Best Setup Recommendations
A user planning a 4-server Sun V440 setup for an ATM switch asked how to replicate/hot-standby between production, standby and DR machines, and whether Veritas Cluster plus Volume Manager were both needed. Replies: use Informix Enterprise Replication for multi-site replication, with 9.40 allowing HDR (hot standby) and ER together; clustering is largely irrelevant since IDS can't share disk across nodes, though Veritas VM works fine. Advice: mirror everything, prefer RAID10, avoid RAID5, and move off the unsupported IDS 9.2 to 9.40.xC3 or later. Daisy-chained replication (M1->M2->M3) was confirmed possible.
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We are upgrading our ATM Switch which is currently running on Sun Enterprise 250 Server to a Sunfire V440, 4 CPU, 8GB RAM, 4 x 72 GB HD in Server and 36 x 6 in Storage. We have 4 machines with this configuration. We plan to have the following Machine 1 -> Production Machine 2 -> Production ( Standby ) Machine 3 -> Production Mirrored in DR Site Machine 4 -> Development We have not brought any Clustering or Volume Manager Softwares. We plan to use the Clustering available within Sun Solaris 8 and use the normal disk partition available at OS level. Can we achive the following :- 1. Database Replication or Mirroring between Machine1, Machine2 and Machine3 2. How to make the Machine 2 as hot standby Our supplier recommends us to buy Vertias Clustering solutions along with Vertias Volume Manager. Do we need both ? How can we setup informix to replicate Machine 1 -> Machine 2 -> Machine 3. Awaiting your comments with much interest. Dhaya
On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 07:19:41 -0400, S.Dhayanidhi wrote: > We are upgrading our ATM Switch which is currently running on Sun Enterprise > 250 Server to a Sunfire V440, 4 CPU, 8GB RAM, 4 x 72 GB HD in Server and 36 > x 6 in Storage. We have 4 machines with this configuration. > > We plan to have the following > > Machine 1 -> Production > Machine 2 -> Production ( Standby ) > Machine 3 -> Production Mirrored in DR Site Machine 4 -> Development > We have not brought any Clustering or Volume Manager Softwares. > > We plan to use the Clustering available within Sun Solaris 8 and use the > normal disk partition available at OS level. YOu have not addressed Informix version at all. I would recommend going with IDS 9.40*C5 or later. > Can we achive the following :- > > 1. Database Replication or Mirroring between Machine1, Machine2 and Machine3 Using Enterprise Replication (ER), yes. > 2. How to make the Machine 2 as hot standby Not a problem. It could even be used live depending on your replication and performance requirements. Informix ER can handle peer-to-peer replication as well as other schemes like hierarchical replication, partial replication, and data gathering (from independent servers to a central repository). > Our supplier recommends us to buy Vertias Clustering solutions along with > Vertias Volume Manager. Do we need both ? Veritas VM is good software and Informix works well with it. Clustering is irrelevant to IDS as you cannot share disk across multiple nodes using Informix. Use whatever clustering software strikes you fancy and fills your requirements. > How can we setup informix to replicate Machine 1 -> Machine 2 -> Machine 3. RTFM! The Enterprise Replication Guide comes to mind. > Awaiting your comments with much interest. That's a dangerous invitation ;-) Comments: Mirror all drives. Personally, I strongly favor RAID10 for DB disk farm setup (Veritas VM can handle that) but Informix mirroring works well. Most important of all: NO RAID5! NO RAID5! NO RAID5! NO RAID5! NO RAID5! NO RAID5! NO RAID5! NO RAID5! Art S. Kagel > Dhaya
