RE: Sizing a new server

From: Koivu, Lisa <lisa.koivu_at_efairfield.com>
Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2001 10:30:26 -0700
Message-ID: <F001.00344929.20010709103611@fatcity.com>

That's the Guy Hammond I remember from a couple of years ago.  Very useful posts with a bit of humor attached :)

Thanks Guy!
Lisa

-----Original Message-----

From:   Guy Hammond [SMTP:guy.hammond_at_avt.co.uk]
Sent:   Monday, July 09, 2001 12:21 PM
To:     Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L

Subject:        RE: Sizing a new server

Hi Lisa,
 

Pick your favorite vendor and ask 'em if they've got anything like this:
 

<http://www.compaq.com/solutions/enterprise/database-oracle-sizer-download.html>
 

If it's going to be a big purchase, most vendors will send someone over to take a look too. I remember the good 'ol days when you could call up a DEC sales rep and tell him you wanted to by so many VUPs (VAX Units of Performance). There were tables and formulae you could use to work up how many VUPs you needed to run your application, so you just ordered like that, and took whatever kit they sent you... kinda like walking into a diner and just saying "I'm very hungry, just give me some food!".

 

SGI used to have a policy that if they'd sized a system for you and it wouldn't deliver the transactions/sec that you were expecting, they'd upgrade your equipment for free until it did. Unfortunately, SGI now means "soon going insolvent" :0(

 

Completely off topic, but I read once that the army of the former Soviet Empire used to size battle groups using tables and formulae too. They could plug in variables for the strength of the enemy, the terrain, the weather etc and their method would tell them how many of which sorts of battalions they'd need. Maybe it was like Lee's index calculation - they'd only get one-fifth of the tanks they needed! :0)

 

HTH,
 

g
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Koivu, Lisa [mailto:lisa.koivu_at_efairfield.com] Sent: Monday, July 09, 2001 4:30 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Subject: Sizing a new server

Good morning everyone,

Lucky me, I get to choose the size of the server this company should consider purchasing.  I have been poking around on the net for any guidelines - I can make guesses based upon my gut feel and how strapped the current unix server is, but I want to be able to back this up with hard numbers.  This is for a dw application.

Can anyone point me to a website, book, or anything in particular that can help me justify sizing a machine?  It's so fun working for a company that doesn't have a sysadmin on staff... 

Thanks

Lisa Koivu
Oracle Data Bored Administrator
Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
954-935-4117 Received on Mon Jul 09 2001 - 12:30:26 CDT