Re: Database and RAID

Udo Scholz wrote: > > Does anyone have practical experiences in using RAID systems and > database servers? A bit. Our environment is Solaris 2.5/Informix 7.23 in a DSS/data warehouse mode (read mostly, load data at night). We have had it running for a year. We have also had an Oracle 6/SunOS system on RAID for about 3 years now. The results have been similar with both. > Is it either better to use mirrored harddisks and distribute datas wich > the advanced features of the according database server (for instance > Sybase ASE) or simplify this overhead by using a RAID5 system? > Cast my vote for RAID 5 for simplicity and cost with good read performance. Not only that, but we are using cooked file data storage also for easier maintenance. And before the cooked vs raw holy war starts, let me say that our performance is extremely good. Compared to our legacy system with somewhat slower CPU and a disk farm, our performance is up to 22x faster with more data. We knew we were taking a risk using cooked, because the Informix community seems very slanted toward disk farm/raw storage. Oracle seems to embrace cooked files as equivalent to raw. Also, with cooked you have more backup options than with raw, where you are pretty much tied to Informix utilities. > Interesting facts are: performance, security, handling and so on. > > Thank you for useful answers, hints ... > -- > We use MTI 3200 RAID systems with dual active-active UltraSCSI controllers and 16 x 9GB Seagate drives and have been generally pleased. Don't forget the RAID system's advantage of hot swaps which you may not get with some disk farms. I don't see a difference with security. Data is secure against single-disk failures in either mode. Dual failures are another story, of course... -- Matt Reprogle IS Engineer, Delphi Delco Electronics Systems phone:(765)451-9651 FAX: (765)451-8230 mcreprog@ictest.delcoelect.com