Re: Recommendations on specification of machine to run Oracle on NT 4

Hi Mark,

        I have installed and worked with Oracle on several NT servers ranging from one to four processors. I have found that Oracle takes good advantage of the additional processors in the box (unlike much of the assorted software that runs on NTs).

        The amount of activity, rather than database size, dictates what you will need to provide satisfactory performance to your users.

        Get enough disk capacity so that you can run mirrored disk or get a RAID box with hardware support if you are thinking about running RAID 5 on NT. (The word is that software RAID 5 on NT reads as fast as mirrored drives, but takes twice as long to write.)

        Get a good UPS, one that's good for running the entire system for several minutes. Although Oracle writes its logs as transactions are processed, assuming that the OS doesn't cache output, disk will be updated immediately this is a dangerous assumption since many disk and RAID controllers maintain their own disk buffers which are only flushed to disk using LRU algorithms. As a result Oracle may KNOW it has written to disk, but it really hasn't.

        Get a processor that can grow to four processors if needed. You may be able to start with a single processor and then grow as needed. It depends on the volume.

        Get lots and lots of RAM. There is no such thing as too much RAM. Given the current price of RAM I think that you should get at least 512MB and preferably 1GB of RAM.

        One other essential is a good tape backup. Get it and use it!

        Oracle runs quite well on NT. It is both fast and reliable.

regards

Jerry         

Mark Statham wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I would be very interested to hear your comments/views/experiences in the
> sort of PC server specification required to run Oracle Server on NT for a
> 10Gb Oracle database. We are currently running the database on an SP2 Thin
> node and are looking to migrate these databases to an NT platform.
>
> So what ever you have to say about Oracle on NT good, bad or indifferent I
> would be pleased to hear from you.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Mark Statham
>
> --
> Mark Statham mark.statham_at_cisd.panasonic.co.uk
> Impromptu postmaster and General Unix Techie
> "I have no views so none of them can be any of my clients either (?)"

--

Jerry Gitomer         	ICT Group
jgitomer_at_ictgroup.com	Langhorne PA
jgitomer_at_yahoo.com 	Opinions are mine not those of ICT Group