Server Hardware Question Options

[mystang]

I am a junior DBA who is transitioning to a DBA role. We have a Sun V440 with oracle 9i. We want to upgrade the server hardware and move to Oracle 11g. I was told by datacenter management that we have only two options the Sun M5000 and the Dell R610. I am wondering if anyone knows which is the better choice and why. I was also thinking about pushing back against these limited options and pulling for the Dell R910.

Also what are the advantages or disadvantages of going with a SPARC VI or VII process vs some of the new Intel processors?

According to this most likely biased article Dell claims they are superior.

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global...-specfp-en.pdf

I've spent time on http://www.tpc.org/ and http://www.spec.org/ but the configurations are so different it is hard to compare apples to oranges.

Some help would be appreciated.

[burleson]

Hi, and welcome to the forum!

>> what are the advantages or disadvantages of going with a SPARC VI or VII process vs some of the new Intel processors?

If you are a software engineer, having an open source OS (Linux) might be beneficial . . .

On the other hand, Oracle/Sun provides a single vendors, that's important too!

All else being equal, I like to buy the entire stack from a single vendor to avoid finger pointing if problems occur.

This may help:

http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_hardware_upgrade.htm

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>> oracle 9i. We want to upgrade the server hardware and move to Oracle 11g.

First, MAKE SURE to use this VERY IMPORTANT checklist.

It will save you much grief when you upgrade!

http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_slow_performan...ter_upgrade.htm

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>> I am wondering if anyone knows which is the better choice and why.

Servers are a commodity, they are all about alike.

Del and Sun are both good hardware.

It's kind of like choosing an airline, they are all pretty much the same . .

The only real factor is price. . . .

This may help:

http://www.dba-oracle.com/t_corporate_info...et_spending.htm

Whoever gives you the best price is the best choice!

And remember, servers depreciate regardless of use, and whatever you choose will be worthlkess in a few years anyway!

Here is a server that used to cost over $200,000: