IDS 7.31 UD1 vs Solaris 8
We have a number of systems that use IDS 7.31 UD1 on Solaris 8. The onconfig parameters are the same across systems (albeit not ideal) and the hardware platforms are similar (single spindle, 384Mb RAM). However one system performs significantly worse than the others despite a similar sized database and workload (checkpoint times in 100's of seconds). I've tried adjusting onconfig parameters as per recent emails from ArtK and MartinF, the IDS Performance manual, and 'The Informix Handbook' and all I seem to do is exacerbate the situation. As the other systems are working OK (checkpoint times worst case 10-20 seconds) I can only assume that there are problems outwith the db engine that are causing problems. Does anyone have any pointers as to what Solaris parameters could be interfering with IDS ? -- Mark Thornber ========================= E M Thornber CEng MIEE Enchanted Systems Limited Software Toolsmiths +44 (0) 1503 272097
have you compared your /etc/system files? -----Original Message----- From: emthornber@iee.org [mailto:emthornber@iee.org] Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 10:42 AM To: ids@iiug.org; forum.subscriber@iiug.org Subject: IDS 7.31 UD1 vs Solaris 8 [2846] We have a number of systems that use IDS 7.31 UD1 on Solaris 8. The onconfig parameters are the same across systems (albeit not ideal) and the hardware platforms are similar (single spindle, 384Mb RAM). However one system performs significantly worse than the others despite a similar sized database and workload (checkpoint times in 100's of seconds). I've tried adjusting onconfig parameters as per recent emails from ArtK and MartinF, the IDS Performance manual, and 'The Informix Handbook' and all I seem to do is exacerbate the situation. As the other systems are working OK (checkpoint times worst case 10-20 seconds) I can only assume that there are problems outwith the db engine that are causing problems. Does anyone have any pointers as to what Solaris parameters could be interfering with IDS ? -- Mark Thornber ========================= E M Thornber CEng MIEE Enchanted Systems Limited Software Toolsmiths +44 (0) 1503 272097 ----------------------------------------- ============================================================ The information contained in this message may be privileged and confidential and protected from disclosure. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any reproduction, dissemination or distribution of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. Thank you. Tellabs ============================================================
Hi, a ten-fold performance "penalty" is not really typical of database related issues if the configurations and applications are the same or very similar. Are you sure that applications really are creating the same kind of load ? Check that there isn't an application (or user) that does something differently from others ? E.g. locking behaviour, cursor usage, etc. ? Also make sure that you're using the same kind of disks/devices. On Solaris there there can be quite a difference in throughput between raw devices and cooked files. Make sure you're not using so called "block devices", because these are known to perform badly with IDS. (Sometimes such difference in configuration happens accidently and later on goes unnoticed.) Hmm. It's kind of difficult to say more without actually "seeing" the systems. Of course I assume you've already checked the system/kernel parameters as suggested by NormaJean Sebastian ... :) Regards, Martin -- Martin Fuerderer IBM Informix Development Munich Data Management Solutions forum.subscriber@iiug.org wrote on 19.04.2004 17:42:13: > We have a number of systems that use IDS 7.31 UD1 on Solaris 8. The > onconfig parameters are the same across systems (albeit not ideal) and > the hardware platforms are similar (single spindle, 384Mb RAM). > > However one system performs significantly worse than the others despite > a similar sized database and workload (checkpoint times in 100's of > seconds). > > I've tried adjusting onconfig parameters as per recent emails from ArtK > and MartinF, the IDS Performance manual, and 'The Informix Handbook' and > all I seem to do is exacerbate the situation. > > As the other systems are working OK (checkpoint times worst case 10-20 > seconds) I can only assume that there are problems outwith the db engine > that are causing problems. > Does anyone have any pointers as to what Solaris parameters could be > interfering with IDS ? > > -- > Mark Thornber > > ========================= > E M Thornber CEng MIEE > Enchanted Systems Limited > Software Toolsmiths > +44 (0) 1503 272097 >
