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* Configuring System for Speed
@ 2006-09-08 07:52 Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>
2006-09-08 08:44 ` Re: Configuring System for Speed Luke Lonergan <llonergan@greenplum.com>
2006-09-08 17:46 ` Re: Configuring System for Speed alvis <alvis@datatechlabs.com>
0 siblings, 2 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Brian Wipf @ 2006-09-08 07:52 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: pgsql-performance
I am in the process of speccing out a new box for a highly utilized
(updates, inserts, selects) 40GB+ database. I'm trying to maximize
performance on a budget, and I would appreciate any feedback on any
of the following.
Hardware:
2 - Intel Xeon 5160 3.0 GHz 4MB 1333MHz
8 - Kingston 4GB DDR2 ECC Fully Buffered
16 - WD Raptor 150GB 10000 RPM SATA II HD
1 - 3Ware 9550SX-16ML Serial ATA II RAID card
1 - Supermicro X7DBE+ Motherboard
1 - Supermicro SC836TQ-R800V Case
The Woodcrest CPU, Raptor HD and 3Ware 9550SX RAID card have all been
highly recommended on this list, so there may not be much to comment
on there. The Supermicro X7DBE+ motherboard is appealing because of
its 16 RAM slots and 64GB of maximum memory. The Supermicro SC836TQ-
R800 case was selected because of its 16 drive bays in 3U and dual
800W power supplies (the motherboard requires 700W).
RAID Configuration/File System:
A lot of info in the lists, but I'm not sure of the best approach for
this setup.
I was thinking of using 14 drives in a RAID 10 (ext3) for the db and
wals and 2 mirrored drives (ext3 or xfs) for the OS. Another option
would be 12 drives in a RAID 10 for the database (ext3, maybe ext2)
and 4 drives in a RAID 10 for the OS and wals (ext3) (with separate
RAID cards). There are many choices here. Any suggestions?
OS:
The consensus in the list seems to be as long as you have the 2.6
Linux Kernel, it's really a matter of personal preference. However,
it's hard to have a preference when you're new to the Linux world,
like I am. Red Hat, Fedora Core, Slackware, Suse, Gentoo? I guess my
primary goal is speed, stability, and ease of use. Any advice here,
no matter how minimal, would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Brian Wipf
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: Configuring System for Speed
2006-09-08 07:52 Configuring System for Speed Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>
@ 2006-09-08 08:44 ` Luke Lonergan <llonergan@greenplum.com>
2006-09-09 14:48 ` Re: Configuring System for Speed Ron <rjpeace@earthlink.net>
2006-09-11 15:50 ` Re: Configuring System for Speed Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>
1 sibling, 2 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Luke Lonergan @ 2006-09-08 08:44 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>; pgsql-performance
Brian,
I like all of the HW - I just thoroughly reviewed this and came to the same
HW choices you did. The new SuperMicro chassis is an improvement on one we
have used for 21 servers like this.
One modification: we implemented two internal 60GB laptop hard drives with
an additional 3Ware 8006-2LP controller on each machine for the OS. This
frees up all 16 SATA II drives for data. The laptop drives are super stable
and reliable under high heat conditions and they are small, so having them
inside the case is no big deal. BTW - we had ASAcomputers.com make our
systems for us and they did a good job.
We use CentOS 4 on our lab systems and it works fine. I recommend XFS for
the DBMS data drives, along with RAID10 on the 3Ware controllers. With
normal Postgres you shouldn't expect to get more than about 350MB/s on those
CPUs for a single query, but with increased user count, the RAID10 should
scale fine to about 1200MB/s sequential transfer using XFS and a lot slower
with ext3.
- Luke
On 9/8/06 12:52 AM, "Brian Wipf" <brian@clickspace.com> wrote:
> I am in the process of speccing out a new box for a highly utilized
> (updates, inserts, selects) 40GB+ database. I'm trying to maximize
> performance on a budget, and I would appreciate any feedback on any
> of the following.
>
> Hardware:
> 2 - Intel Xeon 5160 3.0 GHz 4MB 1333MHz
> 8 - Kingston 4GB DDR2 ECC Fully Buffered
> 16 - WD Raptor 150GB 10000 RPM SATA II HD
> 1 - 3Ware 9550SX-16ML Serial ATA II RAID card
> 1 - Supermicro X7DBE+ Motherboard
> 1 - Supermicro SC836TQ-R800V Case
>
> The Woodcrest CPU, Raptor HD and 3Ware 9550SX RAID card have all been
> highly recommended on this list, so there may not be much to comment
> on there. The Supermicro X7DBE+ motherboard is appealing because of
> its 16 RAM slots and 64GB of maximum memory. The Supermicro SC836TQ-
> R800 case was selected because of its 16 drive bays in 3U and dual
> 800W power supplies (the motherboard requires 700W).
