Re: RAW devices

vasarpota_at_my-deja.com wrote:
>
> A few questions on the use of raw partitions.
>
> Do you guys use them? I know they can give you a performance boost if
> I/O is the bottleneck of the database and that data integrity is better
> if using them since always know that Oracle writes going to disk and
> not in OS cache but do you guys use them. I see that Oracle does not
> reccomend that you use them. Are raw devices very difficult to manage
> (e.g. backups, sizing/planning, etc.)? Are they worth the trouble?
>
> Do you guys use cooked files to overcome the data integrity issue
> instead of raw partitions?
>
> Thanks for your help
>
> V-
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.

Ideally I'd go raw on everything but there is a little more management involved...

You can possibly work through a compromise which should give you good improvements over a file system based database.

1. Make your redo logs raw - you're not meant to back them up anymore anyway (assuming you're in archivelog mode)
2. Mount your file systems for direct IO.
3. If you are doing a lot of sorting, then make your temp tspace raw or at least in several (not one) file. Similarly, with tempfiles nowadays you don't need to back them up either.

Then you are "half way" toward a raw system with much of the manageability still retained.

HTH

-- 
===========================================
Connor McDonald
http://www.oracledba.co.uk

We are born naked, wet and hungry...then things get worse