INTRODUCTION TO SAIGON CO.OP
Established in 1989 under a directive from the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, Saigon Co.op was formed through the transformation of the City Trading Cooperative Management Board into the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Trading Cooperatives – Saigon Co.op. The organization was assigned dual roles: engaging in direct commercial activities and promoting the cooperative movement.
A major milestone in its journey was the launch of its first Co.opmart supermarket on February 9, 1996, in Cong Quynh, which paved the way for a nationwide expansion of the Co.opmart supermarket chain.
To date, Saigon Co.op operates more than 1,000 retail outlets across Vietnam, making it the retailer with the most diverse business models in the country—from supermarkets, hypermarkets, and shopping malls to convenience stores and neighborhood shops, offering both offline and online retail services.
PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
In the era of Industry 4.0, business decisions, strategies, and operations are increasingly driven by data-a critical asset that ensures high accuracy and valuable insights. For retail businesses, data related to customer purchasing behavior, product information, promotional campaigns, and customer service is updated constantly. Therefore, data is a valuable asset that must be safeguarded to prevent loss while ensuring continuous availability for access and analysis.
The current state of Saigon Co.op’s database systems reveals several critical issues:
Most database systems across more than 100 supermarket locations are still running outdated versions such as SQL Server 2008 R2, which is nearing end-of-life (EOL) and no longer supported by the vendor.
The database systems at the main Data Center (DC) are primarily operating on SQL Server 2014. Many of these are configured as standalone systems (single points of failure), and although some use SQL Clustering, there is no Disaster Recovery (DR) system in place. If the Data Center experiences a failure, it could disrupt the company’s entire business operations.
For the Oracle database system, although it is configured with RAC (Real Application Clusters) for High Availability (HA), it has not been set up with Data Guard for Disaster Recovery. Moreover, backups are currently stored only on local disks. In the event of storage failure, total data loss is a serious risk. If multiple data files are corrupted and a full database restore is required, it may take a minimum of four hours to bring the system back online. Additionally, the Oracle system is still running on version 11g, making an upgrade necessary to leverage newer features and enhanced security.
The current Data Center is aging and located within Saigon Co.op’s headquarters, raising urgent concerns over its physical and logical security as well as other operational risks.
SOLUTIONS PROVIDED BY HPT
SQL Server Database Solutions:
Upgrade and migrate SQL Server databases to version 2016, hosted at the new Data Center.
Build SQL Server Clusters at the DC and implement Always On Availability Groups (AOG) for DR synchronization.
Upgrade and synchronize databases from supermarket branches nationwide to the central databases at the Data Center.
Develop a tool to synchronize SQL Server objects such as Linked Servers, Maintenance Plans, Logins, and Jobs from DC to DR.
Oracle Database Solutions:
Upgrade and migrate Oracle databases from version 11g to version 19C at the new Data Center.
Set up a standby database system using Oracle Data Guard.
Install Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 13c for centralized database administration and monitoring.
KEY BENEFITS
Nearly 100 SQL Server databases from supermarket locations upgraded to SQL Server 2016.
Six SQL Server clusters at the Data Center upgraded to version 2016 and configured with AOG for high availability and disaster recovery.
Administration of key SQL Server objects such as Linked Servers, Maintenance Plans, and Logins becomes more streamlined with HPT’s custom-developed tools.
Continuous data synchronization from supermarket branches to the centralized Data Center ensures consistent and reliable data availability.
The Oracle 11g system is successfully upgraded to Oracle 19C RAC and configured with Data Guard, significantly enhancing system performance by utilizing new features such as multiple indexes on the same column, in-memory aggregation, and advanced caching.
Cloud Control 13c empowers database administrators with more convenient and efficient management and monitoring of the Oracle environment.