The Great Hypervisor Bake-off: VMware ESX vs Oracle VM

SLOB benchmark results measuring the I/O overhead of virtualisation on Violin flash – comparing VMware ESX against Oracle VM to see which hypervisor costs less in raw database performance.

Predictions for 2014: DataBase-as-a-Service

It's that time of year again where lots of people write articles which begin with the words "It's that time of year again..." and make endless references to crystal balls, tea leaves and the benefits of hindsight. But not me, I'm not descending into cliché. Apart from that first sentence, which with the benefit of … Continue reading Predictions for 2014: DataBase-as-a-Service →

Engineered Systems – An Alternative View

Everyone in enterprise IT is selling "engineered systems". Here's an independent assessment of what the term actually means and whether the integrated appliance model lives up to its promises.

Database Workload Theory

Before you can benchmark or optimise a database, you need a model of what a database workload actually is. Here's the theoretical foundation – and why it matters more than most DBAs realise.

Database Virtualisation: The End of Oracle RAC?

As databases move into virtual machines, the case for Oracle RAC weakens. Here's the argument – drawing on Mogens Nørgaard's 2003 white paper – that virtualisation may make RAC redundant.

Exadata Roadmap Preview

Last week, Andrew Mendelsohn gave a talk at the Enkitec Extreme Exadata Expo ("E4") run in Texas by those excellent guys at Enkitec. Andrew is the SVP of Oracle's Database Server Technologies group, so it's fair to say he has his finger on the pulse of the Oracle roadmap for Exadata. Big thanks to Frits Hoogland … Continue reading Exadata Roadmap Preview →

Database Virtualization Part 2 – Flash Makes The Difference

The latency of traditional storage made virtualising tier-one databases a gamble. Flash removes that constraint – and changes what's architecturally possible.

Database Virtualization Part 1 – It’s Happening Right Now

For years, production Oracle databases resisted virtualisation. That resistance is crumbling – here's the evidence that database virtualisation has moved from theory to mainstream reality.