Re: A DBA philosopical question

> >>>If RAID 5 is all that bad, why is it so widely used and supported?
> >>
> >>If windows is all bad, why is it so widely used and supported?
> >>
> > I didn't know Windows was possibly considered all bad.
>
> As a server platform or for home use to play games and surf the web.
> This is c.d.o.oracle.
>

It doesn't matter what this group is. That was an analogy. Even just for Oracle database servers, it is hard to believe Windows has no advantages.

> >>RAID 5 is not bad just as fire is not bad ... when used appropriate.
> >>
> > That can be said just about any RAID.
>
> No it can't.
>

So you are saying other RAIDs don't have to be used appropriately?

> >>Except with Apple's Xserve RAID units with their dual XOR engines ...
> >
> > I have used it on HP, Dell, EMC and even old IBM hardware. They all work
> > great.
>
> Hardly. You just didn't put in the work necessary, testing different
> configurations, to see how much better thru-put you could have had.
>

I have done so. Shall I only consider maximum write performance without thinking about cost for all databases?

> >>RAID5 dose not belong under an Oracle database.
> >
> > Now, that just sounds absurd.
>
> Tell that to Oracle. Tell that to the people in my lab whose testing has
> repeatedly demonstrated this to be fact.
>

Demostrating what? Write performance outweights cost in every Oracle implementation?

> >>Why is it used so often
> >>then? Because most UNIX system admins. don't ask their counterpart DBAs
> >>what to do ... they just give them disk and say "make due with it."
> >>--
> >
> > You mean most sys admins automatically use RAID 5 without consulting
DBAs? I
> > guess you have a reason for that too.
>
> Because they don't give a damn.
>
> Sorry to be harsh but it is reality. At one very large telecom where
> I've consulted three different times for a period of several years there
> is a department that provides SA support. They give the DBA a box:
> Preconfigured: and say "use it." This is not unusual in large
organizations.
> --

I have no doubt you have those experiences, but I find it hard to accept that kind of generalization about SAs, or RAID 5 for that matter. Received on Tue Dec 06 2005 - 16:10:17 CST