Informix IDS for Linux on Solid State Disks
A user asked whether anyone had run IDS 10+ on Linux with dbspaces on SSDs, and about read-performance gains, failures and write wear. No single answer emerged: one poster cited an article arguing SSDs weren't yet enterprise-ready, and Art Kagel agreed lifetime/stability were unproven, suggesting they might suit temp dbspaces/PSORT space (as an alternative to RAM disks), though replacement every 1-3 years could be costly. A later poster reported testing IBM 50GB SATA SSDs with IDS 11.50 on RHEL: three SSDs beat 21 spindles on OLTP throughput and IOPS, with no longevity data. Experience-sharing only; no formal resolution.
Auto-generated by DrWatson from the posts below — may be imperfect; read the full thread.
Good morning, Has anyone deployed Informix IDS 10 or higher on Linux with DB Spaces on Solid State Disks? If you have, did you see a large read-performance jump on SSDs? Have you experienced any disk-failures? Do you notices disks wearing out with frequent writes? Thanks in advance for any input you might have on Solid State Disks with Informix. Respectfully, Jonathan B. Smaby Pomona College phone: (909) 621-8506 email: jonathan.smaby@pomona.edu Semper Paratus! "Always Ready!" ------------------------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned by Postini anti-virus software.
You might find this article interesting http://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/technology/article.php/3869031 Talks about how SSDs aren't up to commercial usage yet. Jarrod Teale Fonterra NZ -----Original Message----- From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of Jonathan Smaby Sent: Tuesday, 9 March 2010 8:17 a.m. To: ids@iiug.org Subject: Informix IDS for Linux on Solid State Disks [19269] Good morning, Has anyone deployed Informix IDS 10 or higher on Linux with DB Spaces on Solid State Disks? If you have, did you see a large read-performance jump on SSDs? Have you experienced any disk-failures? Do you notices disks wearing out with frequent writes? Thanks in advance for any input you might have on Solid State Disks with Informix. Respectfully, Jonathan B. Smaby Pomona College phone: (909) 621-8506 email: jonathan.smaby@pomona.edu Semper Paratus! "Always Ready!" ------------------------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned by Postini anti-virus software. ************************************************************************ ******* Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum. DISCLAIMER: This email contains confidential information and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient or have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and destroy this email. You may not use, disclose or copy this email or its attachments in any way. Any opinions expressed in this email are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Fonterra Co-operative Group. http://www.fonterra.com/
Wonder how products like the ioDrive work as far as enterprise apps go. If they stand up to their hype then they'd be great for smaller databases. I could just imagine the bleeding fast speeds you could get from using one of the Duo's. Jonathon Wyza CX & CBORD System Administrator CX Programmer/Analyst Administrative Computing Bethel College (574)-257-3381 AIM: Iamwyza jonathon.wyza@bethelcollege.edu ========================== SLES 10 SP2 & IDS 10.0 HC9 " I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code." -- Unknown -----Original Message----- From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of Jarrod Teale Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 2:52 PM To: ids@iiug.org Subject: RE: Informix IDS for Linux on Solid State Disks [19270] You might find this article interesting http://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/technology/article.php/3869031 Talks about how SSDs aren't up to commercial usage yet. Jarrod Teale Fonterra NZ -----Original Message----- From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of Jonathan Smaby Sent: Tuesday, 9 March 2010 8:17 a.m. To: ids@iiug.org Subject: Informix IDS for Linux on Solid State Disks [19269] Good morning, Has anyone deployed Informix IDS 10 or higher on Linux with DB Spaces on Solid State Disks? If you have, did you see a large read-performance jump on SSDs? Have you experienced any disk-failures? Do you notices disks wearing out with frequent writes? Thanks in advance for any input you might have on Solid State Disks with Informix. Respectfully, Jonathan B. Smaby Pomona College phone: (909) 621-8506 email: jonathan.smaby@pomona.edu Semper Paratus! "Always Ready!" ------------------------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned by Postini anti-virus software. ************************************************************************ ******* Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum. DISCLAIMER: This email contains confidential information and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient or have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and destroy this email. You may not use, disclose or copy this email or its attachments in any way. Any opinions expressed in this email are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Fonterra Co-operative Group. http://www.fonterra.com/ ******************************************************************************* Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