>
> RAID Configuration/File System:
> A lot of info in the lists, but I'm not sure of the best approach for
> this setup.
> I was thinking of using 14 drives in a RAID 10 (ext3) for the db and
> wals and 2 mirrored drives (ext3 or xfs) for the OS. Another option
> would be 12 drives in a RAID 10 for the database (ext3, maybe ext2)
> and 4 drives in a RAID 10 for the OS and wals (ext3) (with separate
> RAID cards). There are many choices here. Any suggestions?
>
> OS:
> The consensus in the list seems to be as long as you have the 2.6
> Linux Kernel, it's really a matter of personal preference. However,
> it's hard to have a preference when you're new to the Linux world,
> like I am. Red Hat, Fedora Core, Slackware, Suse, Gentoo? I guess my
> primary goal is speed, stability, and ease of use. Any advice here,
> no matter how minimal, would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Brian Wipf
>
>
> ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> TIP 6: explain analyze is your friend
>
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: Configuring System for Speed
2006-09-08 07:52 Configuring System for Speed Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>
2006-09-08 08:44 ` Re: Configuring System for Speed Luke Lonergan <llonergan@greenplum.com>
@ 2006-09-09 14:48 ` Ron <rjpeace@earthlink.net>
1 sibling, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Ron @ 2006-09-09 14:48 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>; pgsql-performance
I agree with Luke's comments, although Luke knows I'm an unabashed
Areca admirer where RAID controllers are concerned.
As tweakers.net recently reaffirmed, Areca cards with 1GB of BB cache
on them are faster than the AMCC/3Ware 9550 series.
Where Linux kernels are concerned, make sure you are at least at
2.6.15 Most decent distros will be.
4GB DIMMs are still much more than 2x as expensive per than 2GB DIMMs
are. You may want to buy 16 2GB DIMMs instead of 8 4GB DIMMs given
the current price difference. Especially if you won't be upgrading
your RAM for a while.
Ron
At 04:44 AM 9/8/2006, Luke Lonergan wrote:
>Brian,
>
>I like all of the HW - I just thoroughly reviewed this and came to the same
>HW choices you did. The new SuperMicro chassis is an improvement on one we
>have used for 21 servers like this.
>
>One modification: we implemented two internal 60GB laptop hard drives with
>an additional 3Ware 8006-2LP controller on each machine for the OS. This
>frees up all 16 SATA II drives for data. The laptop drives are super stable
>and reliable under high heat conditions and they are small, so having them
>inside the case is no big deal. BTW - we had ASAcomputers.com make our
>systems for us and they did a good job.
>
>We use CentOS 4 on our lab systems and it works fine. I recommend XFS for
>the DBMS data drives, along with RAID10 on the 3Ware controllers. With
>normal Postgres you shouldn't expect to get more than about 350MB/s on those
>CPUs for a single query, but with increased user count, the RAID10 should
>scale fine to about 1200MB/s sequential transfer using XFS and a lot slower
>with ext3.
>
>- Luke
>
>
>On 9/8/06 12:52 AM, "Brian Wipf" <brian@clickspace.com> wrote:
>
> > I am in the process of speccing out a new box for a highly utilized
> > (updates, inserts, selects) 40GB+ database. I'm trying to maximize
> > performance on a budget, and I would appreciate any feedback on any
> > of the following.
> >
> > Hardware:
> > 2 - Intel Xeon 5160 3.0 GHz 4MB 1333MHz
> > 8 - Kingston 4GB DDR2 ECC Fully Buffered
> > 16 - WD Raptor 150GB 10000 RPM SATA II HD
> > 1 - 3Ware 9550SX-16ML Serial ATA II RAID card
> > 1 - Supermicro X7DBE+ Motherboard
> > 1 - Supermicro SC836TQ-R800V Case
> >
> > The Woodcrest CPU, Raptor HD and 3Ware 9550SX RAID card have all been
> > highly recommended on this list, so there may not be much to comment
> > on there. The Supermicro X7DBE+ motherboard is appealing because of
> > its 16 RAM slots and 64GB of maximum memory. The Supermicro SC836TQ-
> > R800 case was selected because of its 16 drive bays in 3U and dual
> > 800W power supplies (the motherboard requires 700W).
> >
> > RAID Configuration/File System:
> > A lot of info in the lists, but I'm not sure of the best approach for
> > this setup.
> > I was thinking of using 14 drives in a RAID 10 (ext3) for the db and
> > wals and 2 mirrored drives (ext3 or xfs) for the OS. Another option
> > would be 12 drives in a RAID 10 for the database (ext3, maybe ext2)
> > and 4 drives in a RAID 10 for the OS and wals (ext3) (with separate
> > RAID cards). There are many choices here. Any suggestions?
