Hi all,

I need some feedback or ideas.  We are working on a major project where
we will have a single database server back-end in a critical production 
environment.  We will not be spending the money for "clustering" or other 
buzzword compliance so we just need the database and server software to 
be reliable.

We will be using server-class hardware of course.  Our choices for database
(I have no control over this, I was going down the MySQL track but got shot
down) are: 1. MS SQL Server 2. Oracle .  The software is already written to
support both of those and we are not going to rewrite it this month to use
a different database engine.

I would rather use Oracle than MS SQL server just because I can run Oracle
on a UNIX platform and I'm not convinced of the reliability of W2K/MS SQL
on a critical production environment.  That is to say, I'm not willing to
bet my reputation as a provider of reliable infrastructure on Micro$oft
software.

I also would rather not spend the $bigbucks on a Big Iron UNIX server
such as IBM, DEC Alpha, Sun, etc., if I can get away with a PC server
running Linux to do the same basic job.  The double-your-money license
costs for enterprise Oracle vs. SQL are not an issue.

I need some feedback from the user community regarding the use of Oracle
on Linux in a production environment.  Are any of you doing this?  How
well does it work?  Have you had any problems with the software side of
things?  What were the nature of the problems?  Any downtime due to
software failures, including deficiencies in the Linux kernels, difficulties
scaling to accomodate growth of data or traffic, etc.?

As most of you know I am a huge Linux evangelist.  However, I am also very
aware that Linux is a low-end OS and only recently in the 2.4 kernel have
enterprise-grade features started to show up.  The things I'm concerned about
are the ability to handle large files, large data sets, move large files
around over the network, etc.  As you may know NFSv2 is still the default,
I think, in the Linux kernel, and you can't copy more than 2GB files to or
from any NFSv2 software.  NFSv3 is not in the 2.4 kernels yet, AFAIK.

I just don't want to get bitten by the low-endedness of the Linux 
architecture on this critical application.  (It is important to realize that
Windows NT/2000/XP are low-end as well, and only recently have enterprise-
grade features started to show up and possibly be usable on NT.)

I guess I would also like to hear stories about difficulties or problems
using MS SQL server in the same sorts of environments, as I'm sure there are
some people on the list who work in MS SQL server environments.

Thanks for your feedback!  Reply directly to me or to the list - I'll see
your response either way.

-- 
Jim Ockers - Pason (ockers@pason.com)
Contact info:  http://www.pason.com/ockers.html

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