Re: Oracle Raw Partitions

1. Gordon <aog_at_capgroup.com> wrote in article <35e46366.14946541_at_news>...
   > Has anyone had experience with Oracle raw partitions? If so, I'd
   > appreciate any reactions to them. In particular, I'd like to know:
   >
   > 1. Do they provide any performance gain over file systems?
   

You'll get a 50-50 mix of responses on this: I think it is too close to call. In some cases, raw will be faster, in other cases a filesystem will be. The literature is quite mixed. Parallel Server will require that you use raw devices.

> 2. Are they really harder to manage?

Depends on what you're trying to manage:

     Backups can be made easier through Oracle's backup utility (introduced in 7.3), but if you're trying to do them using scripts, you'll hate yourself. Best to use some sort of backup management software which can handle raw devices.

     If you're trying to manage I/O, you'll have a much better idea as to where your data resides on the disks if you use raw. You can sort of do this with filesystems, but it is much more difficult (and you end up having just as many filesystems as you would with raw devices).

     If you're trying to manage the administrator's time, go with filesystems.

> I've read some literature already; however,
> personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!
>
Received on Fri Aug 28 1998 - 07:27:44 CDT