Oracle 9i Rel2(9.0.2.0.1) raw disk or filesystem.

[Steven E. Protter]

You have to actually be using it in production or provide expertise and docs as to why I should go either way.

I just found out during install that I've been wrong about this database. You can now, contrary to what Oracle said at Hp-World 2002 choose between filesystem and raw disk.

This is a survey. How does your shop do it? Why?

7 points for any reasonable response, 8 for a compelling one.

Don't look for quick points assignment though, I just watched Kerry Wood's homer. I think I've caught a disease, called Cubs fanatisis. I don't recall being a cub fan though I lived here for a bit while I was 3. Came here in 1989.

Anyway, go cubs.

Lets here some good, thoughtful answers.

SEP

[Michael Tully]

Hi SEP,

Our shop uses filesystems for Oracle (9i release 2 9.2.0.3). Our DBA reckons there is not that much difference between the two (cooked V's raw) but prefers cooked because of the managability factor. He says that this choice has been around for a while. I like you were under the impression that cooked was always the preference.

Cheers
Michael
(sorry not a baseball fan)

[T G Manikandan]

SEP,

you should have a copy of this doc.

[Steven E. Protter]

I should mention I've been running Software AG adabas on raw disk for nearly a decade. I'm familiar with raw disk and there is an apparent advantage in performance.

Bummer about the cubs. I will now begin to make normal posts again.

SEP

[Ravi_8]

Hi, steven

We use filesystem as it got advantages over raw( though bit slow)

[Jean-Luc Oudart]

SEP,

we have Oracle8i (8174) on different platforms. We us e file system and we did benchmark the application.
The big plus is to use memory better and tune the application towards this direction. InWe found that if the data was loaded in a certain way we could save thousands of logical IO (therefore physical IO too !)

The pb with raw would be manageability.
One option would be to mix the 2 : what about redo on raw ?

my question a while ago :
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=193104


Rgds,
Jean-Luc

[aparna challagulla]

Hi SEP,

We have oracle 9i RAC on raw device for performance reasons. though we can have it on filesystems with Oracle managed Files the DBA guys are more comfortable with raw volumes
aparna

[Christian Gebhardt]

Hi

For most databases (about 140, from 7.x to 9.2.x) we are using filesystem, the local representant of HP said there is no great increase in performance with raw disks.

But:
Our DataWarehouse (HP Superdome SD-32, 32 processors, EMC Clarion CX-600, about 10 TB) uses raw-devices (Two stripesets about all disks, 10GB chunks)
With the old configuration (Solaris, Oracle 7, EMC) we found a remarkable increase in perfomance using raw devices. This raw devices stay during all upgrades till the actual configuration: HPUX 11.11, Oracle9.2

Chris

[Khalid A. Al-Tayaran]

Hi,

We have Oracle 8i (8.1.7.4). All Oracle data files are mounted on file systems. Raw file systems as I recall reading from this forum have the advantage of speed. But it is not much of a diifference. You can go with file systems with no worries.

More reading:
http://dbforums.com/arch/165/2001/10/810473

[Massimo Bianchi]

Hi SEP,
one of my customer has a 9.2.0.1, and choosed to use the FS layout.

His coiche was motivated for easyness of manageability, because every one can see a datafile if it is a file, but if it is a rlv there may be confusion. This is also because there are various level of persons in the support, the ones that do the day-by-day maintenance and the experts, for the problems.

tablespace managing is for the first level, with low skills, so the preferred choice is the one with the lowest risk.

Regarding performance: with hpux onlinejfs 3.3 and a proper tuning they are really indifferent, there is no noticeable gain in the use of raw device.

But if you plan carefully and decide to use the new feature of 9i, like external tables, the FS choice could be more consistent, avoiding you to keep different mind and performance effort between rawa devices and fs.

Massimo