Would you recommend Oracle on HP Unix D class servers?

Greetings.

We are an Oracle VAR. We have small-medium Oracle databases that are the repository and processing centers for our clients who run point-of-sale. The point-of-sale stations are written in Oracle Forms 4.5.

Some of our larger clients (> 50 database users) show a significant performance decrease during peak system usage. A typical client runs our Oracle database on a Pentium-class 32-bit server, SCO UNIX, 48 = 128 MB of RAM. Some servers have dual pentium processors. The points-of-sale are distributed on wide area networks (WANs).

We are considering the addition of the HP Unix D class server for clients with high numbers of point-of-sale stations. We have no experience with the performance of Oracle on HPs PA-RISC architecture and the 64 bit operating system. We are looking for some input from those who develop and deploy this combination of database and server hardware.

If you run Oracle on an HP Unix D class server, please take 2 minutes and respond to the following questions.

Thank you.

1. What type of database transactions does your system perform.
2. Would you describe the load on your HP D class server as 'LOW' 'MEDIUM' or 'HIGH'?
3. How many concurrent users access the Oracle database?
4. At peak processing loads, how well does the Oracle server perform on the HP D class server?
5. Would you recommend the HP D class to run Oracle?
6. Do you think the license pricing for the Oracle database on HP-UNIX is reasonable?
7. What other comments or recommendations would you make?

Jeff

-- 
Jeffery C. Cann
Senior Software Engineer
Fairway Systems, Inc.