Re: [GENERAL] server hardware recommendations (the archives are dead)
At 08:41 AM 12/15/99 -0500, Adam Rossi wrote: I know this question has been asked before. I have seen it in the archives. Unfortunately the archives are dead right now (any search will yield "no results") and I need to make some decisions. Can anyone give some general recommendations on hardware for a server running Linux (RH6 or 6.1) and PostgreSQL? I estimate that there will be about 2 GIG of data stored in the database initially, but this could grow as high as 5 GIG in the future. Since the db is not multithreaded, I assume that buying a dual processor board and two processors would not be helpful to performance. Like any database server, a lot of ram will be required for fast operation. I was thinking at a minimum 256 meg of ram. I also want to have the database run on a RAID 5 array for speed and fault tolerance. Any suggestions here for disk type, RAID scheme (software or hardware), controller type, etc.? Any rule of thumb on the "extra" disk space needed above raw storage space for PostgreSQL operations (temporary tables, vacuum issues, etc)? Any past experiences, benchmarks, guesses, or hearsay gladly accepted. Thanks for your help. I think you may want to consider a software based volume manager (e.g. Veritas) and run a stripped mirror (RAID 10) rather than RAID 5. This will help out on writes. I'm not into RH, but surely they must offer something comparable to FreeBSD's Vinum. If not, I know Debian has one available. Ciao-- Ken http://www.y2know.org/safari Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with your Microsoft product.
Re: [GENERAL] memory
At 05:11 PM 11/29/99 +1200, John Henderson wrote: snippage Here are the questions... 1) Can someone explain how postgreSQL uses memory so that I can understand what I should be doing here. BTW, I am running postgres with -B 884. Can someone also explain how postgres uses shared mem so that I can have a clue what would be a reasonable setting. 2) Can any BSDI folk give me any tuning tips. I am especially interested to hear from those who claim "some might tell you that we run equally well on FreeBSD" or "BSD is the One True Code", of course all help is gratefully received. Thanks, John Henderson The FreeBSD port of postgres stipulates that you must compile kernel with options SYSVSHM, SYSVSEM, SYSVMSG. Don't know jack about BSDI or your kernel config, but this might be something worth investigating. Ciao--Ken http://www.y2know.org/safari/ FreeBSD- Viagra for your server ;^)
Re: [GENERAL] Studying
At 06:57 PM 10/29/99 -0400, Bill Meahan wrote: On Thu, 28 Oct 1999, John Henderson wrote: Hi, I am in need of a great SQL reference that is readable by a beginner but is also comprehensive, any recommendations? Do you think O'Reilly is best? I have seen others recommended? Though you'll never go wrong with an O'Reilly book, IMNSHO, my personal recommendations would be: "Instant SQL Programming" by Joe Celko followed by "SQL for Smarties: Advanced SQL Programming" also by Joe Celko Hey; he was asking about a "beginner's guide" afterall... But as long as we are on more advanced topics, I would mention Kimball's work as well. I personally disagree with your assertion about never going wrong with O'Reilly. While for many topics O'Reilly is my publisher of choice, I'm finding that newer titles increasingly disappoint. I don't want to mention specifics out of respect for the authors, as it's the editors who are leveraging them to water down the content for greater mass appeal. Evidently the bean counters have figured out that there is more money to be made by targeting the beginning to intermediate audience than the traditional O'Reilly target of the intermediate to advanced user. It apppears to me as if WROX is poised to fill this niche now, although I am not particularly enamored with their layout. So there's my $0.02. Back to the lurk mode now... Ciao--Ken http://www.y2know.org/safari/ FreeBSD- Viagra for your server ;^)
Re: [GENERAL] Studying
At 01:17 PM 10/29/99 +1200, John Henderson wrote: Hi, I am in need of a great SQL reference that is readable by a beginner but is also comprehensive, any recommendations? Do you think O'Reilly is best? I have seen others recommended? I have pretty much exhausted the online documentation/FAQ/tutorials etc. Thanks, John Henderson The _Practical SQL Handbook_ by Bowman, et.al. is well respected and frequently recommended as a good SQL intro for beginners. This will not give you DB specific info though. I would stay away from O'Reilly on this one. Ciao-- Ken http://www.y2know.org/safari Failure is not an option- it comes bundled with your Microsoft product.