Many writers have commented that SSD's are not ready for prime time enterprise application storage. Their lifetime's are not yet long enough and there is not enough real-world experience to know how stable and safe they are. As part of a tiered storage system, maybe, but I don't like tiered storage for databases either. Art Art S. Kagel Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com) IIUG Board of Directors (art@iiug.org) See you at the 2010 IIUG Informix Conference April 25-28, 2010 Overland Park (Kansas City), KS www.iiug.org/conf Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I am associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves. On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 3:08 PM, Wyza, Jonathon <wyzaj@bethelcollege.edu>wrote: > Wonder how products like the ioDrive work as far as enterprise apps go. If > they stand up to their hype then they'd be great for smaller databases. I > could just imagine the bleeding fast speeds you could get from using one of > the Duo's. > > Jonathon Wyza > CX & CBORD System Administrator > CX Programmer/Analyst > Administrative Computing > Bethel College > (574)-257-3381 > AIM: Iamwyza > jonathon.wyza@bethelcollege.edu > ========================== > SLES 10 SP2 & IDS 10.0 HC9 > > " I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source > code." > -- Unknown > > -----Original Message----- > From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of > Jarrod > Teale > Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 2:52 PM > To: ids@iiug.org > Subject: RE: Informix IDS for Linux on Solid State Disks [19270] > > You might find this article interesting > http://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/technology/article.php/3869031 > > Talks about how SSDs aren't up to commercial usage yet. > > Jarrod Teale > Fonterra NZ > > -----Original Message----- > From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of > Jonathan Smaby > Sent: Tuesday, 9 March 2010 8:17 a.m. > To: ids@iiug.org > Subject: Informix IDS for Linux on Solid State Disks [19269] > > Good morning, > > Has anyone deployed Informix IDS 10 or higher on Linux with DB Spaces on > Solid State Disks? If you have, did you see a large read-performance > jump on SSDs? > Have you experienced any disk-failures? Do you notices disks wearing out > with frequent writes? > > Thanks in advance for any input you might have on Solid State Disks with > Informix. > > Respectfully, > > Jonathan B. Smaby > Pomona College > phone: (909) 621-8506 > email: jonathan.smaby@pomona.edu > Semper Paratus! "Always Ready!" > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > This message has been scanned by Postini anti-virus software. > > ************************************************************************ > ******* > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum. > > DISCLAIMER: > This email contains confidential information and may be legally privileged. > If > you are not the intended recipient or have received this email in error, > please notify the sender immediately and destroy this email. > You may not use, disclose or copy this email or its attachments in any way. > Any opinions expressed in this email are those of the author and are not > necessarily those of the Fonterra Co-operative Group. > http://www.fonterra.com/ > > > > ******************************************************************************* > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum. > > > > ******************************************************************************* > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum. > > --00151747546e9bd0a904815340e3
Would it be worth using SSD drives for things like tempory dbspaces, or psort_dbtemp? They would benefit from the increased performance of the SSD's but wouldn't be too critical if an issue occurred with an SSD device... Regards, James Fonterra NZ -----Original Message----- From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of Art Kagel Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 1:28 PM To: ids@iiug.org Subject: Re: Informix IDS for Linux on Solid State Disks [19272] Many writers have commented that SSD's are not ready for prime time enterprise application storage. Their lifetime's are not yet long enough and there is not enough real-world experience to know how stable and safe they are. As part of a tiered storage system, maybe, but I don't like tiered storage for databases either. Art Art S. Kagel Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com) IIUG Board of Directors (art@iiug.org) See you at the 2010 IIUG Informix Conference April 25-28, 2010 Overland Park (Kansas City), KS www.iiug.org/conf Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I am associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves. On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 3:08 PM, Wyza, Jonathon <wyzaj@bethelcollege.edu>wrote: > Wonder how products like the ioDrive work as far as enterprise apps go. If > they stand up to their hype then they'd be great for smaller databases. I > could just imagine the bleeding fast speeds you could get from using one of > the Duo's. > > Jonathon Wyza > CX & CBORD System Administrator > CX Programmer/Analyst > Administrative Computing > Bethel College > (574)-257-3381 > AIM: Iamwyza > jonathon.wyza@bethelcollege.edu > ========================== > SLES 10 SP2 & IDS 10.0 HC9 > > " I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source > code." > -- Unknown > > -----Original Message----- > From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of > Jarrod > Teale > Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 2:52 PM > To: ids@iiug.org > Subject: RE: Informix IDS for Linux on Solid State Disks [19270] > > You might find this article interesting > http://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/technology/article.php/3869031 > > Talks about how SSDs aren't up to commercial usage yet. > > Jarrod Teale > Fonterra NZ > > -----Original Message----- > From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of > Jonathan Smaby > Sent: Tuesday, 9 March 2010 8:17 a.m. > To: ids@iiug.org > Subject: Informix IDS for Linux on Solid State Disks [19269] > > Good morning, > > Has anyone deployed Informix IDS 10 or higher on Linux with DB Spaces on > Solid State Disks? If you have, did you see a large read-performance > jump on SSDs? > Have you experienced any disk-failures? Do you notices disks wearing out > with frequent writes? > > Thanks in advance for any input you might have on Solid State Disks with > Informix. > > Respectfully, > > Jonathan B. Smaby > Pomona College > phone: (909) 621-8506 > email: jonathan.smaby@pomona.edu > Semper Paratus! "Always Ready!" > DISCLAIMER: This email contains confidential information and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient or have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and destroy this email. You may not use, disclose or copy this email or its attachments in any way. Any opinions expressed in this email are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Fonterra Co-operative Group. http://www.fonterra.com/
