It's a brave thing, calling something the "Ultimate Guide To ..." as it can leave you open to criticism that it's anything but. However, this topic - of how Oracle runs on Advanced Format storage systems and which choices have which consequences - is one I've been learning for two years now, so this really … Continue reading The Ultimate Guide To Oracle with Advanced Format 4k
Author: flashdba
A New Approach To My Blogroll
Like most people, I have a panel on the right hand side of my blog which contains my blogroll, i.e. a list of links to the blogs of other people I respect and admire. And like most people in the Oracle world, up until today it was full of the same names you always see. … Continue reading A New Approach To My Blogroll
New installation cookbook for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3
Exactly what it says on the tin, I've added a new installation cookbook for SUSE 11 SP3 which creates Violin on a set of 4k devices. I've started setting the add_random tunable of the noop I/O scheduler because it seems to give a boost in performance during benchmarking runs. If I can find the time, I … Continue reading New installation cookbook for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3
Postcards from Storageland: Two Years Flash By
The start of March means I have been working at Violin Memory for exactly two years. This also corresponds to exactly two years of the flashdba blog, so I thought I'd take stock and look at what's happened since I embarked on my journey into the world of storage. Quite a lot, as it happens... … Continue reading Postcards from Storageland: Two Years Flash By
More Problems with Oracle’s Support of 4k Devices
This is going to be another one of those posts, a bit like this one, that discuss the use of Oracle's database product with Advanced Format devices. I wish there weren't so many of these posts, but it seems that Oracle has a lot of issues with it's implementation of 4k support. (Before reading on, … Continue reading More Problems with Oracle’s Support of 4k Devices
Oracle ASMLib: Physical and Logical Blocksize
This article is about the use of Advanced Format devices on Oracle's ASMLib kernel library for Linux. For background, read this page on 4k sector sizes first, otherwise it might all sound like nonsense. Mind you, it mind sound like nonsense anyway, I can't guarantee anything here. By the way, a big hello to my … Continue reading Oracle ASMLib: Physical and Logical Blocksize
Oracle AWR Reports: Understanding I/O Statistics
One consequence of my job is that I spend a lot of time looking at Oracle Automatic Workload Repository reports, specifically at information about I/O. I really do mean a lot of time (honestly, I'm not kidding, I have had dreams about AWR reports). One thing that comes up very frequently is the confusion relating … Continue reading Oracle AWR Reports: Understanding I/O Statistics
New script for setting up multipath.conf entries
I've added a new script to the Useful Scripts page called setup-violin-mpath.sh which automates the process of creating entries for the /etc/multipath.conf file on Red Hat 6 / Oracle Linux 6. As the name suggests, I wrote it with Violin devices in mind, but there should be overlap with other storage which will potentially make … Continue reading New script for setting up multipath.conf entries
Oracle Fixes The 4k SPFILE Problem…But It’s Still Broken
As anyone familiar with the use of Oracle on Advanced Format storage devices will know to their cost, Oracle has had some difficulties implementing support of 4k devices. Officially, support for devices with a 4096 byte sector size was introduced in Oracle 11g Release 2 (see section 4.8.1.4 of the New Features Guide) but actually, if the … Continue reading Oracle Fixes The 4k SPFILE Problem…But It’s Still Broken
Playing The Data Reduction Lottery
Flash vendors routinely quote “effective capacity” figures based on optimistic data reduction assumptions – understanding what those numbers really mean is essential before signing a purchase order.
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