Re: More memory, or more processors

Neil asks: >Does anyone have any experience of which OnLine is likely to better utilise; >0.5G of extra memory, or 2 additional processors? I opine: It depends on your application. (I'll say that again at the end.) In general, databases store and present information, and benefit more from memory than CPU. The operation that takes the most time for a typical OLTP operation is the reading/writing to disk, which actually takes place to memory via buffers and logs. OTOH, it is possible to make an application that shifts the bottleneck to the CPU. One where the data is simple and the user is performing a significant amount of data analysis involving computation, large joins, and set operations. The DSA is built to take advantage of many processors. As the number of CPUs per "machine" grows, the architecture will be able to make better use of them, and it will be seen in the future that having many CPUs is the "only" way to get good performance out of our software. In the meantime, most users configure their dynamically scalable instance to run at just one setting for the maximum number of CPUs and the largest amount of memory. In summary: you probably want the memory. For now. But it depends on your application. Trivia question: How much memory do you need? How much CPU? Trivial answer: More! Good luck, ___________________________________________________________ Clem Akins (aka clem@informix.com) <- NEW ACCOUNT! Informix Software, Inc (Standard disclaimers apply) International Technical Support Last seen: Lick Observatory, "at home" in sunny California