"Art S. Kagel" <kagel@bloomberg.net> a 'crit dans le message de news:pan.2004.10.19.09.33.51.154389.1355@bloomberg.net... > On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 07:19:41 -0400, S.Dhayanidhi wrote: > > > We are upgrading our ATM Switch which is currently running on Sun Enterprise > > 250 Server to a Sunfire V440, 4 CPU, 8GB RAM, 4 x 72 GB HD in Server and 36 > > x 6 in Storage. We have 4 machines with this configuration. > > > > We plan to have the following > > > > Machine 1 -> Production > > Machine 2 -> Production ( Standby ) > > Machine 3 -> Production Mirrored in DR Site Machine 4 -> Development > > > We have not brought any Clustering or Volume Manager Softwares. > > > > We plan to use the Clustering available within Sun Solaris 8 and use the > > normal disk partition available at OS level. > > YOu have not addressed Informix version at all. I would recommend going with > IDS 9.40*C5 or later. > > > Can we achive the following :- > > > > 1. Database Replication or Mirroring between Machine1, Machine2 and > Machine3 > > Using Enterprise Replication (ER), yes. > > > 2. How to make the Machine 2 as hot standby > > Not a problem. It could even be used live depending on your replication and > performance requirements. Informix ER can handle peer-to-peer replication as > well as other schemes like hierarchical replication, partial replication, and > data gathering (from independent servers to a central repository). > > > Our supplier recommends us to buy Vertias Clustering solutions along with > > Vertias Volume Manager. Do we need both ? > > Veritas VM is good software and Informix works well with it. > > Clustering is irrelevant to IDS as you cannot share disk across multiple nodes > using Informix. Use whatever clustering software strikes you fancy and fills > your requirements. > > > How can we setup informix to replicate Machine 1 -> Machine 2 -> Machine 3. > > RTFM! The Enterprise Replication Guide comes to mind. > > > Awaiting your comments with much interest. > > That's a dangerous invitation ;-) Comments: > > Mirror all drives. Personally, I strongly favor RAID10 for DB disk farm setup > (Veritas VM can handle that) but Informix mirroring works well. Most > important of all: > > NO RAID5! NO RAID5! NO RAID5! NO RAID5! NO RAID5! NO RAID5! NO RAID5! NO RAID5! Sacr' Art, you didn't miss the oportunity... but you are right. Your articles about that helped me to back up my no-RAID5 position when buying new hardware last spring. As a result, we have now a RAD10 IDS 9.4 environment which works nicely well. I have to admit that vendors got somehow what they wanted : we have an RAID5 office and e-mail server environment. Sometimes it is very slow and I wonder why... Greetings, OM > > Art S. Kagel > > > Dhaya
"Art S. Kagel" <kagel@bloomberg.net> wrote in message news:pan.2004.10.19.09.33.51.154389.1355@bloomberg.net... > On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 07:19:41 -0400, S.Dhayanidhi wrote: > > > We are upgrading our ATM Switch which is currently running on Sun Enterprise > > 250 Server to a Sunfire V440, 4 CPU, 8GB RAM, 4 x 72 GB HD in Server and 36 > > x 6 in Storage. We have 4 machines with this configuration. > > > > We plan to have the following > > > > Machine 1 -> Production > > Machine 2 -> Production ( Standby ) > > Machine 3 -> Production Mirrored in DR Site Machine 4 -> Development > > > We have not brought any Clustering or Volume Manager Softwares. > > > > We plan to use the Clustering available within Sun Solaris 8 and use the > > normal disk partition available at OS level. > > YOu have not addressed Informix version at all. I would recommend going with > IDS 9.40*C5 or later. I think I'm right in saying that UC5 etc are the most recent versions, and that even that is not yet released for some platforms (eg Tru64).
"Art S. Kagel" <kagel@bloomberg.net> wrote in message news:<pan.2004.10.19.09.33.51.154389.1355@bloomberg.net>... > On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 07:19:41 -0400, S.Dhayanidhi wrote: > > > We plan to have the following > > > > Machine 1 -> Production > > Machine 2 -> Production ( Standby ) > > Machine 3 -> Production Mirrored in DR Site Machine 4 -> Development > > > We have not brought any Clustering or Volume Manager Softwares. > > > > We plan to use the Clustering available within Sun Solaris 8 and use the > > normal disk partition available at OS level. > > YOu have not addressed Informix version at all. I would recommend going with > IDS 9.40*C5 or later. > > > Can we achive the following :- > > > > 1. Database Replication or Mirroring between Machine1, Machine2 and > Machine3 > > Using Enterprise Replication (ER), yes. > With 9.40 you can have HDR and ER at the same time. Machine 2 should be an HDR copy (hot standby).
