Autoraid 12H and HP-UX system disk

[Alma Eaton]

We are in the process of purchasing an HP Autoraid 12H which we will be using for Oracle database files. Currently, our system disk (ex. /,/usr,/var, etc.) is an internal 2GB disk in a HP9000-K210. We are running HP-UX v10.20 but will shortly go to HP-UX v11.0. My questions are: 1) can you use the Autoraid for your system disk(s) and 2) if so, is it recommended? Our concern with our current system disk configuration is that if we lose that one disk, our system will be down until the disk is replaced and a recovery from tape is performed.
Thanks for your help.

[Byron Myers · Accepted solution]

Alma, my recommendation is to get a couple of 9GB drives, purchase a mirror-ux license, and mirror the OS internally on your K-box. I don't know if you can boot from an Autoraid, but I do know that they are slow. An autoraid gives you security at the price of performance - You certainly won't want your OS competing with Oracle for disk resources.

[Bob Inglis]

The AutoRaid is supported as a Root/Boot disk. CAUTION: putting you SWAP on the AutoRaid may severly impact performance.
Possible solution: Put the OS on the AutoRaid and use you existing 2 gig drive for the SWAP. Remember: All Arrays sacrifice performance for Data Security.

[Amiel Tutolo]

I agree with both responses. You can boot from the autoraid but having the o/s there will cause certain applications to run slower (took SAM longer to start). I have a d270 that we tried that with and the contention between the o/s and oracle was not nice. The model 12h is a good solid performer and you should have lots of luck as long as you run only non-time sensitive apps on there with oracle. Also work closely with the dba on laying out the lv's and where he puts files. Could save you headaches down the line. Lots of luck.