Oracle database licensing is eye-wateringly expensive per CPU core – and storage costs, often seen as prohibitive, represent a surprisingly small fraction of the total three-year spend.
The Real Cost of Enterprise Database Software
Tag: oracle
Storage Myths: Put Oracle Redo on SSD
Putting Oracle redo logs on SSD is a common reflex response to slow databases – but it usually misdiagnoses the problem, and SSDs handle write-heavy sequential workloads worse than you might expect.
Storage Myths: IOPS Matter
IOPS figures dominate flash storage marketing, but for databases latency is the metric that matters – high IOPS at unpredictable latency deliver no real-world value.
The Role Of The DBA
I'm back at work today after a week's travelling around Europe followed by a week's holiday sailing around the Ionian Sea. I have to say that I'd rather still be on holiday. It's not that I don't enjoy my job (I love it) but... Today, I need to install some database software - and it … Continue reading The Role Of The DBA
SLOB2: Testing The Effect Of Oracle Blocksize
Using SLOB2 to measure how Oracle's database block size affects physical I/O performance – with results that challenge some common assumptions about blocksize tuning.
SLOB2: Essential for Every DBA Toolkit
SLOB2 – the Silly Little Oracle Benchmark – is the most reliable way to generate controlled physical I/O on Oracle. Here's why every DBA should have it and how to get started.
Does My Database Need Flash?
Not every database benefits from flash storage – knowing when it matters requires understanding how much I/O your workload generates, how random it is and how much latency is already costing you.
Understanding I/O: Random vs Sequential
Disk I/O forces a choice between random and sequential access – and that choice defines whether latency compounds or disappears. Flash makes the distinction irrelevant.
Strange ASM Behaviour with 4k Devices
A reproducible but unexplained bug: Oracle ASM behaves incorrectly when presented with 4k physical / 512-byte logical sector devices on the Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel.
AWR Generator
A script that automates the generation of multiple consecutive Oracle AWR reports – useful for profiling database performance across time without manual intervention.
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