I've been thinking along the same lines myself. I have two clients looking at using RAM disks for temp dbspaces and psort space, but that's more complex because you have to have an image to restore after a crash with the dbspace's reserved pages in it at least. SSD's would be better. The only problem is it may get expensive. You may have to replace them every 1-3 years. Art Art S. Kagel Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com) IIUG Board of Directors (art@iiug.org) See you at the 2010 IIUG Informix Conference April 25-28, 2010 Overland Park (Kansas City), KS www.iiug.org/conf Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any other organization with which I am associated either explicitly, implicitly, or by inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the entities themselves. On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 8:01 PM, James Brunskill < James.Brunskill@fonterra.com> wrote: > Would it be worth using SSD drives for things like tempory dbspaces, or > psort_dbtemp? > They would benefit from the increased performance of the SSD's but > wouldn't be too critical if an issue occurred with an SSD device... > > Regards, > > James > Fonterra NZ > > -----Original Message----- > From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of > Art Kagel > Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 1:28 PM > To: ids@iiug.org > Subject: Re: Informix IDS for Linux on Solid State Disks [19272] > > Many writers have commented that SSD's are not ready for prime time > enterprise application storage. Their lifetime's are not yet long enough > > and there is not enough real-world experience to know how stable and > safe > they are. As part of a tiered storage system, maybe, but I don't like > tiered storage for databases either. > > Art > > Art S. Kagel > Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com) > IIUG Board of Directors (art@iiug.org) > > See you at the 2010 IIUG Informix Conference > April 25-28, 2010 > Overland Park (Kansas City), KS > www.iiug.org/conf > > Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions > and > do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any > other > organization with which I am associated either explicitly, implicitly, > or by > inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of other individuals > affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor those of the > entities themselves. > > On Mon, Mar 8, 2010 at 3:08 PM, Wyza, Jonathon > <wyzaj@bethelcollege.edu>wrote: > > > Wonder how products like the ioDrive work as far as enterprise apps > go. If > > they stand up to their hype then they'd be great for smaller > databases. I > > could just imagine the bleeding fast speeds you could get from using > one of > > the Duo's. > > > > Jonathon Wyza > > CX & CBORD System Administrator > > CX Programmer/Analyst > > Administrative Computing > > Bethel College > > (574)-257-3381 > > AIM: Iamwyza > > jonathon.wyza@bethelcollege.edu > > ========================== > > SLES 10 SP2 & IDS 10.0 HC9 > > > > " I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source > > code." > > -- Unknown > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of > > Jarrod > > Teale > > Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 2:52 PM > > To: ids@iiug.org > > Subject: RE: Informix IDS for Linux on Solid State Disks [19270] > > > > You might find this article interesting > > http://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/technology/article.php/3869031 > > > > Talks about how SSDs aren't up to commercial usage yet. > > > > Jarrod Teale > > Fonterra NZ > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of > > Jonathan Smaby > > Sent: Tuesday, 9 March 2010 8:17 a.m. > > To: ids@iiug.org > > Subject: Informix IDS for Linux on Solid State Disks [19269] > > > > Good morning, > > > > Has anyone deployed Informix IDS 10 or higher on Linux with DB Spaces > on > > Solid State Disks? If you have, did you see a large read-performance > > jump on SSDs? > > Have you experienced any disk-failures? Do you notices disks wearing > out > > with frequent writes? > > > > Thanks in advance for any input you might have on Solid State Disks > with > > Informix. > > > > Respectfully, > > > > Jonathan B. Smaby > > Pomona College > > phone: (909) 621-8506 > > email: jonathan.smaby@pomona.edu > > Semper Paratus! "Always Ready!" > > > > DISCLAIMER: > This email contains confidential information and may be legally privileged. > If > you are not the intended recipient or have received this email in error, > please notify the sender immediately and destroy this email. > You may not use, disclose or copy this email or its attachments in any way. > Any opinions expressed in this email are those of the author and are not > necessarily those of the Fonterra Co-operative Group. > http://www.fonterra.com/ > > > > ******************************************************************************* > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum. > > --0015173fe862e248050481543584
I did some simple tests on IBM 50 GB SATA SSDs (model 43W7698) with IDS 11.50 on RedHat 4 for the Information on Demand conference last Fall. My tests compared 3 SSDs to 21 spindle drives. Even so the SSDs far outperformed (txn/time) the spindles in an OLTP workload. Things only evened out when there were a large number of bufferpool misses. The SSDs gave tons more IOPS. Not all SSDs are created equal, so you may get what you pay for. Didn't keep the system running for long enough to comment on longevity, but from what I've read of manufacturer's docs I don't see a problem. Regards, Nick