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In a properly designed system, the
following factors play a vital role and affect the overall performance:
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Applications
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Number of CPUs
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Sufficient Memory
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Sufficient Input/Output
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Efficient Network
If the server machine, where the
database runs, is not powerful enough to perform the database operations by
large number of simultaneous users, the application will not run
satisfactorily. The number of processors (CPUs) and the amount of physical
memory (RAM) are of utmost importance. Even if the hardware is configured
properly to perform the current operations and for future growth, to ensure
optimum performance, you need to answer the following questions:
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What if only 10 percent of the CPUs are utilized and the
rest are idling most of the time
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Is it configured for peak-time operations
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Does it have enough memory for enough caching
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Do we see a lot of swapping and paging occurring at peak
load time
Poorly designed SQLs might incur a
large amount of Input/Output. However, with well designed SQLs we always see
Input/Output problems that come from hardware limitations. This leads to
increased wait time, which affects the performance. We have to investigate
if there is an Input/Output problem, so that the DBA will install the
database with ample considerations in the areas of disks, SCSI/fibre-optic
controllers, striping, mirroring, and so on. The hardware scalability should
be closely investigated. |