| Both....As a deliverer of the VPCS tuning services, I run into both
version 5.1.22 and version 6 ORACLE systems. Although I don't 'tune'
for ORACLE, it is often the case that there is no underlying VMS
problem and I would like to be able to check the customers ORACLE
tuning to perhaps identify the cause(s) of his complaint. These
complaints are usually of the highly specific type like " it's
slow around 3:00 pm" or " I have 20 users on a 8550 and the system
is real sluggish...". You look and see 60% CPU Idle time etc....
Thanks,
George
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| Both....As a deliverer of the VPCS tuning services, I run into both version
5.1.22 and version 6 ORACLE systems.
>> Be aware that Oracle 5.1.22 and Oracle V6 are tuned differently, have
different syntax for certain SQL statements, and are generally
two different environments.
Although I don't 'tune' for ORACLE, it is often the case that there is no
underlying VMS problem and I would like to be able to check the customers
ORACLE tuning to perhaps identify the cause(s) of his complaint. These
complaints are usually of the highly specific type like " it's slow around 3:00
pm" or " I have 20 users on a 8550 and the system is real sluggish...". You
look and see 60% CPU Idle time etc....
>> In order for you to attempt to tune for Oracle, you would need to know
Oracle internals for both Oracle releases, the type of queries the
application issues to the database, the level of interaction
(locking) between programs, and the structure of the indexes ....
just for starters. With Oracle (as there is with Rdb, Ingres, and
all the rest), there are numerous opportunities for tuning and
unfortunately, the majority of them fall far, far outside the
VPCS services you deliver.
>> My good customer who has Oracle purchased VPCS services and our approach
was to document what was NOT a problem. We documented that VMS was
properly configured, SYSGEN parameters were set according to Oracle's
recommendations, disks were not fragmented, DIO and que lengths to
the disk farm were within normal operational ranges, etc. Then we
said, "... hey, mr customer, the ONLY thing left is YOUR application
and/or YOUR Oracle database ... and we can't help you with either
one under the VPCS banner. What do you want to do ???" The customer
paid Oracle big bucks, made some changes to the physical database,
and, most importantly, rewrote some critical programs. It is
important to note that ALL of this wes done under the same i/o
and VMS configuration.
>> At the risk of sounding like a wiseguy, anyone (Digital mgmt, sales rep,
or customer) who expects you to tune Oracle database or application
or even to attempt is very similar to asking you to tune a CICS
region because 3270 response is slow around 3pm. You're not trained
and it's not our direct problem BUT is our indirect problem since we
want to maintain account control.
>> I would suggest that you encourage the customer to contract with Oracle
for performance analysis since the application's interaction with
the Oracle database is most likely the problem once you've done
your job. Of course, when you recommend this to the customer, you
run the risk that Oracle will tell the customer to trash the VAX
and buy Sequent or some other "box of the day" AND you open up
the opportunity for Oracle to bad-mouth the VAX. Believe me, this
is a serious problem and you're in catch-22, right now !! You need
to do the right thing for the customer but need to manage the Oracle
lip service. I recommend that you take control of the performance
issues, attend EVERY meeting between the customer and Oracle, and not
let anything get out of control. Make sure the DEC salesman knows the
critical nature of this and does not take this condition lightly.
If you have more questions, please send me Email. Good luck.
-- gerry
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