third-parties Vertigo Software and Wowrack. The team deployed a new infrastructure based on Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise and Windows Azure. The hybrid cloud solution facilitates disaster recovery and provides 99.99 percent availability. With it, KEXP boosts efficiency, which increases data insight and service levels. In addition, the solution is fast, flexible, and easy to manage so that KEXP can quickly create innovative programs and online services.

SituationKEXP delivers an eclectic mix of music and programs through terrestrial broadcasts and web-based streaming. A pioneer in many ways, KEXP was the first station in the United States to broadcast full-song podcasts from international musicians. About 50 employees operate the station.

Unlike most stations that cycle through a limited number of songs using automated playlists, disk jockeys (DJs) at KEXP can choose to play any song or artist. “A core reason why people listen to KEXP is to get introduced to new music,” explains Eric Schmidt, Disk Jockey at KEXP. “To help further this idea of new music discovery, the station provides interactive music experiences on the web and it offers a wide range of programming.”

Before 2012, metadata regarding playlist information was managed by an infrastructure solution at the University of Washington. DJs frequently had to manually edit the metadata in an application, which made playlists prone to inaccuracies. A database and web server supported the application: the database ran on Microsoft SQL Server 2000 data management software and the Windows Server 2003 operating system; the web server ran on Internet Information Services (IIS). In addition to storing playlists for historical purposes, the application also posted playlists in real time to the station’s website for the public.

Because the manually generated playlists sometimes contained errors or data omissions, DJs spent considerable time just looking for information, says Schmidt. “So, for example, DJs couldn’t easily find out

how many times a specific Beatles song had played over the past month because someone might have spelled Beatles differently or might not have entered the song name correctly.”

The station wanted to give DJs better insight into its database but also faster access to external information sources so that DJs could both entertain and educate listeners. To date, employees manually searched public sites like Amazon and MusicBrainz for interesting facts to share about a song. However, there was no established process for doing so.

Other challenges that KEXP faced related to IT performance, scalability, and disaster recovery. To expand its services, the station needed a more scalable infrastructure that could support an unlimited number of international users. In addition, KEXP wanted to increase its capacity for maintaining high availability. “In the past, we had no redundancy for our solution,” explains Louis O’Callaghan, Application Developer at KEXP. “Even though it was extremely stable, we wanted to implement a high-availability and disaster-recovery plan to be sure we delivered consistent service.”

In 2010, KEXP decided to develop a new solution that could increase data insight, automate processes, boost availability, and promote agility.

SolutionBecause KEXP liked the stability of its previous solution and had a good relationship with Microsoft, the station engaged with Vertigo Software and Microsoft evangelism resources to help

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design a global solution that is easy to maintain. The team tested many different configurations, but ultimately chose to implement a solution based on SQL Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise, and a hybrid cloud that runs on Windows Azure. Key components include:

A relational database developed by KEXP engineers with SQL Server 2012 includes 16 gigabytes (GB) of metadata about music and services. It is hosted by Microsoft partner Wowrack.

The Playlist tool manages playlist data and automates related processes. Developed by KEXP engineers and Microsoft partner Vertigo Software, this application is hosted by Wowrack.

Cloud services including data storage, data processing, and user authentication, which are supported by Windows Azure, provide virtually unlimited scalability and performance for solution components.

Web services run on IIS 7.5. This solution, also hosted by Wowrack, facilitates data exchange between components.

Commenting on the solution’s design, O’Callaghan says, “One reason we chose SQL Server 2012 is because it provides SQL Server AlwaysOn for database replication and synchronization, which makes it easy to implement a high-availability and disaster-recovery plan. We also liked the flexibility of SQL Server 2012 because we frequently update our database schema.”

Creating the Database and Playlist Tool Engineers from KEXP developed the new relational database using SQL Server 2012

Enterprise. It maintains extensive metadata about all database objects and services so that solution components such as web services know: which component to use to service requests; where to go for information; and what connections there are between related data from internal and external sources. In addition, engineers used the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional development system to create a custom audit mechanism that logs all database changes and events.