Even though we have a good server configuration unfortunaltely our ATM Switch software runs on Informix 9.2 only. One question of the replication . Can the replication do a daisy wheel replication. Meaning, Machine1 - replicates Machine2 and Machine2 replicates Machine3. Since on a ATM Switch there are more writes than reads, this way we can avoid the complete replication process to be handled by the production server. ie: Machine1 replicating Machine2 & 3. Dhaya davethecar@hotmail.com (Dave Williams) wrote in message news:<1f66ea06.0410191440.38e6ecb9@posting.google.com>... > "Art S. Kagel" <kagel@bloomberg.net> wrote in message news:<pan.2004.10.19.09.33.51.154389.1355@bloomberg.net>... > > On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 07:19:41 -0400, S.Dhayanidhi wrote: > > > > > We plan to have the following > > > > > > Machine 1 -> Production > > > Machine 2 -> Production ( Standby ) > > > Machine 3 -> Production Mirrored in DR Site Machine 4 -> Development > > > > We have not brought any Clustering or Volume Manager Softwares. > > > > > > We plan to use the Clustering available within Sun Solaris 8 and use the > > > normal disk partition available at OS level. > > > > YOu have not addressed Informix version at all. I would recommend going with > > IDS 9.40*C5 or later. > > > > > Can we achive the following :- > > > > > > 1. Database Replication or Mirroring between Machine1, Machine2 and > > Machine3 > > > > Using Enterprise Replication (ER), yes. > > > > With 9.40 you can have HDR and ER at the same time. Machine 2 should > be an HDR copy (hot standby).
S.Dhayanidhi wrote: > Even though we have a good server configuration unfortunaltely our ATM > Switch software runs on Informix 9.2 only. One question of the > replication . Time to kick your supplier of ATM Switch software into action (make that overdue). IDS 9.2 is not really supported any more. > Can the replication do a daisy wheel replication. Meaning, Machine1 - > replicates Machine2 and Machine2 replicates Machine3. Since on a ATM > Switch there are more writes than reads, this way we can avoid the > complete replication process to be handled by the production server. > ie: Machine1 replicating Machine2 & 3. It sounds more like a daisy chain than a daisy wheel - but yes, you can use the replication of M1 to M2 and M2 to M3. > davethecar@hotmail.com (Dave Williams) wrote: >>"Art S. Kagel" <kagel@bloomberg.net> wrote: >>>On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 07:19:41 -0400, S.Dhayanidhi wrote: >>>>We plan to have the following >>>> >>>>Machine 1 -> Production >>>>Machine 2 -> Production ( Standby ) >>>>Machine 3 -> Production Mirrored in DR Site >>>>Machine 4 -> Development >> >>>>We have not brought any Clustering or Volume Manager Softwares. >>>> >>>>We plan to use the Clustering available within Sun Solaris 8 and use the >>>>normal disk partition available at OS level. >>> >>>You have not addressed Informix version at all. I would recommend going with >>>IDS 9.40*C5 or later. >>> >>>>Can we achive the following :- >>>> >>>>1. Database Replication or Mirroring between Machine1, Machine2 and >>>>Machine3 >>> >>>Using Enterprise Replication (ER), yes. >> >> With 9.40 you can have HDR and ER at the same time. Machine 2 should >> be an HDR copy (hot standby). Someone (Neil Truby?) asked about 9.40.UC5 - it was released about the end of September 2004. I don't recall which platforms it was released for, but where it is available, it is the best platform to use. Otherwise, use the latest 9.40.xCn version available, but ensure that the n is not less than 3 (hence xC3 or xC4). -- Jonathan Leffler #include <disclaimer.h> Email: jleffler@earthlink.net, jleffler@us.ibm.com Guardian of DBD::Informix v2003.04 -- http://dbi.perl.org/