DS20E 1GB RAM 660Mhz - Upgrade path

[robert70]

We have an ALpha Server DS20E connected to an MSA1000 Raid Array (Fibre Optic)
We run VMS 7.3-2 and Oracle 9i Database.
We are looking to replace our Alpha Server with a newer model.
ANy suggestion s for an upgrade path please.
Obviuosly tring to keep costs down as much as possible. We would like to retain our current RAID box.

[Hein van den Heuvel · Accepted solution]

May we assume you have 2 CPU's in there?

The first improvement you HAVE to make, tomorrow, is to max out the memory in your box, and give it to the Oracle SGA's.
Why not? Relatively cheap, likely to be very effective and risk free.

Next, start NOW to see if you can get to Oracle 10g. That should be a no-brainer.
The reason to do this, is that being on Oracle 10g allows you to consider to switch to Itanium!

Check out fine folks like ISLANDCO.COM
They have DS25s (modest upgrade) and ES47 (serious upgrade) for sale.

If your company is willing to go there, do not forget Ebay for the memory mentioned above, or even for a whole system. FOr example, today they list 'Buy now' (no auction): Compaq Alpha Server ES45 Quad (4X) 1GB CPUs 8GB Ram $999.99

So that is 2x the # of CPUs, 2x the speed, and 8x the memory to go with that. Truly an 8x TROUGHPUT performance POTENTIAL. Response time potential of course wildly depends on the application.

You may want to bring in an (Oracle savvy!) outside consultant to evaluate current bottleneck and performance potential, but I would urge you to get the memory first, because that's going to be the first recommendation no matter what.

Best regards,
Hein van den Heuvel ( at gmail dot com )
HvdH Performance Consulting

[marsh_1]

hi,

the alpha server ds25 (min vms v7.3-1)is the same footprint but faster cpus, greater internal bandwidth and more memory and was part of the next generation alphaserver after the 10/20/45 etc so it might be considered, but as all alpha's are now eol would you be able to consider moving to itanium an rx26nn or rx36nn would probably be right size wise and are currently in production, some good deals can be had on used integrity servers and they are cheaper than the alphas were in the first place.

HTH

[marsh_1]

ds20e and ds25 pages with links for quickspecs :-

http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/ds25/
http://h18002.www1.hp.com/alphaserver/archive/ds20e/index.html

hp integrity entry class servers :-

http://h20341.www2.hp.com/integrity/cache/331424-0-0-0-121.html

[robert70]

thanks for all the great info up to now

[Hein van den Heuvel]

Btw, be sure to check the QUICKSPEC for the DS20E

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/10445_na/10445_na.html

It indicates you can upgrade teh CPU a little to 833 Mhz, and that the max memory is 4GB using MS340-EA

Looks like you can buy 1GB for $250 or so on Ebay. If you currently have low density memory, then toss that and go for 4x1GB new(er)

Regards,
Hein.

MS620-DB 4GB Memory Option for ES45 Model B $550

[Andy Bustamante]

As pointed out you may be able to upgrade the CPU or memory in place. For this model system, you want identical memory options totaling a power of 2. 4 x 512 mb memory options will provide better memory access time than 2 x 1 gb memory options. You cant take this system to 4 x 1 gb memory.

If you haven't gathered performance metrics before starting down the upgrade path, take the time to profile your system. Run T4 http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/products/t4/index.html to collect performance data. If you have a disk bottleneck, upgrading the Alphaserver may make performance worse. It's possible a memory upgrade may resolve any issues with minimal expense. You may need to add or reconfigure disk. Many of the people on this forum can provide assistance.

Andy Bustamante

[Duncan Morris]

Andy,

this system does indeed support 4GB RAM.....

DEVT02> sh sys/fu/noproc
OpenVMS V7.3-2 on node DEVT02 13-FEB-2009 17:20:04.04 Uptime 22 23:15:00
COMPAQ AlphaServer DS20E 666 MH


DEVT02> sh mem/phy
System Memory Resources on 13-FEB-2009 17:20:07.80

Physical Memory Usage (pages): Total Free In Use Modified
Main Memory (4.00GB) 524288 235495 285846 2947

[Andy Bustamante]

Duncan, thank you. I meant to say

>>>You can also take this system to 4 x 1 gb memory

Andy