Re: Recommended hardware for 9i on Linux, at home

Roger Redford wrote:

> Dear experts,
>
> I'm planning to buy a Pentium 4 computer for
> home and install Linux and Oracle 9i.

> I don't want to chisel on the resources.
> What is recommended for such a configuration?
> Memory, disk space, CPU speed? Should a gig of
> memory be alright? Are some hardware brands
> better than others for Linux?
>

There are a whole lot of considerations here, and a huge set of potentially diffeent 'correct' answers. It really all depends on the expected load - in other words, what you want to do with the database.

For quite a while, I'd used a Pentium 500Mhz, 512MB Ram, 20GB laptop and been reasonably satisfied when I was primarily presenting or teaching, when speed was not an issue, when I was the only user, and so on . Flip side, when I turned on OEM, added a second instance, added a second user, tried to do some hefty PL/SQL as well as concurrent Java, and at the same time run c++ compiler and the thing just didn't make me happy. (Go figure)

My personal recommendations and rules of thumb (YMMV) ... ... running only database s/w, (app server should have it's own box(es) )
... lab/test or devel, not production!

1. CPU ... anything above Pentium 500MHz should be OK. Based on budget I'd shoot for a minimum of 1.8G to allow Java stuff. Just be aware that P4 has what appears to be an 'anti-Java glitch' that you need patched.
2. Disk Space ... basically plan on 1.5G for the software and minimum DB, another 1.5G for a reasonable sample data set, and grow from there. Given the prices today, for a home 'lab', I'd shoot for 40GB and be very happy.
3. Disk Speed ... probably more important than space. If you don't want to spring for SCSI, I'd suggest 7200 rpm, ATA-133 drives. Plan on replacing that often as it wears out.
4. Memory ... the more the merrier. I would not plan on anything less than 3x 256M, I would prefer 1-2G but OI would be satisfied with 1G.

Look at Oracle's tech net site (http://otn.oracle.com -> search for linux), where they talk a lot about certified linux and linux partners. Basically you'll find that the officially supported environments are either Red Hat's current Enterprise or UnitedLinux-based Enterprise versions. The Enterprise portion suggests you pay for it to be supported, but it's supported all the way back to Oracle. (UnitedLinux includes SuSE and others). That said, the Oracle site's white papers get into details like versions of the linux kernel, and there are a number of people who have successfully installed on different distros just based on kernel compatibility.

My personal preference is SuSE Linux, simply because their distro carried some s/w that I needed a while ago while others did not. I simply have not had a reason to play with others lately, although I hear good things there as well. In particular, SuSE has an active and very supportive Oracle-related mail list that I am impressed with (again - not experience with others recently).

FInally, I'd pick the distro based on apparent support, then pick the hardware based on the distro and the HCLs

HTH
/Hans Received on Sun Apr 06 2003 - 00:44:11 CST