RE: Oracle's Updates Subscription Service

<SPAN
class=256273719-01032001>Ross,
<SPAN
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It's
the transaction/activity rate that causes MySQL to go in the tank. Our products are web applications and some of our hosted sites see hundreds of thousands of hits a day. There are a few tables in our main application that are constantly being updated by each hit (web page request). Since MySQL has table-level locking only, performance can tank during peak periods. <SPAN
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In
addition, since MySQL has no concept of a transaction or rollback, data corruption is a constant problem. We have a cron job that runs isamchk on a regular basis for our larger customers to try and nip the corruption problems in the bud. Nevertheless, our Hosting Sysadmins spend a good portion of each day fixing MySQL corruption problems.
<SPAN
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<SPAN
class=256273719-01032001>Fortunately our product has an Oracle API, so we've moved a number of our larger customers to Oracle. Their site performance is a bit slower overall -- our products are "optimized" for MySQL -- but their performance no longer completely tanks during peak periods and there is no data corruption at all.
<SPAN
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So now
we've decided to ramp up our Oracle usage (this is one of the reasons I was hired) but since we are a young and relatively cash-poor company the Mucky-mucks are hesitant about Oracle's cost. But then we show them what MySQL is doing to our hosting environment and they become stressed out about losing customers. The "between a rock and a hard place" scenario has sent them into paroxysms of fear, because they realize they might actually have to quit using free stuff and start spending money to keep up with the growing demand for the company's products. They long for the good old days of a couple of years ago when there were no customers, lots of venture capital, and the newly-created products ran great on E-machines, Linux, and MySQL.
<SPAN
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I
guess you can say that we're suffering through the pain of transitioning from an internet startup to a mature, growing company with a seemingly bright future. It is not unlike going through puberty.
<SPAN
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I, of
course, seem to have skipped the maturation process altogether and like most males my age I am not young, but am still immature. I rather enjoy it.
<SPAN
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--Walt
Weaver
 
Bozeman, Montana, USA

  <FONT face=Tahoma
  size=2>-----Original Message-----From: Mohan, Ross   [mailto:MohanR_at_STARS-SMI.com]Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2001 8:15   AMTo: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-LSubject: RE:   Oracle's Updates Subscription Service
  <FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial
  size=2>Interesting stuff. (Especially about the ruminants.)   When   you say mysql does not scale,
  have
  you run into hard walls? if so, what is the data size, or is it the   transaction/activity rate
  that
  tanks....i'd be interested in hearing where, if at all, you are "hitting the   knee".
  <FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial
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  I'd
  love to get out there someday. Absolutely beautiful   country.....
  <FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial
  size=2> 
  <FONT color=#0000ff face=Arial
  size=2>thanks for the snapshot!   

<FONT face="Times New Roman"

    size=2>-----Original Message-----From: Weaver, Walt     [mailto:wweaver_at_rightnow.com]Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001     1:01 PMTo: Multiple recipients of list     ORACLE-LSubject: RE: Oracle's Updates Subscription     Service
<SPAN

    class=729564917-28022001>Well Ross, Our campus is out in the country (just     about everywhere in Montana is out in the country) and we are, indeed,     surrounded by docile ruminants. I'd like to say that during our off-time we     go out and gaze lovingly at their udders, but there are other things we     prefer to gaze at lovingly.
<SPAN

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    Of
    course, we have no problems doing online dairy backups around here.     :>)
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    We
    use MySQL here and yes it's tunable. There's even word out on the street     that soon MySQL may support the concept of a transaction. What a     concept.
<SPAN

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<SPAN

    class=729564917-28022001>MySQL has its place, but it's causing us no end of     pain here. It doesn't scale well enough to support what we're doing. That's     why we're painfully biting the bullet and paying the big bucks for     Oracle.
<SPAN

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<SPAN

    class=729564917-28022001>--Walt Weaver
<SPAN

    class=729564917-28022001>  Bozeman, Montana, USA
<SPAN

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<SPAN

    class=729564917-28022001>      

      <FONT face=Tahoma 
      size=2>-----Original Message-----From: Mohan, Ross 
      [mailto:MohanR_at_STARS-SMI.com]Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 
      8:51 AMTo: Multiple recipients of list 
      ORACLE-LSubject: RE: Oracle's Updates Subscription 
      Service
      Walt, you have just shattered my picture of you as a 
      gentle man surrounded by docile ruminants, never 
      uddering a discouraging word. 
      Yes, it's amazing, the price of the software. My line to 
      folks is: "For your money, Oracle is the best 
      database...if it were my money, it would be almost 
      anything but.." 
      MySQL *is* tunable.....could be fun.... 
      -----Original Message----- From: 
      Weaver, Walt [<A 
      href="mailto:wweaver_at_rightnow.com">mailto:wweaver_at_rightnow.com] 
      Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 10:21 AM 
      To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L <FONT 
      size=2>Subject: Oracle's Updates Subscription Service 
      Say, is it just me or has the cost of the Updates 
      Subscription Service gone up considerably in the 
      past six months or so? 
      We're currently pricing out what it'll cost us to purchase 
      8.1.7 Standard Edition and the numbers we're 
      getting are a heck of a lot higher than they were 
      in November. 
      Has the cost of CD-ROM's gone up that much? Is the economy 
      now in an inflationary period? Where's Allen 
      Greenspan when you need him? 
      Whatever happened to those hazy, golden, halcyon days when 
      upgrades were included in product support? 
      
      Sometimes, Oracle just sucks. I'm seriously considering 
      getting on track for a MySQL 
      certification.   :>) 
      --Walt Weaver   Bozeman, 
      Montana, USA -- Please see 
      the official ORACLE-L FAQ: <A href="http://www.orafaq.com" 
      target=_blank>http://www.orafaq.com -- 
      Author: Weaver, Walt <FONT 
      size=2>  INET: wweaver_at_rightnow.com 
      Fat City Network Services    -- (858) 
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