Re: Oracle on Windows Server Vs Xp-Pro

Newton Bolton wrote:
> I have always run Oracle on workstation class machines and never ad any
> problem wint NT-4 , Win2k or XP-pro.
>
> However, I am setting up a machine that will carry a little bit heavier
> load, about eight simultaneous users.
>
> Does anyone know if using the Windows Server OS instead of XP-Pro will
> offer any performance advantages?
>
> I don't plan to use ANY Microsoft products such as IIS or Exchange.
>
> This will be a pure Oracle database server.
>
> Thanks in advance-
> Newt

I think you will find that performance is much the same: the limiting factor is not the Microsoft O/S you use so much, but the hardware it's running on. Performance might actually be a little slower on the server O/S, because the server versions carry the additional overhead of expecting to be servicing a large community of users.

You'll know already, of course, that workstation-class MS operating systems only permit 10 concurrent users to access the machine from other workstations. Your anticipated load of 8 is already perilously close to that, and the Server O/S might be justified on those grounds alone -plenty more growth room. Besides which, you need to be careful that workstations don't do unintended 'silent' cross-connections, which steal from your number of permitted connections.

On the other hand, the choice of O/S can make a significant difference to performance: a 'rebuild all my indexes' script on one of my servers running White Box Linux completes in 38 minutes. When the SAME machine was last installed with Windows 2003, the same script completed in 52.5 minutes. I make that a 28% speed improvement by NOT spending any money!

It might perhaps be a bit much to take it all on at once, and maybe it's a definite no-no for you, but I feel these days that everyone ought to at least be looking at Linux, for professional skills reasons as well as performance and cost. You'll find White Box is free, runs well on a Workstation-class PC, and will handle 8 or more users without batting an eyelid.

Just my tuppence-worth, anyway.

Regards
HJR Received on Mon Dec 20 2004 - 21:32:35 CST