Re: TPC-A and -B Benchmarks

In <21fm68INNjuq@emory.mathcs.emory.edu> inf_bb@hermes1.sps.mot.com (informix users bb) writes: >even if oracle publishes a tpc-c result - can we trust it after the >recent tpc-b fiasco? oracle apparently wrote a "special" version of >the dbms to score high on this test (not a new concept, oracle just >got caught at it). This is a misleading description of events. Oracle did not write a "special" version of their RDBMS. Nor did Oracle "get caught". The Oracle code and techniques are clearly documented in the Full Disclosure Report for all to see, and the published figures have been fully audited. The TPC-A controversy is about Oracle's use of their new Discrete Transaction facility, which is in the standard product, and available for use by you, me & Joe Soap. The suggestion is that Discrete Transaction would never have been included in Oracle if the TPC had never existed. This is just as true of Fast Commit, Double (and Triple) Buffering and multiple LRU queues, all of which are techniques which OnLine uses to go faster. One of the *advantages* of the TPC is that it encourages vendors to invent new techniques to make their database go faster! Oracle maintain (and the TPC have accepted) that Discrete Transaction is a valid technique for TPC-A type transactions (the concept is based on a technique used by IBM in IMS/FastPath). The controversy about Discrete Transaction is because DT (unlike Fast Commit et al) is *not* a *general-purpose* technique (as Oracle freely admit). It is only appropriate for simple transactions of short duration (eg TPC-A). It would not, for example, be appropriate for TPC-C. graeme -- Disclaimer: The author's opinions are his own, and not necessarily those of Pyramid Technology Ltd. or Pyramid Technology Inc. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- -m------- Graeme Sargent Voice: +44 (0)252 373035 ---mmm----- Senior Database Consultant Fax : +44 (0)252 373135 -----mmmmm--- Pyramid Technology Ltd. Telex: Tell who??? -------mmmmmmm- Farnborough, Hants GU14 7PL Email: graeme@pyra.co.uk --------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have the technology. The tricky bit is learning how to use it.