Re: Load balancing between an RAC database cluster and Top Link

> Daniel, Brian Peasland admits that this is not really cheap solution, so I'm
> totally lost. I will wonder if you or Sybrand will not tell that this is
> DIFFICULT to deploy if someone will ask "is it difficult?".

Whether a HA solution is "cheap" or "expensive" means different things to different businesses. It has to be that specific business that decides if it is cheap or expensive within the constraints of that business. You can always come up with a price for such a solution, i.e. it costs $XXXXX (hardware/software/training/labor/etc.). Is this figure cheap or expensive? Surely I think we can all agree that it is more expensive than a simple non-HA configuration. After all, you have to buy more hardware and software to support the HA configuration. But that in and of itself does not answer the question of whether or not this is cheap or expensive. If the business stands to lose tons of money without this HA solution, then the solution is cheap. If the business won't lose that much money, meaning that the rewards of a HA solution are not realized for the business, then the HA solution is most likely expensive. And what is the business's budget for the process. My local corner store with an annual revenue of $250,000 would surely find a HA solution much more expensive than the a Fortune 500 company with an annual revenue of $10,000,000,000. But then the local corner store probably doesn't have as much money to lose (since their revenues are significantly less) than the Fortune 500 company. I guess that's what I was trying to say in my previous post to this thread, or something along those lines...

But the cost doesn't necessarily translate to ease or difficulty in setting up and deploying such a solution. That is a slightly different manner. I will agree that the more difficult the task, the more it costs a business. But the converse is not necessarily true. Additionally, the difficulty level in setting up such a HA solution for an Oracle database is not something that is easily quantifiable. Certainly setting up RAC is more difficult than a non-RAC deployment of Oracle. But does that by itself make it "difficult"? Not necessarily. It all depends on the technology being used and the skill set of the person(s) setting it up. Oracle 9i RAC has gone a long way to make it much less difficult than OPS was. And although I've yet to see 10g, I'm hoping that the difficulty is eased even more. So the newer technology eases the difficulty level but what about the skill sets available to the project? Most people can change the oil in their car, that's not too difficult. But few would attempt to take out the engine and rebuild it and reinstall it. Is that a difficult set of tasks? For me it would be. But for my mechanic, who has the required tools and the required knowledge, its a piece of cake. Depending on the size of your business and the employees who work there, you may or may not find this a difficult project. If it is too difficult for your shop to handle, the company might consider the requisite training of their personnel and maybe hiring a consultancy to handle some of the work. I suppose knowing that one could always hire knowledgable people to do the work of configuring a HA solution always eases the difficulty level significantly. This of course, adds costs to the project.

Cheers,
Brian

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Brian Peasland
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"I can give it to you cheap, quick, and good. Now pick two out of
 the three"