The team deployed the database on two virtual systems that run on separate server computers in data centers in Seattle and Tukwila, Washington. Each server includes 4 hyper-threaded processing cores, 16 GB of RAM, and 2 logical drives—each with 500 GB—based on a dedicated redundant array of disks. The engineers configured the servers in one availability group with SQL Server AlwaysOn using synchronous commit mode. As a result, all database changes are simultaneously made to both system copies. Should the primary system become unavailable, in just seconds the secondary system automatically takes over.

IT personnel at KEXP worked with Vertigo to help develop the new Playlist tool using Visual Studio 2010 Professional and Microsoft ADO.NET Entity Framework 4, in the .NET Framework 4. The new application automates some processes that provide DJs with the information they need. For example, when a person inserts a CD into the player, the system identifies the CD, including the artist and track names. The application then automatically retrieves any related information about it from the station’s database. If there is no data, the application obtains more information from

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“One reason we chose SQL Server 2012 is because it provides SQL Server AlwaysOn for database replication and synchronization, which makes it easy to implement a high-availability and disaster-recovery plan."Louis O'Callaghan, Application Developer,

KEXP

external sources, such as Amazon and MusicBrainz. The application then automatically updates the playlist that displays on the KEXP website. The software also records all information about the song in the database running on SQL Server 2012. Until the solution is fully implemented, the Playlist tool also writes all of the information to the previous solution’s database that is hosted at the university.

Taking Advantage of a Hybrid Cloud KEXP uses the compute resources, in-memory caching, data storage, and access control capabilities of Windows Azure to gain scale and performance while maintaining manageability. To extend its solution to use cloud components, KEXP engineers developed web-based services using Microsoft ASP.NET 4, and Microsoft ASP.NET MVC 3 (which provides a Model-View-Controller framework that runs on ASP.NET 4). These services facilitate communication between all solution components including private and cloud-based resources.

For example, the KEXP website uses Windows Azure Compute Service to manage high-performance tasks such as streaming audio to a limitless number of users. To help boost the performance of its streaming services, KEXP uses Windows Azure Storage Services: it uses one logical file store in the cloud to service global requests and stream one file to numerous endpoints. The new solution also uses caching in Windows Azure to store copies of data, such as playlists or audio files, for fast access by other components or users. KEXP can manage the number of cache instances around the world and adjust cache sizes to maintain fast performance despite demand.

By August 2011, all DJs at KEXP were using an initial release of the new Playlist tool. In February 2012, KEXP released an initial version of a public interface to its new Playlist tool on the KEXP website. It provides the public with enhanced insight into playlists and related information from the station’s database. All of the information that the solution provides

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employees and the public is served from the cloud.

KEXP engineers are currently adding additional capabilities and transitioning some processes to the cloud. For example, engineers are modifying the Playlist tool so that it uses Compute Service to identify and extract data and URLs from external sources on the web. In addition, KEXP engineers are expanding the capabilities of the SQL Server AlwaysOn availability group so that the read-only secondary system will reside on Windows Azure. Engineers will use Microsoft SQL Azure Data Sync to facilitate information exchange with the cloud-based replica so that it matches the primary system and supports processes such as backups. KEXP is also modifying its web services to use Windows Azure Access Control to authenticate service requests and manage user profiles. KEXP expects to complete its solution by June 2012.

BenefitsBy implementing a new DJ system on SQL Server 2012 and Windows Azure, KEXP achieves 99.99 percent availability, speeds efficiency and agility, increases insight and service levels, and facilitates manageability.

