Re: What's the best machine?

You *might* want to consider a DEC Alpha. I'm still not totally convinced but it seems like a real screamer. We've had one for about three months and are only now getting the port complete.

background on the app

We have a 100 or so table application, 5 to 10 Gb of live data and about 30 users. We currently run OraV6 on an HP-847 and are getting mediocre performance. We're trying to get the app to run on a DEC Alpha 3000/500x
(under OSF/1) with hopes of at least 100% increase in performance. It
looks like 50% may be achievable but HP can do that much with a box upgrade.

porting results

It's been a SERIOUS (scratchin' and clawin') STRUGGLE to port an Oracle app to the Alpha (pain in the ^%$# rear-end) but ...

with DEC's help we should have it running by next weekend. I will post a side by side comparison of performance results and will be happy to provide a list of *things to watch out for* when porting to the Alpha. Go check out the flame wars on comp.sys.osf.osf1 from about 3 months ago.

The Alpha seems like a decent computer now that they've got their shared library problems worked out (OSF/1 v1.3 or higher). I still like HP better but that's just personal bias. If you like Sun's you oughta get along ok with the Alpha -- OSF/1 feels real BSDish (except that the desktop UI is Motif).

OraV7.0.12.2 (Beta version for DEC Alpha) had was a little buggy and DID NOT COME WITH SHARED LIBRARIES. V7.0.13 is coming out on Sept 14 and will be included in used in our benchmark. I didn't think you could even buy V6 anymore.

If you like Sun's then any Sparc10ish computer oughta be in the same arena as the Alpha. Of course DEC says they'll blow 'em away. When somebody hits DEC with "... well I've actually used one and it didn't seems all that fast to me" then they suddenly change their story to "... it's easier to port from SunOS to OSF/1 than to Solaris." It's worth checkin' out, just watch out for sales hype.

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