GBase Database Application at China Oil & Gas Pipeline Network Corporation (PipeChina)

Published on 2022-03-21

National Pipeline Network Application System Based on a China‑Developed Database

Background

PipeChina is a major oil and gas energy company, primarily providing pipeline transportation, storage services, equipment import, technology import and export, and other services. It is responsible for the investment and construction of national trunk oil and gas pipelines, some gas storage and peak‑shaving facilities, the interconnection of trunk pipelines, and connections with secondary pipeline networks. It is also in charge of the pipeline transportation of crude oil, refined oil, and natural gas, centrally operating and dispatching the national trunk oil and gas pipeline network, and regularly disclosing remaining transportation and storage capacity to the public.

For a long time, the basic software of PipeChina’s IT systems largely relied on foreign products. In response to the ever‑changing and complex international landscape and considering national security strategies, PipeChina set a new requirement for its IT system development and applications: to be secure, self‑controlled, trustworthy, and 100% China‑developed. Under this mandate, PipeChina’s IT systems—including infrastructure, operating systems, database systems, and application systems (such as SCADA)—will gradually become fully China‑developed.

Most of PipeChina’s previous IT applications were developed on Oracle, MySQL, and SQL Server databases. These foreign products historically provided IT support for the pipeline network. However, with the changing times and the further development of China‑developed database technology and services, PipeChina has progressively replaced those foreign databases with domestic ones. After the replacement, the China‑developed databases have delivered satisfactory results in performance, stability, scalability, and security.

China‑Developed Solution and Features

GBase 8s provides PipeChina with high‑performance, highly available, and highly stable database services. In addition, General Data Technology has supplied PipeChina with a dual‑active SSC shared storage deployment model—a unique feature of China‑developed databases that is similar to Oracle RAC.

The following are replacement cases implemented using the GBase database system:

  • IP Resource Management System
  • Data Standard System and Public Data Coding Platform
  • Internal Communications Platform
  • Human Resources Management System
  • China–Russia East Route Su‑Wan Pipeline and Shaanxi–Beijing II PCS Project
  • PipeChina Guizhou Pipeline Network Yunwu Initial Station Project
  • PipeChina China–Russia East Route Southern Section (Anping–Tai’an) Project
  • PipeChina Gangzao Line (Zaozhuang–Dagang) Oil Pipeline Project

The GBase 8s SSC cluster uses a shared storage high‑availability mechanism to handle data update transfer between different node groups, achieving synchronization between primary and backup node groups. After receiving a data update request, the GBase 8s SSC primary node performs a refresh operation to update the data in its local in‑memory database node. Meanwhile, the GBase 8s SSC secondary node transmits the logical log of data updates through the shared storage. After obtaining the data update logical log, that secondary node performs the same refresh operation for the next GBase 8s SSC secondary node, thereby synchronizing the primary and backup GBase 8s database groups. Because the shared storage and nodes are connected via a high‑speed dedicated fibre channel storage network, efficient real‑time data update synchronization is achieved, ensuring data consistency between the primary and backup machines. Persistent data storage on the shared storage also guarantees recovery after a system failure.

The GBase 8s SSC cluster architecture is illustrated below:

SSC has the following three features:

  • SSC restores shared logical logs to the buffer on the secondary node based on LSN.
  • After a successful commit, the logical log is persistently stored in the shared storage, so no transaction is lost even if the primary fails.
  • Failover is highly efficient: SSC typically performs failover within milliseconds after the primary node failure.

 

Value of PipeChina’s Domestic Database Replacement

GBase 8s is already supporting multiple real‑time transactional services at PipeChina, replacing foreign databases with a China‑developed one.

The key advantages of this database replacement solution are:

Highest Security Level

GBase 8s has passed tests related to standards such as Level 4 of the Multi‑Level Protection Scheme (MLPS 2.0), commercial cryptography, and China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI) requirements, obtaining the relevant certifications. It provides security features including data confidentiality, access control, anti‑attack, and user behavior tracking; supports encryption and decryption throughout communication and data access, software encryption, cryptographic card encryption, and three‑role separation (system, security, and audit).

Financial‑Grade High Availability

GBase 8s includes rich high‑availability components, supporting solutions such as intra‑city primary‑standby disaster recovery clusters (local HAC) and remote disaster recovery clusters (remote HAC), with failover in seconds and 99.999% high availability. It supports two‑site, three‑center HA deployments, with remote disaster recovery distances of over 1,000 kilometers.

Shared Storage Cluster

GBase 8s supports shared storage clusters to address high data availability concerns in mission‑critical systems. It enables automatic failover in seconds. The cluster supports up to 128 nodes, and users can achieve near‑linear read performance scaling by adding cluster nodes.

Broad SQL Syntax Compatibility

GBase 8s continuously enhances compatibility with mainstream database syntax, supporting a wide range of SQL usage that is compatible with multiple mainstream databases, maximizing the reuse of users’ and developers’ database skills and lowering the product’s adoption barrier.

Complete Domestic Ecosystem Compatibility

GBase 8s has been deeply adapted to all major China‑developed platforms, supporting CPU series such as Kunpeng, Phytium, Loongson, Sunway, Zhaoxin, and Hygon. It has been adapted to domestic operating systems, including UnionTech UOS, Kylin, Puhua, Ningsi Panshi, Wanlihong, CAS Fangde, and Inspur K‑UX.

Easy Migration

GBase 8s provides multi‑level migration support, with over 150 built‑in compatibility features for mainstream database syntax, enabling no‑code application migration. It also offers a variety of migration and real‑time synchronization tools to ensure business accuracy and stability during migration and trial operation.

Cost‑Effective

GBase products are commercially available China‑developed solutions, with purchase prices lower than foreign commercial products but higher than open‑source products, offering the best overall value. In terms of maintenance, General Data Technology provides the most comprehensive after‑sales service, with labor costs lower than those for foreign commercial products. The product is also more mature than open‑source alternatives, requiring less extensive maintenance effort.