Re: Is Oracle Simply a Pig - The Worst I've See

>>>>> "Jim" == Jim Kramer <kramer_at_ash.sps.mot.com> writes:

  Jim> Yes!  Oracle is a GIANT SQUEELER!  However, I'm pretty sure
  Jim> that all relational databases are.  Remember you're dealing
  Jim> with something that spends all of it's time talking to the
  Jim> disk!  This is why DB tuning is SOOOOO IMPORTANT.  The other
  Jim> thing you can do is buy really fast disk drives (fast & wide
  Jim> SCSI, etc).  You really do have to select the right
  Jim> computer/peripherals for the job.  This ain't no DISKO, ya
  Jim> know!

  Jim>                          Jim Kramer Motorola

The original poster was complaining about excessive memory demands by Oracle front-end processes - not I/O contention. Oracle should never be I/O bound, it should always be CPU bound - that's our whole strategy. CPUs get cheaper and faster all the time, disks don't (at least not yet).

Concerning memory usage, Oracle will use what you tell it to use. If you say db_block_buffers=10000, Oracle will happily devour the corresponding amount of memory. If you say sort_area_size=1048576, every Oracle server process will happily gobble up 1 MB for in-memory sorting. If you say open_cursors=255, you are allowing every Oracle server process to devour 255 * ~16k of dynamic memory, etc, etc. If your machine is giving Oracle more memory than it can afford, you will certainly get disk problems due to paging/swapping. The solution is *not* to buy faster disks.

To the original poster: get in touch with your local Oracle office and get some assistance in tuning memory usage. Or (I know you'll hate me for this) buy more memory.

And hey, pigs are *nice*, and smart too.

cheers,

--

Magnus Lonnroth
Tech.Sales & Consultant
Oracle Sweden
Mail: mloennro_at_oracle.com