XAP Skyline

XAP Skyline Overview

Introduction

XAP Skyline A highly customizable developer platform that allows building scalable HA with high throughput and ultra-low latency Java applications running on Kubernetes clusters benefits from GigaSpaces high-speed, distributed in-memory data storage and processing grid. The platform colocates applications and data, offering ultra-low latency, high-throughput transaction and stream processing. XAP GigaSpaces eXtreme Application Platform. Provides a powerful solution for data processing, launching, and running digital services Skyline offers a unique set of capabilities that are not available in simple caching solutions, such as:

• SQL-99 coverage

• Multi-criteria queries

• Dynamic server-side processing

• Full data integrity

• Policy-driven data tiering

• Seamless database integration - this is an optional add-on.

• Cloud-native deployment

XAP Skyline ensures data consistency and reliability across distributed environments by employing ACID In the context of databases and data storage systems, a transaction is any operation that is treated as a single unit of work, which either completes fully or does not complete at all, and leaves the storage system in a consistent state. ACID is an acronym that refers to the set of 4 key properties that define a transaction: Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability. If a database operation has these ACID properties, it can be called an ACID transaction.-compliant transactions to maintain data integrity. It uses sophisticated replication and partitioning mechanisms to ensure high availability and fault tolerance, even in the event of node failures. These features, combined with its support for SQL-99 standards, ensures that XAP Skyline will provide consistent, reliable data access and processing capabilities at scale.

Architecture

Architecture of XAP Skyline

XAP Skyline offers:

• High availability, replication and persistence with optional data persistence and multi-datacenter replication

• Full data life-cycle management on RAM, SSD/Flash, disk and external data stores, also supporting multiple data tiers

• Support for an unlimited number of advanced indexes such as Exact, Range, Collections, Compound, Text, and Geo-spatial for optimal performance, with SQL-99 coverage. Unlike key-value stores that may need to duplicate the entire data store for each defined index, XAP only creates additional indexing data structures on one instance of data.

• GigaSpaces SpaceDeck user interface for user management and control.

• Support for a variety of data models, including POJO, Documents, and Key/Value

• Seamless scaling up and out with no downtime

• Easy integration with BI tools

 

XAP Skyline runs server side processing, providing the high performance of advanced operations and avoiding data retrieval back to the client side. Aggregation is performed in-memory, on relevant data only, regardless of total data size. It uses Space-Based Architecture (SBA Space-Based Architecture. This architecture implementation is a set of Processing Units, with the following properties: Each processing unit instances holds a partitioned space instance and one or more services that are registered on events on that specific partition. Together they form an application cluster. Utlized by Utilized GigaSpaces cloud-native IMDG.) as a primary design pattern. With SBA, applications are built out of a set of self-sufficient units, known as Processing Units (PU This is the unit of packaging and deployment in the GigaSpaces Data Grid, and is essentially the main GigaSpaces service. The Processing Unit (PU) itself is typically deployed onto the Service Grid. When a Processing Unit is deployed, a Processing Unit instance is the actual runtime entity.). These units are completely independent of each other, so that an application can scale without increasing complexity, just by adding more units. SBA is based on the Tuple Space Where GigaSpaces data is stored. It is the logical cache that holds data objects in memory and might also hold them in layered in tiering. Data is hosted from multiple SoRs, consolidated as a unified data model. paradigm. SBA follows many of the principles of Service-Oriented Architecture and Event-Driven Architecture, as well as elements of grid computing.

Reducing Latency 

Typically cloud native offerings add a lot of flexibility, scalability and availability.  However, this comes at a cost of latency which has a direct impact on the bottom line in terms of conversion and downtime cost.  XAP Skyline improves database latency by bringing the critical data closer to the application into the Kubernetes An open-source container orchestration system for automating software deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. cluster which improves latency by up to 90% which in turn enhances reliability and reduces costs. XAP Skyline;s architecture is specifically optimized for minimizing latency and maximizing throughput within Kubernetes environments. Its data management strategies are tailored for cloud-native applications, providing faster access to data and improving overall application responsiveness.

XAP Skyline reduces latency by:

• Bringing your critical data closer to the application into the Kubernetes cluster

• Running the data in-memory.

• Processing the data locally, thus reducing the chances for failure, by:

  • Collocating the data processing in the same process as the data.

    This is an advanced capability that maximizes latency reduction.

  • Requiring no network calls or serialization overhead.

XAP Skyline provides a highly-reliable, distributed, in-memory storage and processing engine. Essentially, it is an in-memory data grid (IMDG) designed to support millisecond-level latency and millions of operations per second, providing for thousands of services, and hundreds to thousands of concurrent users. This solution makes the implementation of distributed applications above the Space simpler and less intrusive, enabling efficient building of highly scalable and highly performing applications.

Kubernetes Orchestration

This GigaSpaces XAP Skyline solution is designed from the ground up to be fully Kubernetes-native, addressing the specific challenges of deployment, scalability, performance, latency, and resource utilization in Kubernetes environments. In addition, ensuring low latency and high performance across a distributed environment. XAP Skyline is designed to ensure seamless integration and optimization within Kubernetes environments. This results in simplified deployments and management, leveraging Kubernetes' capabilities for handling stateful sets and persistent volumes efficiently.

For stateful applications, XAP Skyline provides a distributed data store that runs within the same Kubernetes cluster as your application, ensuring data locality and reducing the latency typically associated with external database calls. This proximity significantly improves read/write speeds, directly translating to faster, more responsive applications.

Deployment Models

Cloud

XAP Skyline is designed for cloud-native deployment, making it well-suited for public cloud environments. It leverages Kubernetes for orchestration, which allows for dynamic scaling, self-healing, and efficient management of containerized applications. For cloud deployments, XAP Skyline can be integrated with cloud providers' Kubernetes services (e.g., Amazon EKS, Google GKE, Azure AKS) or managed Kubernetes services such as ARO, to leverage the cloud's full scalability and resilience features.

On-Premise

For organizations with requirements for on-premises deployments, XAP Skyline can be deployed in local data centers using Kubernetes. This approach offers control over the infrastructure and data, meeting compliance and regulatory requirements. XAP Skyline integrates with existing on-premises Kubernetes setups, ensuring that businesses can maintain their data sovereignty while benefiting from cloud-native features.

Hybrid

XAP Skyline supports hybrid deployment models, allowing businesses to leverage both on-premises and cloud environments. This is particularly useful for scenarios where sensitive data must remain on-premises while other parts of the application can benefit from the cloud's elasticity. XAP Skyline's architecture enables seamless data synchronization and application interaction across these environments, providing flexibility and ensuring data integrity.

Scalability & Operational Efficiency

With its Kubernetes-native design, XAP Skyline excels in dynamic scalability, allowing resources to be efficiently scaled up or down based on demand, directly within Kubernetes’ orchestration. XAP Skyline's integration with Kubernetes simplifies operational tasks, such as upgrades, scaling, and recovery, making it easier to manage stateful applications at scale.

Multi-Cluster Replication

XAP Skyline's hub-spoke model for multi-cluster replication within Kubernetes environments ensures unparalleled data consistency and availability. This architectural design allows for a centralized hub cluster that communicates and synchronizes data across multiple spoke clusters. Each spoke cluster hosts a localized version of XAP Skyline along with its own application, enabling both proximity-based data access to minimize latency and centralized data management for consistency and resilience.