Any chance there is no swap configured on the poorly configured box? Not exactly DB related, but I recently saw a Sun box performing poorly and discovered no swap. How about IO, I understand you have only one spindle, but maybe it is ill and backing things up. "iostat -xnp X Y" is your friend. :) Anything Abby-Normal in the /var/adm/messages or netstat? Other than that I am with Martin on the hard to tell without eyes on target. Sam -----Original Message----- From: Martin Fuer.... [mailto:MARTINFU@de.ibm.com] Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 2:04 AM To: ids@iiug.org Subject: Re: IDS 7.31 UD1 vs Solaris 8 [2849] Hi, a ten-fold performance "penalty" is not really typical of database related issues if the configurations and applications are the same or very similar. Are you sure that applications really are creating the same kind of load ? Check that there isn't an application (or user) that does something differently from others ? E.g. locking behaviour, cursor usage, etc. ? Also make sure that you're using the same kind of disks/devices. On Solaris there there can be quite a difference in throughput between raw devices and cooked files. Make sure you're not using so called "block devices", because these are known to perform badly with IDS. (Sometimes such difference in configuration happens accidently and later on goes unnoticed.) Hmm. It's kind of difficult to say more without actually "seeing" the systems. Of course I assume you've already checked the system/kernel parameters as suggested by NormaJean Sebastian ... :) Regards, Martin -- Martin Fuerderer IBM Informix Development Munich Data Management Solutions forum.subscriber@iiug.org wrote on 19.04.2004 17:42:13: > We have a number of systems that use IDS 7.31 UD1 on Solaris 8. The > onconfig parameters are the same across systems (albeit not ideal) and > the hardware platforms are similar (single spindle, 384Mb RAM). > > However one system performs significantly worse than the others despite > a similar sized database and workload (checkpoint times in 100's of > seconds). > > I've tried adjusting onconfig parameters as per recent emails from ArtK > and MartinF, the IDS Performance manual, and 'The Informix Handbook' and > all I seem to do is exacerbate the situation. > > As the other systems are working OK (checkpoint times worst case 10-20 > seconds) I can only assume that there are problems outwith the db engine > that are causing problems. > Does anyone have any pointers as to what Solaris parameters could be > interfering with IDS ? > > -- > Mark Thornber > > ========================= > E M Thornber CEng MIEE > Enchanted Systems Limited > Software Toolsmiths > +44 (0) 1503 272097 >
It's Solaris 8 you don't need to configure swap as along as you have more the 32MB of RAM. Anyway it's highly, highly, highly unlikely that you will swap anyway. If you are worried about memory look at vmstat 15 20 and watch the sr and de columns, sr should be consistently less than 200 and de can peak very high but should fail back very quickly. The w will column will tell you if any process has needed swap since the box was booted - it's not a current value, it's since the server was booted. In most cases the w column is totally meaningless under Solaris. "Gentsch, Sam" wrote: > > Any chance there is no swap configured on the poorly configured box? > > Not exactly DB related, but I recently saw a Sun box performing poorly > and > discovered no swap. > > How about IO, I understand you have only one spindle, but maybe it is > ill and backing things up. > "iostat -xnp X Y" is your friend. :) > > Anything Abby-Normal in the /var/adm/messages or netstat? > > Other than that I am with Martin on the hard to tell without eyes on > target. > > Sam > > -----Original Message----- > From: Martin Fuer.... [mailto:MARTINFU@de.ibm.com] > Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 2:04 AM > To: ids@iiug.org > Subject: Re: IDS 7.31 UD1 vs Solaris 8 [2849] > > Hi, > > a ten-fold performance "penalty" is not really typical of database > related > issues if the configurations and applications are the same or very > similar. > > Are you sure that applications really are creating the same kind of load > ? > Check that there isn't an application (or user) that does something > differently from others ? E.g. locking behaviour, cursor usage, etc. ? > > Also make sure that you're using the same kind of disks/devices. On > Solaris there there can be quite a difference in throughput between raw > devices and cooked files. > Make sure you're not using so called "block devices", because these > are known to perform badly with IDS. (Sometimes such difference > in configuration happens accidently and later on goes unnoticed.) > > Hmm. It's kind of difficult to say more without actually "seeing" the > systems. > Of course I assume you've already checked the system/kernel parameters > as suggested by NormaJean Sebastian ... :) > > Regards, > Martin > -- > Martin Fuerderer > IBM Informix Development Munich > Data Management Solutions > > forum.subscriber@iiug.org wrote on 19.04.2004 17:42:13: > > > We have a number of systems that use IDS 7.31 UD1 on Solaris 8. The > > onconfig parameters are the same across systems (albeit not ideal) and > > the hardware platforms are similar (single spindle, 384Mb RAM). > > > > However one system performs significantly worse than the others > despite > > a similar sized database and workload (checkpoint times in 100's of > > seconds). > > > > I've tried adjusting onconfig parameters as per recent emails from > ArtK > > and MartinF, the IDS Performance manual, and 'The Informix Handbook' > and > > all I seem to do is exacerbate the situation. > > > > As the other systems are working OK (checkpoint times worst case 10-20 > > seconds) I can only assume that there are problems outwith the db > engine > > that are causing problems. > > Does anyone have any pointers as to what Solaris parameters could be > > interfering with IDS ? > > > > -- > > Mark Thornber > > > > ========================= > > E M Thornber CEng MIEE > > Enchanted Systems Limited > > Software Toolsmiths > > +44 (0) 1503 272097 > > -- Paul Watson # Oninit Ltd # Growing old is mandatory Tel: +44 1436 672201 # Growing up is optional Fax: +44 1436 678693 # Mob: +44 7818 003457 # www.oninit.com #