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Re: 10g ASM Pros and Cons

From: Laurenz Albe <invite_at_spam.to.invalid>
Date: 04 Apr 2006 07:45:56 GMT
Message-ID: <1144136754.391400@proxy.dienste.wien.at>


DA Morgan <damorgan_at_psoug.org> wrote:
> Laurenz Albe wrote:

>>> If ASM is a trend of the future I'd like to understand what it's
>>> benefits are.
>> 
>> It gives Oracle Corporation control over your storage system, which makes
>> them happy, so they promote it.

>
> On the positive side:
>
> 1. It provides a single point of support so there is no finger-pointing.
> 2. It provides easy management of block devices (raw partitions).
> 3. It automatically moves hot blocks to the outside of the disk.
> 4. It is vendor and operating system neutral.
> 5. It, additionally, provides all of the features of an LVM.
> 6. It is included in your license so no additional cost for the software
> or its support.
>
> But does Oracle gain control over the storage system? I don't see how
> this is any different from letting any other vendor supply an LVM.

It is only fair that you write something in favor of Oracle as my comment certainly has been a little bitchy.

Yet I cannot refrain from a few comments:

ad 4: You must have made a typo. How can an Oracle product be vendor

      neutral? Is Oracle not a vendor?
      And I am not sure whether 'operating system neutral' is a good
      thing when it comes to storage management.

Since you can manage data that are stored in ASM only with Oracle tools, using ASM means that your storage system depends on Oracle.

Of course you are right that you always depend on whomever has written the software you use (although there is a lot to say about open source software at this point, but that is not what I'm aiming at).

The point is that if much of your computing infrastructure depends on a single vendor, you give that vendor good leverage on your company. You have no choice, and that puts you in a very bad position when you want to negotiate your next contract.

I want to clarify at this point that I have no reason to believe that ASM is bad software. Except from a few experiments I have not worked with it yet.

Yours,
Laurenz Albe Received on Tue Apr 04 2006 - 02:45:56 CDT

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