Re: database resource usage

Chris,

> Currently our production/test/development databases all reside on the
> same 2 cpu RH4 machine. Our database environment is growing at a
> steady pace. Over the last month we have encountered several
> situations where a developer doing OLAP development in the dev
> database has kicked something off that completely saturates the cpu's
> and brings our 2 production database to it's knees.

> I'm looking to gather ammunition for a change in our server
> architecture.

I know that you are presently using RH4 but let me present you with an alternative.

Solaris 10 has a virtualization feature called Zones. One of the main objectives of Zones is *isolation*. Oracle is certified to run on Solaris Zones.

In the situation you are describing above, the 2 databases can be placed in two separate Zones. Then, using Solaris resource management (OS level, obviously), the resources that a zone can use can be CAPPED. For example, you can cap the development zone to use only one CPU if the production server is running. That way, it will never hog all the CPU of that entire box.

In all likelihood, Solaris 10 will run on your machine running Redhat right now.

I'm planning to make a few blog posts about Solaris Zones but I have not gotten to it yet. In the meantime, there are some pointers here:

http://jforonda.vintarinian.com/?p=23

James

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