Re: Database performance
Adam Aube wrote:
Christopher L. Everett wrote:
So, what kind of hard drive subsystem can I run that would get me
3 to 4 times the performance that wouldn't break the bank?
Define "break the bank". The more money you're willing to sink into this,
the better performance you can get. A few options you can try:
1) Dedicate a second hard drive to the database files
I'm not sure that would be a huge win, since the performance would just
be that of another IDE drive.
2) Move from IDE disks to SCSI disks
The wins there would come from tagged command queing and multiple
SCSI channels on one adapter, and software raid
3) Some form of RAID (preferably hardware)
I just read an email of the Linux kernel list saying that Linux software
RAID
kicks the ass of most hardware raid solutions.
Regarding RAID, I believe 0+1 gives the best performance, but it requires 4
disks. RAID 5 and 0 also will give a performance boost, and require at
least 3 and 2 disks, respectively.
IIRC, RAID 1 gives the best performance under all conditions :), though it's
not terribly safe.
You can price out the various options and see at what point it breaks the
bank for you.
There's always Ebay. But the issue is more one of compatibility. The Mylex
DAC960 driver recently got orphaned, for example, and AFAIK that was one
of the better solutions out there.
So here asre some of the lower cost options I'm considering:
SCSI: a multichannel (3 or 4) U160 or better host adapter and several
lightly
used 36GB U160 or better drives, software raid 5.
SATA: a 3Ware SATA controller, and several SATA drives in a hardware RAID 5
configuration.
I suspect the first option would run a touch faster.
--
Christopher L. Everett
Chief Technology Officer www.medbanner.com
MedBanner, Inc. www.physemp.com
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