On Wed, 14 May 2003, Johnson, Shaunn wrote:
> Howdy:
>
> Would like to know if anyone else is running their database
> on an Intel box. I currently have a P3 1.12 GHz proc with
> 1 gig of memory running RedHat Linux and would like to move
> it to a better box. Actually, I was looking at Price Watch and
> got the idea because the mobo and procs were ridiculously
> cheap.
>
> I am interested in some configuration tips for maybe, multiple
> procs and OS distro versions that work for a client base
> of about 400 - 600 users (most of this is web / DB traffic,
> only about 30 or so actually builds tables, runs complex
> queries, etc).
>
> Other than getting, say some Dec Alphas and making something
> useful, are there any cost effective suggestions out there?
You can actually run postgresql on many platforms with good performance.
I'd say that fast drive subsystems and lots of memory are more important
than CPU speed, but fast CPUs are still helpful.
My production box is a dual PIII-750 with 1.5 Gig ram and a SW RAID-1 set
of 18 gig 10krpm UWSCSI drives. It is running RH 7.2 and is quite a good
performer.
I would tend to recommend either of the two common free unixes, Linux or
BSD, as they are the primary development platforms for Postgresql, and the
most commonly used, so they've been shaken down better than most others.
Note that either Linux or BSD can be run on many other platforms than just
x86, so you have a fair bit of head room should you ever need to move to a
"big iron" if you ever need to move up.
Solaris is well tested too, but tends to have mediocre performance for how
much the hardware and support of a Solaris box tends to cost. This is
probably due to postgresql's multiple process design, which is a bit of a
performance killer under solaris.
Since memory bandwidth tends to be more important than CPU speed, look for
large caches, fast CPU->memory access, and put as many hard drives in a
big RAID5 as you can. While RAID5 tends to be pokey with 3 or 4 drives,
as you get to 10 or 12 drives, it's performance in a multi-user
environment is quite good. IF you use hardware RAID make sure it's a
modern controller, as many 3 year old RAID controllers will be noticeable
slower than Linux kernel level software RAID.
And finally, when you get your new machine, run memtest86 for 24 hours to
make sure it's a stable, reliable box before you start using it.
www.memtest86.com