http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ http://swik.net/Oracle%2FKevin+Closson%26%23039%3Bs+Oracle+Blog <p>Oracle-related Platform, Storage and Clustering Topics (with the occasional rant)</p> oracle Thu, 09 Nov 2006 16:54:19 -0800 Thu, 09 Nov 2006 16:54:19 -0800 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+Exadata+Storage+Server.+No+Magic+in+an+Imperfect+World.+Excellent+Tools+and+Really+Fast+I%2FO+Though./cg7v3 I&#8217;ve met people before who&#8217;d rather drink muriatic acid than admit a mistake. I don&#8217;t cotton to such folks none too purdy good. This is a post about perfection and imperfection. Cost Based Optimizer There is no such thing as a perfect cost-based optimizer (CBO) and the expectations placed on cost-based optimizers run rampant. If the [...] Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:03:01 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+Exadata+Storage+Server%3A+A+Black+Box+with+No+Statistics./cgzg8 A question came in about whether it is possible to measure how much data is filtered out when running a query serviced by a Smart Scan in the Exadata Storage Server grid. The following is the long answer. An Example of SQL Offload Processing Effectiveness Accounting I&#8217;d like to answer this question by taking real information from [...] Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:50:17 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/I+know+Nothing+About+Data+Warehouse+Appliances+and+Now%2C+So+Won%E2%80%99t+You+-+Part+V.+Why+GreenPlum+is+Better+Than+Oracle+Exadata+Storage+Server./cgufw October 9, 2008. BLOG CORRECTION: I had a bizarre miscalculation in the table at the bottom. I compared a net scan rate for GreenPlum to a gross scan rate of Exadata. The GreenPlum deficit should have read 4.6X versus 2.3X. NOTE: My other installments on this threads are indexed at the following link: Index of DW/BI [...] Sun, 05 Oct 2008 12:53:32 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Podcast%3A+Pythian+Group+Oracle+Exadata+Storage+Server+Q%26A+with+Kevin+Closson./cgo7m The Pythian Group recently conducted a short podcast interview with me to discuss a few topics related to Oracle Exadata Storage Server and the HP Oracle Database Machine. Sadly, the audio is troublesome in some segments, due to telephony issues, but in general I think you may find it informative. Here is the link: The Pythian [...] Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:06:29 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+Exadata+Storage+Server+FAQ+-+Part+V.+Sweet+and+Sour+Disk./cgn91 This is installment number five in my series on Oracle Exadata Storage Server and HP Oracle Database Machine frequently asked questions. I recommend you also visit The Index of my other Exadata posts. I&#8217;m mostly cutting and pasting questions from the comment threads of my blog posts about Oracle Exadata Storage Server and the HP [...] Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:02:09 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+Exadata+Storage+Server+FAQ+-+Part+IV.+A+Peek+at+Storage+Filtration+and+Column+Projection./cgltk This is installment number four in my series on Oracle Exadata Storage Server and HP Oracle Database Machine frequently asked questions. I recommend you also visit: Oracle Exadata Storage Server Frequently Asked Questions Part I. Oracle Exadata Storage Server Frequently Asked Questions Part II. Oracle Exadata Storage Server. Frequently Asked Questions. Part III. I&#8217;m mostly cutting and pasting questions [...] Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:45:17 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+Exadata+Storage+Server.+Frequently+Asked+Questions.+Part+III./cgg12 This is installment number three in my series on Oracle Exadata Storage Server and HP Oracle Database Machine frequently asked questions. I recommend you also visit: Exadata Storage Server Frequently Asked Questions Part I. Exadata Storage Server Frequently Asked Questions Part II. I&#8217;m mostly cutting and pasting questions from the comment threads of my blog posts about Exadata [...] Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:17:36 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+Exadata+Storage+Server+Related+Web+News+Media+and+Blog+Errata.+Part+I./cf73y This is just a quick blog entry to correct some minor (and some not-so-minor) errors I&#8217;ve stumbled upon in blog and Web news media. Exadata Storage Server Gross Capacity In his recent Computerworld article, Eric Lai was trying to put some flesh on the bones as it were. It is a good article, but a few bits [...] Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:17:41 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/HP+Oracle+Database+Machine.+A+Thing+of+Beauty+Capable+of+%E2%80%9CReal+Throughput%21%E2%80%9D/cf13f As they say, a blog without photographs is simply boring. Here is a picture of a single-rack HP Oracle Database Machine. It is stuffed with 8 nodes for Real Application Clusters and 14 Oracle Exadata Storage Servers with 168 3.5&#8243; SAS hard drives. My lab work on a SAS-version of one just like this yields [...] Sat, 27 Sep 2008 11:17:14 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+Exadata+Storage+Server.+Frequently+Asked+Questions.+Part+II/cfzq7 This is installment number two in my series on Oracle Exadata Storage Server and HP Oracle Database Machine frequently asked questions. I recommend you also visit Exadata Storage Server Frequently Asked Questions Part I. I&#8217;m mostly cutting and pasting questions from the comment threads of my blog posts about Exadata and mixing in some assertions [...] Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:16:07 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+Exadata+Storage+Server.+A+%E2%80%9CFAQ%E2%80%9D+is+Born.+Part+I./cfwfw I expected Oracle Exadata Storage Server to make an instant splash, but the blogosphere has really taken off like a rocket with the topic. Unfortunately there is already quite a bit of misinformation out there. I&#8217;d like to approach this with routine quasi-frequently asked question posts. When I find misinformation, I&#8217;ll make a blog update. [...] Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:16:13 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+Exadata+Storage+Server.+Part+II./cfulv I have to run over and man a live single-rack HP Oracle Database Machine Demonstration in Moscone North, so I thought I’d take just a moment to post some links to more official Oracle information on Oracle Exadata Storage Server: Main Oracle Exadata Storage Server Webpage Oracle Exadata Storage Server Product Whitepaper I plan to start a FAQ-style [...] Thu, 25 Sep 2008 08:17:24 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+Exadata+Storage+Server.+Part+I./cfry7 Brute Force with Brains. Here is a brief overview of the Oracle Exadata Storage Server key performance attributes: Intelligent Storage. Ship less data due to query intelligence in the storage. Bigger Pipes. Infiniband with Remote Direct Memory Access. 5x Faster than Fibre Channel. More Pipes. Scalable, redundant I/O Fabric. Yes, it&#8217;s called Oracle Exadata Storage Server and it really was [...] Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:16:08 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+OpenWorld+Bound/ce6im Where&#8217;s Waldo? As infrequently as I&#8217;ve posted over the last few months I&#8217;m sort of surprised I even have any readers remaining! I will be at OpenWorld and I&#8217;d love to meet up with as many of you as I can. I&#8217;ll be working the Oracle Demo Ground in Moscone North on late Wednesday afternoon and [...] Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:04:09 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/I+Know+Nothing+About+Data+Warehouse+Appliances+and+Now%2C+So+Won%E2%80%99t+You+-+Part+IV.+Microsoft+takes+over+DATAllegro./cbfy8 It looks like my blog entries about DATAllegro (such as this piece about DATAllegro and magic 4GFC throughput) are going to start to sound a wee bit different: Microsoft buys DATAllegro Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:55:42 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+Database+10g+10.2.0.4+Cannot+Boot+a+Large+SGA+on+AMD+Servers+Running+Linux/caov4 In the comment thread of my recent blog entry entitled Of Gag-Orders, Excitement, and New Products, a fellow blogger, Jeff Hunter wrote: I&#8217;d be happy if the major innovation was being able to run a 10.2.0.4 16G SGA on x86_64. He offered a link to a thread on his blog where he has been chronicling his unsuccessful [...] Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:51:27 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/Oracle+Database+Doesn%E2%80%99t+Use+Hugepages+Correctly.+What%E2%80%99s+Better%2C+Reserved+or+Used%3F/b9whc I&#8217;ve received questions about HugePages_Rsvd a few times in the last few months. After googling for HugePages_Rsvd +Oracle and not seeing a whole lot, I thought I&#8217;d put out this quick blog entry. Here I have a system with 600 hugepages reserved: # cat /proc/meminfo &#124; grep HugePages HugePages_Total: 600 HugePages_Free: 600 HugePages_Rsvd: [...] Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:50:56 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/I+Ain%E2%80%99t+Not+Too+Purdie+Smart%2C+But+I+Know+One+Thing+For+Certain%3A+MAA+Literature+is+Required+Reading%21/b9shx You Need to See What These Folks Have to Say It is hereby official! I absolutely must put out a plug for the MAA team and the fruits of their labor now that I have personally worked with them on a project. I&#8217;m sure it&#8217;s no credit to them, per se, but honestly, this team is [...] Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:51:31 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/I+Know+Nothing+About+Data+Warehouse+Appliances+and+Now%2C+So+Won%E2%80%99t+You+-+Part+III.+Tuning+Data+Warehouse+Appliances./b9mjy I spent a little time last night perusing Stuart Frost&#8217;s blog (CEO, DATAllegro) and learned something new. Microsoft, it appears, has ported Windows and SQL Server to platforms beyond x86, x86_64 and IA64. I quote: Database vendors such as Oracle and Microsoft have to build their software to run on any hardware. Hence there are a [...] Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:51:40 -0700 http://swik.net/Oracle/Kevin+Closson%27s+Oracle+Blog/I+Know+Nothing+About+Data+Warehouse+Appliances+and+Now%2C+So+Won%E2%80%99t+You+-+Part+II.+DATAllegro+Supercharges+Fibre+Channel+Performance./b9d4k BLOG CORRECTION: The next to the last paragragh has been edited to offer more clarity on which components impose limits on I/O transfer sizes. I&#8217;m going to tell you something nobody else knows. You&#8217;ve heard it here first. Ready? Here&#8217;s the deal, no more than 800 MB/s can pass through two 4 Gb Fibre Channel HBAs [...] Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:49:51 -0700