Oh boy.
I'd first challenge the "I disagree..RAID 5 is a proven technology".
Ask him for credible research and/or statistics that support his
position. Sure, RAID 5 is a proven technology...so are floppy disks,
and so what?
Second: clustered systems with failover mitigate disk array
performance considerations? Just how does THAT work?
Good luck!
Paul
- Sam Bootsma <sbootsma_at_gbrownc.on.ca> wrote:
> Hi List,
>
>
>
> We are approaching the cusp of a decision on how to store Oracle data
> files on our SAN. We don't have the SAN yet, but it is due to arrive
> any week (if not any day).
>
>
>
> I passed Cary's "Is RAID 5 Really a Bargain?" paper to our Sys Admin,
> which he read and succinctly summarized for the Technical Manager
> here.
> I have also read through a couple of papers referenced in the BAARF
> site. The Sys Admin comments were:
>
>
>
> Dell would like to know what RAID mode we want configured on the SAN
> for
> the B80 and 6C4 computers. Sam has told me that, in the Oracle
> community, mirroring (RAID1) is preferred over RAID 5 for various
> reasons (RAID5 is: more costly for write-intensive applications, 3
> times
> more likely to incur data loss, suffers from massive performance
> degradation during partial outages). RAID1 will be more costly per
> unit
> of usable storage. Mirroring seems to be the best choice. Let me know
> what you think.
>
>
>
> Here is the Manager's response:
>
>
>
> Any suggestions on how I can counter points 4 and 5 - and the last
> point
> before his "Thanks" line? Currently we have two B80's (AIX 4.3.3)
> set
> up in a HA configuration. They share an external disk array. So if
> a
> hardware component in the primary box fails, then it will
> automatically
> failover to the secondary box (and at the same time, the secondary
> box
> takes control of the external disk array). I think the clustering
> term
> in point (4) is referring to this setup.
>
>
>
> Thanks for any suggestions.
>
>
>
> Sam.
>
>
>
>
>
> Sent: November 18, 2003 5:08 PM
>
>
>
> All the points are valid...however..my thought processes were as
> follows:
>
>
>
> 1. The System & Core Application disks are resident on the disks
> within
> the CPU and Mirrorred (Everyone OK with that I think)
>
>
>
> 2. The Databases are Resident on the SAN
>
>
>
> 3. The SAN disks are RAID 5 as the provide more usable space for the
> cost as compared to mirrorring
>
>
>
> 4. As the IBM Systems (B80's & 6C4's) are clusterd thus effectivley
> Mirrors the RAID 5 Arrays mitigating the issues Sam raises re
> preformance degradation (which will only ever arise in the event of a
> failed disk/automated rebuild which is usually configurable to
> address
> performance degradation)
>
>
>
> 5. Write to Disk/Commit to Database should be a background process
> (although I recognise this is a transaction/write intensive based
> system)
>
>
>
> This is a standard model that all servers are being deployed with and
> unless there are any specific technical reasons why this will not
> work
> it is the way I would like to see the systems implemented. Remeber,
> with the SAN...Reconfiguration of Disks is not a large issue anymore
> if
> required in the future.
>
>
>
> Although not an AIX/Oracle guy...I disagree with the statement that
> RAID5 is 3 times more susceptable to incur Data Loss. RAID 5 is a
> proven technology
>
>
>
> Thanks..... Andrew
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl Nowak
> Sent: Tue 18/11/2003 2:56 PM
> To: Andrew Riem
> Subject: SAN configuration for Banner
>
>
>
> Dell would like to know what RAID mode we want configured on the
> SAN for the B80 and 6C4 computers. Sam has told me that, in the
> Oracle
> community, mirroring (RAID1) is preferred over RAID 5 for various
> reasons (RAID5 is: more costly for write-intensive applications, 3
> times
> more likely to incur data loss, suffers from massive performance
> degradation during partial outages). RAID1 will be more costly per
> unit
> of usable storage. Mirroring seems to be the best choice. Let me know
> what you think.
>
>
>
> Carl
>
>
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