A couple of anecdotes to consider:
a.. Some folks from the "Oak Table" forum (www.oaktable.net) recently (last July) constructed a 10-node cluster of Linux laptops right on the conference floor at Oracle Open World in Copenhagen, Denmark. Information is available at http://investor.cnet.com/investor/news/newsitem/0-9900-1028-20212349-0.html?tag=ats. So it can definitely be done on the cheap!
b.. Some years ago (1994-96), I worked extensively on Oracle7 Parallel Server on IBM RS6000 SP environments. One of IBM's originally-stated intents with the RS6000 SP product line was to create "mainframe-class machines" using "low-cost, off-the-shelf RS6000 components". After a couple years of hard knocks and severely disappointed, deeply frustrated customers, IBM admitted (to their most irate customers) that the strategy of using off-the-shelf, less-robust components with the goal of high-availability does not work. The components themselves have to be "hardened" additionally, hardware and software, adding to the cost and slowing the release cycle.
So, it can definitely be done. It can even be done cheap. But it's going to cost, later if not sooner...
- Original Message -----
To: "Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L" <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 10:23 AM
> Tim - Gee, during the original presentation I attended, RAC was presented as
> a cost-saving feature. Something about being able to use a lot of cheap
> Linux servers. This stuck me as a little odd at the time. Just now, I looked
> at the white papers that Oracle posts on the subject, and I didn't see the
> cost-saving aspect mentioned. Or maybe Oracle is still getting the Linux
> ball rolling.
>
>
>
>
> Dennis Williams
> DBA, 40%OCP
> Lifetouch, Inc.
> dwilliams_at_lifetouch.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 9:05 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
>
>
> Aye to that, but you'll need at least two, possibly three, identical
> clusters, not just one. One cluster for production and an identical cluster
> for QA/Test, and possibly one for development (though that last is often
> regarded as unnecessary). Skimping on the QA/Test environment is the
> leading edge of failure...
>
> RAC itself requires additional DBA expertise as well as additional OS
> SysAdmin expertise for cluster hardware/OS, each of which costs more to
> obtain/maintain (either by hiring experienced/talented or training to build
> or both). Clustering is not a low-cost solution from any perspective...
>
> RAC is a solution for certain specific high-availability and
> high-scaleability requirements (not including "data-center failure", a.k.a.
> disaster-recovery), so it's a good idea to be certain that you are planning
> a solution that meets your own specific requirements before proceeding. RAC
> should not be a high-level management decision -- it is a specific technical
> solution to meet specific technical requirements, which themselves should
> have been derived from the requirements of the business. There are several
> other possible H/A solutions in Oracle9i (i.e. physical standby, logical
> standby, advanced replication, OS failover solutions, RAC, etc), each of
> which addresses the same H/A problems in different ways with differing
> levels of complexity and cost.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> To: Multiple <mailto:ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com> recipients of list ORACLE-L
> Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 6:43 AM
>
> IMHO, the main requirement is that you have to have a system that needs to
> be up 24x7 on a cluster and your ability to fork enough money to Oracle and
> your server vendor (to get two identical machines) and your networking
> vendor (for redundant network connections).
>
> Rest everything is easy ...
>
> Raj
> ______________________________________________________
>
> Rajendra Jamadagni MIS, ESPN Inc.
>
> Rajendra dot Jamadagni at ESPN dot com
>
> Any opinion expressed here is personal and doesn't reflect that of ESPN Inc.
>
>
> QOTD: Any clod can have facts, but having an opinion is an art!
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2002 3:04 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
>
>
>
> Dear All,
>
> We are planning to implement ORAC for our application, can anybody tell me
> where to get good information on the system requirements for implementing
> the same.
>
> Regards
> Prem
>
> --
> Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
> --
> Author: DENNIS WILLIAMS
> INET: DWILLIAMS_at_LIFETOUCH.COM
>
> Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com
> San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services
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Received on Wed Oct 23 2002 - 18:19:21 CDT
