Minicomputer Upgrade for the Clinical Resarch Database

此申请是为了购买计算机硬件，以支持纪念斯隆-凯特琳癌症中心的机构临床研究数据库（CRDB）。CRDB是一个内部开发的关系数据库，用于支持中心广泛临床研究项目的数据库管理需求。CRDB是一个共享资源，目前服务于109个NIH资助项目，其中10个是项目项目或孢子奖。该数据库正在不断开发中，由数据库管理员、计算机程序员和经验丰富的数据管理人员组成的团队进行维护。开发CRDB的项目在1991年开始使用VAX微型计算机集群，但是在1996年我们成功地完成了共享仪器拨款，将硬件升级到两个数字Alpha服务器集群。从那时起，数据库的利用率大大增加，系统中定位的研究协议数量从685增加到2811。目前大约有16.2万名患者的研究记录存储在数据库中。因此，用户开始遇到性能问题，我们预计这些问题将在未来12个月内急剧增加，因此需要在2002年初进行重大的硬件升级。本方案是请求资金再次升级硬件平台，以保持系统的性能，面对这些快速增长的需求。

This application is for funds to purchase computer hardware that will support Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's institutional Clinical Research Database (CRDB). The CRDB is a relational database that was developed in-house to support the database management needs of the extensive clinical research program at the Center. The CRDB is a shared resource that currently serves the needs of 109 funded NIH grants, of which 10 are program projects or SPORE awards. The database is under continual development, and is maintained by a team of database administrators, computer programmers, and experienced data managers. The project to develop CRDB was initiated in 1991 using a cluster of VAX minicomputers, but in 1996 we successfully completed for a Shared Instrumentation Grant to upgrade the hardware to a cluster of two Digital Alpha servers. Since that time, the utilization of the database has greatly expanded, with the number of research protocols locate don the system increasing from 685 to 2811. Research records of approximately 162,000 patients are now stored on the databases. As a result, users are beginning to experience performance difficulties, and we project that these problems will increase dramatically during the next 12 months, necessitating a major hardware upgrade in early 2002. This proposal is a request for funds to upgrade the hardware platform once again to maintain the performance of the system in the face of these rapidly increasing demands.