> >
> > OS:
> > The consensus in the list seems to be as long as you have the 2.6
> > Linux Kernel, it's really a matter of personal preference. However,
> > it's hard to have a preference when you're new to the Linux world,
> > like I am. Red Hat, Fedora Core, Slackware, Suse, Gentoo? I guess my
> > primary goal is speed, stability, and ease of use. Any advice here,
> > no matter how minimal, would be appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Brian Wipf
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> > TIP 6: explain analyze is your friend
> >
>
>
>
>---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
>TIP 5: don't forget to increase your free space map settings
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: Configuring System for Speed
2006-09-08 07:52 Configuring System for Speed Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>
2006-09-08 08:44 ` Re: Configuring System for Speed Luke Lonergan <llonergan@greenplum.com>
@ 2006-09-11 15:50 ` Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>
2006-09-11 23:37 ` Re: Configuring System for Speed Luke Lonergan <llonergan@greenplum.com>
1 sibling, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Brian Wipf @ 2006-09-11 15:50 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Luke Lonergan <llonergan@greenplum.com>; +Cc: pgsql-performance
On 8-Sep-06, at 2:44 AM, Luke Lonergan wrote:
> One modification: we implemented two internal 60GB laptop hard
> drives with
> an additional 3Ware 8006-2LP controller on each machine for the OS.
> This
> frees up all 16 SATA II drives for data.
That's a great idea. One question though. If I put all 16 drives in a
RAID 10 for the database, where should I put the logs? On that large
RAID set? If I use a RAID controller with a BB cache for the mirrored
laptop drives, might I be able to use that for the logs and OS?
Brian Wipf
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: Configuring System for Speed
2006-09-08 07:52 Configuring System for Speed Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>
2006-09-08 08:44 ` Re: Configuring System for Speed Luke Lonergan <llonergan@greenplum.com>
2006-09-11 15:50 ` Re: Configuring System for Speed Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>
@ 2006-09-11 23:37 ` Luke Lonergan <llonergan@greenplum.com>
0 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Luke Lonergan @ 2006-09-11 23:37 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>; +Cc: pgsql-performance
Brian,
On 9/11/06 8:50 AM, "Brian Wipf" <brian@clickspace.com> wrote:
> That's a great idea. One question though. If I put all 16 drives in a
> RAID 10 for the database, where should I put the logs? On that large
> RAID set? If I use a RAID controller with a BB cache for the mirrored
> laptop drives, might I be able to use that for the logs and OS?
I think I'd probably reserve a couple of the data drives for the WAL, at 16
you have far oversubscribed non-MPP postgres' ability to use them for
bandwidth and you'd only lose about 5% of your seek performance by dropping
a couple of drives.
The laptop drives are really slow, so putting your WAL on them might be a
net loss.
Alternately you could go with dual SFF SAS drives, which are the same
physical size as the laptop drives but are 10,000 RPM SCSI equivalent. Heat
removal will be more of an issue with these potentially, especially if you
have a lot of activity on them.
- Luke
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: Configuring System for Speed
2006-09-08 07:52 Configuring System for Speed Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>
@ 2006-09-08 17:46 ` alvis <alvis@datatechlabs.com>
1 sibling, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: alvis @ 2006-09-08 17:46 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>; +Cc: pgsql-performance
Brian Wipf wrote:
> I am in the process of speccing out a new box for a highly utilized
> (updates, inserts, selects) 40GB+ database. I'm trying to maximize
> performance on a budget, and I would appreciate any feedback on any of
> the following.
>
Perhaps this is off topic, but here is bit from my experience. Using
single server for both read (select) and write (insert, update, delete)
operations is the way to slow things down. Consider to split query
workload into OLTP and OLAP queries . Set up Slony replication and use
slave server for read operations only . Buy 1 cheap box (slave) and
another more expensive one for master. Keep in mind that DB schema
optimization for particular query workload is essential . You just can
not get good performance for selects if schema is optimized for inserts
and vice versa.
>
> OS:
> The consensus in the list seems to be as long as you have the 2.6
> Linux Kernel, it's really a matter of personal preference. However,
> it's hard to have a preference when you're new to the Linux world,
> like I am. Red Hat, Fedora Core, Slackware, Suse, Gentoo? I guess my
> primary goal is speed, stability, and ease of use. Any advice here, no
> matter how minimal, would be appreciated.
My answer is FreeBSD6.1.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Brian Wipf
>
>
> ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> TIP 6: explain analyze is your friend
--
Best Regards,
Alvis
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 6+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2006-09-11 23:37 UTC | newest]
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2006-09-08 07:52 Configuring System for Speed Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>
2006-09-08 08:44 ` Luke Lonergan <llonergan@greenplum.com>
2006-09-09 14:48 ` Ron <rjpeace@earthlink.net>
2006-09-11 15:50 ` Brian Wipf <brian@clickspace.com>
2006-09-11 23:37 ` Luke Lonergan <llonergan@greenplum.com>
2006-09-08 17:46 ` alvis <alvis@datatechlabs.com>
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