Re: Hardware Question
- From: "Darrell Landrum" <darrell@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 4 Jun 2004 23:57:39 -0500
Hey Jay,
I hate when management comes to me with questions like you mention about this
new hardware handling the workload.
But, I have a response now that I love because it can be confusing to them.
I simply ask, "Why?".
Why are they looking at new hardware? Does the current hardware not handle the
workload? Is there a forthcoming app server/database upgrade that will require
more resources? Are they scaling out their current utilization, perhaps to
more users? Are they adding more databases? I know this may not seem like the
best attitude and trust me, I love newer, faster hardware more than most, but
really the justification for new hardware should come before the shopping for
hardware. In my role as a DBA, I should be the one (or, of course, the sys
admins) that recognizes the need for hardware upgrades and hopefully before
management starts to feel the need. If I can't quantify the need for new
servers or additional hardware (or software for that matter), I actually speak
against it. This way, when I tell them we need something, they listen!
Just one guy's 2 cents.
However, you mention a bottleneck on the SAN controllers. That is a big red
flag. There's always a chance (and some would argue a very good chance) that
faster processors and more memory will make this SAN controller bottleneck
worse or at least more noticeable. Hopefully, additional channels to the SAN
are being considered with this new box as well.
Good luck!
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