Provides 99.99 Percent AvailabilityWith SQL Server AlwaysOn, KEXP engineers rapidly implemented a high-availability and disaster-recovery plan that does not require manual processes. As a result, the station provides 99.99 percent availability for its DJ system. “With SQL Server AlwaysOn, we now have a plan B so if something goes wrong, we can be confident that we can still provide the services our DJs need and our customers expect,” says O’Callaghan. “Automatic

failover between the primary and secondary systems takes less than one minute.”

Taking advantage of Windows Azure contributes to the station’s high level of availability. With it, KEXP can scale cloud-based resources as needed to support continuous service.

Increases Efficiency and AgilityToday, KEXP DJs are more productive. “The faster our solution is, the better our DJs can do their jobs,” explains O’Callaghan. “By using SQL Server 2012 and Windows Azure, we automated processes so that our employees can focus on playing music and creating programs, rather than seeking information or managing services.”

As a result, KEXP can increase its agility and ability to deliver innovative offerings. “When our solution is fully deployed, we plan to create unique artist pages that are dynamically generated and tied to the metadata in SQL Server 2012,” explains O’Callaghan. “So, for example, you’ll be able to go to KEXP.org/Artist/Nirvana and see all of the times we played Nirvana, which albums we’ve played, what DJs said about the song, and what our listeners said.“

Boosts Data Insight and Service LevelsDJs can now get the details they seek about artists and songs in less time. In addition, even though playlists can include comments entered by DJs, the data is more accurate because much of it is automatically generated. When the solution is complete, DJs will have better search capabilities and quicker access to the information they need to develop unique

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“With SQL Server AlwaysOn, we now have a plan B so if something goes wrong, we can be confident that we can still provide the services our DJs need and our customers expect.”Louis O'Callaghan, Application Developer,

KEXP

programs. “When a DJ plays a song by an artist, they will be able to see everything that the SQL Server 2012 database contains about that artist, including URLs for more information like images and album art,” says O’Callaghan.

Facilitates Manageability and ScalabilityAlthough it has increased its service capabilities, KEXP has minimized administrative complexity by offloading some tasks to the cloud. “We use Windows Azure to automatically spin up new server instances to handle increases in traffic,” says Schmidt. “We can also view streaming deployments as a logical group, which eases management.”

Increased database transparency also facilitates solution manageability. O’Callaghan explains, “With our custom solution, we can see what changes were made to the database, by whom, and when. We can see if changes were manually entered or if the data came from an external source. We can also see system events like exceptions.”

In addition, IT personnel can quickly extend KEXP services to millions of global users and devices without spending significant time on IT processes. O’Callaghan says, “Windows Azure provides easy-to-use technologies for defining and supporting the services that we want to offer through the cloud. We also simplify some processes by using Windows Azure as a firewall, so no external entity ever talks to our on-premises SQL Server and internal applications. With the Microsoft solution, we can easily deliver great music and innovative services to our worldwide audience.”

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“Windows Azure provides easy-to-use technologies for defining and supporting the services that we want to offer through the cloud. We also simplify some processes by using Windows Azure as a firewall.”Louis O'Callaghan, Application Developer,

KEXP

Microsoft Server Product PortfolioFor more information about the Microsoft server product portfolio, go to:www.microsoft.com/servers

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For More InformationFor 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 in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. 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 Vertigo Software products and services, call (510) 307-8200 or visit the website at: www.vertigo.com

For more information about Wowrack products and services, call (866) 883-8808 or visit the website at: www.wowrack.com

For more information about KEXP products and services, call (206) 520-5800 or visit the website at: www.kexp.org

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

Document published March 2012

Software and Services Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise− Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise

Microsoft ADO.NET Entity Framework 4 Microsoft Visual Studio− Microsoft Visual Studio 2010

Professional Windows Azure platform− Microsoft SQL Azure− Windows Azure Access Control− Windows Azure Compute Service− Windows Azure Storage Service−

Services− Microsoft Services

Technologies− Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5− Microsoft ASP.NET 4− Microsoft ASP.NET MVC 3

Partners Vertigo Software Wowrack