Re: switch from file system to raw device

From: Igor <igor.news_at_merkudelete.org>
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 09:17:20 +0200
Message-ID: <pan.2004.09.17.07.17.17.17468@merkudelete.org>

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 17:00:09 -0700, Joel Garry wrote:

Hi Joel,

>> My company has acquired another company and thinks about concentrating
>> dbs and applications on our machines to eliminate machines on their side
>> to save money from technical support contract. They have db on file system
>> and when we transport it onto our site (after two or three test rounds) I
>> thought to take the chance and put it onto raw device. All our dbs are on
>> raw device, so why should I have one on file system (yeah, to make
>> comparisons ...)?

>
> This aquiring thing is where lots of opportunities lie. As you see,
> you have to merge the systems, and inevitably it is in favor of one
> over the other.

As to the merging... both companies, or ex-companies, have SAP running. They came to 4.6 earlier than we did, but now we are on the same. Not that this is of any particular need. The two SAPs will merge, but they will not merge just with a copy of the client (speaking of SAP client, not desktop client software) into our system. Working procedures differ widely between the two companies, so a completely new SAP system will be put together and selected data from one and the other SAP will flow into the new SAP system. This new SAP will be on AIX 5L and SAP will be 4.7 Enterprise with Oracle 9i. Not that I don't want to have it, that's just state of the art today. Read, new machines, new installation, new disks and so on. In the meantime, why should the present SAP system in the "other" company continue running on old machines with $$$-maintenance as we have enough resources to accomodate their SAP inhouse? That would be something like 40K Euro/year saved. So, this is where my question about switching from file system to raw device came from, as their system is on file system.

As for the new opportunities... my boss has, in front of our suggestions, prepared a plan for classes for 68K EUR (8 persons). No one really thinks that company will let us attend those classes, but last word is not spoken yet. Rumors go round, that it is cheaper (didn't say better, more secure, more handy) to outsource all the stuff, I might end up in cleaning the streets then (all right, might not come that far, but in the case of outsourcing, who will need my skills anymore in this company?).

> work to do anyways, you might as well wind up with something
> reasonably modern, not too bleeding edge, that can handle current
> needs and a few years into the future. So get whoever holds the
Of course, that's just the way things go, at the moment of signing the contract you have things at state of the art, as the company had in 1996. At the moment, we just keep things alive with the running system. Waiting for someone to decide what to do next...

>> > It took us 10 years of experience and my conclusion is:
>> > Linux is as good or as bad as any other Unix. (HPUX, AIX, Irix, Tru64,
>> > you name it)
>> I guess you are right.

> Still not convinced that cheapo CISC is the way to go, but we'll see.
As we may all agree, depends on what you do with it. I am comfortable with cheap systems for testings, report generation, and maybe even temporary backup system.
On the other hand I sleep well at night (when kids don't cough or dream bad or worse ;-) as I have someone to ask (or to blame). And as I said before, a big one (like IBM, as we have all IBM stuff)has someone somewhere with an idea. And might fix the problem in (more or less) reasonable time.
And this, basicly, is my bosses policy I can agree with. Fortunately I have large decisional space in technical choices or implementation, which I like very much. I am also the only person in the company with a Linux box (and Virtual machine with WindowsXP loaded, as there is no Exchange client on Linux) on my desk (and a preferred network connection ;-).

> And one more thing about RMAN:
> http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10501_01/server.920/a96519/backup.htm#1004914
> the fractured block issue allows much lower impact on archiving. The
> best write performance is no write performance, eh?
Yeah ...

I will sure try to pace up to get to 9i or beyond, that's for sure. Hopefully there will be persons so kind and sharing as you all who have participated on this problem in the future to share experience with 9i/RMAN and other new things where I will be a freshman in comparison to you. It will be a pleasure for me to learn from you and your experience.

Have a very nice day and best regards.
Thank you, thank you all,
Igor Received on Fri Sep 17 2004 - 02:17:20 CDT