Re: Oracle9i, RAC on linux - server hardware recommendation

Daniel Morgan <damorgan_at_x.washington.edu> wrote in message news:<1097721531.411585_at_yasure>...
> Hans Forbrich wrote:
>
> > ty wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Hi All
> >>We have decided on the following setup for our database server
> >>
> >>Oracle 9i + RAC
> >>Redhat linux (AS)
> >>Netapp filer (for shared storage).
> >>
> >>Any ideas\suggestions??go for 64bit cpu??
> >>btw,cost effectiveness is NOT a major fector-we look for 1.reliability
> >>2.performance.
> >>
> >
> >
> > In addition to what might be said here - get your possible vendors to
> > provide references. And follow up on the references.
> >
> > Regardless of what we might tell you, your relationship with your hardware
> > vendor is one of the more critical items.
> >
> > Go for 64-bit if that's what you need - big memory, big files, etc.
>
> If RedHat Linux you are going with 32bit CPU so the question is moot.
>
> If you want to learn how to install, configure and manage this
> configuration contact Jack Cline, Chairman of the Puget Sound Oracle
> Users Group.
>
> NetApp is an excellent choice. Dell or HP/Compaq good too. The most
> important consideration is the NIC cards. Make sure the vendor certifies
> that the NIC cards will work with this configuration.
>
> For example ... NetGear 311s do ... NetGear 312s do not.

You don't want a NetApp for your storage, that is NFS (unless they have changed recently) You cannot store Oracle datafiles on NFS because writes are not guaranteed (plus the performance would be utterly horrible and negate any reasons for moving to RAC). Shared storage means external storage that is locally mapped to both systems (or several systems). This could be a SAN (as opposed to NAS which is what the NetApp's are) or merely a collection of disks with Fibre connections to each host. The key concept is 'locally' attached so the disk devices appear as local devices to each system/OS. Also the oracle datafiles will need to be on raw devices. The NetApp uses its own filesystem (I believe ext3) and exports via NFS. As of the last time I looked at them, the NetApp's were basically 'NFS in a box' with a tweaked OS, but underneath, it is likely Linux or FreeBSD serving up NFS. For your NIC's you will need to see what Oracle's certified NIC's are, since on Linux the clustering software is built into Oracle. (and this is where the cluster communication takes places as well as moving of cache data between nodes in the RAC) So the NIC's are very important, make sure and select the best supported NIC's possible. I have read in other forums where some of the supported NIC's are having timeout issues and causing problems for RAC installations.

I would suggest getting a 'stamp of approval' from Oracle itself for every component in this configuration (software/hardware). (That's what Oracle reps are for) You might also try and find a VAR that actually has a 'Value-Add' to their service. Although I have found that most VAR's oracle engineers are greatly lacking and often wrong. However, if you use a VAR, the mistakes cost them money, not you. (well excluding project slips and wasted man hours)

-rhugga Received on Thu Oct 14 2004 - 08:24:37 CDT