Re: Oracle over NFS

Hello all!

I agree with everyone that normally NFS is a bad idea. However, at our shop we are using NFS for over twenty Oracle databases. Of course, the major thing here is the underlying network which happens to be kept in might fine shape by our Unix and networking guys.

All of our NFS points are Netapp boxes and they work like dreams. The Netapp boxes are as fast local disks in many cases, have good back ups, good RAID, and have been 100% reliable so far.

Now I would be remiss in saying we have not had problems. On the contrary, in the beginning we had lots of problems with corruptions. But after a lot of blood, sweat and tears, we ended up with our current configuration.

Now as to why we went with NFS mounting as opposed to local disks, the answers are based on our Unix guys wanting to setup generic disk farms based on Netapp boxes. All of our Unix servers have local disks, but no where near enough to support our databases, so enter the disk farm via NFS.

I'm not advocating everyone do this, for in most cases you will have the ability to better control and maintain a central Oracle server via single machines. NFS disks can be risky and you have to accept the consequences.

FYI. Our groups are trying a CIFS implementation of the Netapp boxes where we can assign the Netapp disk space to our NT servers so we can have the Oracle databases there running via the Netapps as well. <Sigh>

Just my two cents!!

Sincerely,

Altan Khendup
Senior DBA
PeopleSoft, Inc.

The UNIX Mighty!!! wrote:

> how about netapp boxes?... check out www.netapp.com
> oracle supports netapp boxes, and netapp is nfs servers
>
> -bikesh-
>
> Hayden Worthington, Inc. <hayden_at_mindspring.com> wrote:
> : Richard,
>
> : > Can anybody tell me what pre-cautions I have to make to be sure that the
> : > following configuration runs well: Oracle 7.2 database running on a AIX
> : > system using a NFS file system from an other AIX system.
>
> : NFS is not a recommended solution for configuring your Oracle
> : database and you'll also find that Oracle officially does NOT
> : "support" NFS.
>
> : "Oracle7 For Unix / Performance Tuning Tips" says this:
>
> : "NFS WARNING:
> : Do not place any Oracle Database File in any kind of network file system.
> : The concurrency controls on network file systems are not safe when used
> : with data items smaller than a file. The Oracle Server manages data at the
> : block level, much smaller than a file. Even if you think only one system is
> : using the database, individual blocks can still be lost or arrive out of
> : order, corrupting your database."
>
> : However, I would strongly encourage you to contact Oracle Support for the
> : latest "formal" advice on the use of NFS or AFS file systems. Especially,
> : if you're configuring a production box for business purposes.
>
> : Good Luck,
> : Allen
>
> : ---------------------------------------------------------------
> : Hayden Worthington, Inc. Oracle Performance Tuning
> : 5696 Peachtree Parkway http://hayden.home.mindspring.com
> : Atlanta, Georgia 30092 White Papers, Scripts, etc.
Received on Wed Jul 29 1998 - 13:54:54 CDT