RE: Partitioned server

IMHO, unless you're currently severely memory bound, and by going this way, you can get the leverage needed to buy more memory, I don't see how this could improve performance at all. You add complexity, you increase the code path, stuff will run slower, not faster. (How much slower, and whether the slowdown will be perceptible to users, I don't know.)  

However, it can be quite useful for better isolation of your environments. For example, if you need to patch the O/S, you'll only need to take down the specific virtual server that's being patched, etc...  

-Mark
 

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Mark J. Bobak
Senior Database Administrator, System & Product Technologies ProQuest
789 E. Eisenhower, Parkway, P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor MI 48106-1346
734.997.4059 or 800.521.0600 x 4059
mark.bobak_at_il.proquest.com <mailto:mark.bobak_at_il.proquest.com> www.proquest.com <http://www.proquest.com> www.csa.com <http://www.csa.com>

ProQuest...Start here.  

From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Jared Still Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 11:52 AM
To: peter.schauss_at_ngc.com
Cc: oracle-l_at_freelists.org
Subject: Re: Partitioned server    

On 7/25/07, Schauss, Peter <peter.schauss_at_ngc.com> wrote:

Now the project managers want to partition the server (HP-UX nPartitions System) so that we will have separate virtual servers, for reporting, development, and test. We would add memory if necessary. Since this is

really a zero sum game as far as the number of processors is concerned, is there really any performance benefit to doing this as opposed to running all four Oracle instances on the same server?

I can't see how there would be a benefit to database performance, as the overhead is somewhat greater using VMs.

Knowing nothing about HP partitioning, I can't say how much overhead, or even if it is significant.

Maintenance of databases on the other hand may be somewhat simpler, as each database will think it has it's own server.

From my experience that particular point is usually of the most benefit with Window servers, as any change to Services environments requires a reboot. Unix is rather different in that respect.

Virtualization for its own sake seems of dubious benefit to me.

Were this a VMWare ESX setup, the story would be different, as that is a dedicated server for VM sessions.

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Jared Still
Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist

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http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l Received on Wed Jul 25 2007 - 12:18:55 CDT