There is a lot of buzz about improved performance
of Oracle databases using the new Intel Nehalem processors with some
benchmarks indicating up to double the throughput for some Oracle
application systems.
As large RAM buffers shift the Oracle databases bottleneck from
physical reads (db file scattered read and db file sequential read
waits) to logical reads (consistent gets), we see that a typical OLTP
database is now CPU constrained.
For a CPU constrained database (as per the top-5 timed events),
faster processors like the Intel Nehalem can dramatically improve
response time and data throughout for Oracle.
See these notes on
how to tune a CPU-constrained Oracle database.
The Intel Nehalem quad core processors (part of Intel® Core™ i7
processors) are the latest incarnation of CPU's by Intel, used on
smaller Oracle systems running Windows and Linux. Both Dell and
UNISYS are offering Nehalem servers that may be ideal for some Oracle
applications:
- UNISYS - UNISYS is redoing their ES-7000 series
to include the "Nehalem EP" Xeon 5500 series processors for
two-socket machines.
- Dell - Dell has the Nehalem EP tower server,
which is called the PowerEdge T610 by Dell and the 3560T by Unisys.
The
Nehalem architecture is good for database application that push
large volumes of data:
"Intel QuickPath Interconnect uses up to 6.4
Gigatranfers/second links, delivering up to 25 Gigabytes/second (GB/s)
of total bandwidth.
That's up to 300 percent greater than any other
interconnect solution used today."
Throwing hardware at a performance problem
When we see a CPU bottleneck there can be many root causes
(overloaded server, poorly tuned SQL, sub-optimal library cache), but
one fast fix is the application of faster processors.
While using Nehalem processors does not always address the root cause
of a CPU bottleneck, applying faster resources such as super-fast
Nehalem CPU's of solid-state disk provides rapid and risk-free tuning
for many systems.
For more information on Oracle performance optimization with faster
processors, see my book "Oracle
Tuning: The Definitive Reference".
and include the URL for the page.
