16.11.2011 3:16, Thomas Steinmaurer wrote:
>
> Ah, this sounds interesting. So, (total fetches - adjacent fetches)
> gives me some kind of unique fetches from the cache?

Yes, I would hope so.

> I have a dream (*g*): Why shouldn't Firebird be able to automagically
> increase RAM usage beyond the strict pattern (page buffers * page size),
> if a set of very frequented pages don't fit into the cache, or at least
> tell the DBA/user somehow that increasing the cache by a factor X allows
> the server to hold the page hotspots in RAM.

Handling memory allocation automagically may sound like a clever idea, 
but let's don't forget that DBAs often have to set up the higher limit 
of the resource consumption, so the cache limit is still likely to 
persist. But perhaps it could be disabled by default (targeted to 
dedicated hosts) or maybe measured in 50% of available RAM instead of 
using the fixed number of pages.

As for telling the DBA about the need to increase the cache, IMO this is 
what the MON$ tables should be used for. If they don't provide that 
information nowadays, then it should be implemented. Feel free to 
suggest how it could be done ;-)

> What are the key disadvantages of using large page caches with CS and SC
> in both, OLTP and OLAP patterns? We have been told to use a rather
> smallish page cache for these architectures, even if plenty of RAM might
> be available. Does this also apply to a typical OLAP deployment with a
> heavy read access pattern on possibly a very large database with a
> largish server with a lot of RAM.

I'd say that a big page cache is bad for OLTP but good for OLAP 
patterns. But the Classic architectures also benefit from the file 
system cache, so there should be some kind of balance. Also, some 
Windows versions are suspected in giving the file system cache too high 
priority thus possibly swapping out the pages of the process working 
set, so a largish internal page cache could prove itself to be a bad 
idea in this case.


Dmitry

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RSA(R) Conference 2012
Save $700 by Nov 18
Register now
http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsa-sfdev2dev1
Firebird-Devel mailing list, web interface at 
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/firebird-devel

Reply via email to