X-Original-To: pgsql-performance-postgresql.org@localhost.postgresql.org Received: from localhost (av.hub.org [200.46.204.144]) by svr1.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B69A2DB4C2 for ; Fri, 18 Nov 2005 02:08:03 -0400 (AST) Received: from svr1.postgresql.org ([200.46.204.71]) by localhost (av.hub.org [200.46.204.144]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 47937-07 for ; Fri, 18 Nov 2005 06:08:02 +0000 (GMT) X-Greylist: from auto-whitelisted by SQLgrey- Received: from mail.Mi8.com (d01gw01.mi8.com [63.240.6.47]) by svr1.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C3423DA387 for ; Fri, 18 Nov 2005 02:08:00 -0400 (AST) Received: from 172.16.1.110 by mail.Mi8.com with ESMTP (- Welcome to Mi8 Corporation www.Mi8.com (D1)); Fri, 18 Nov 2005 01:07:55 -0500 X-Server-Uuid: 241911D6-425B-44B9-A073-E3FE0F8FC774 Received: from MI8NYCMAIL06.Mi8.com ([172.16.1.175]) by D01SMTP01.Mi8.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.211); Fri, 18 Nov 2005 01:07:55 -0500 Received: from 69.181.100.71 ([69.181.100.71]) by MI8NYCMAIL06.Mi8.com ( [172.16.1.219]) via Exchange Front-End Server mi8owa.mi8.com ( [172.16.1.104]) with Microsoft Exchange Server HTTP-DAV ; Fri, 18 Nov 2005 01:07:54 -0500 User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/11.2.1.051004 Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 22:07:54 -0800 Subject: Re: Hardware/OS recommendations for large databases ( From: "Luke Lonergan" To: "Greg Stark" , "Joshua Marsh" cc: pgsql-performance@postgresql.org Message-ID: Thread-Topic: [PERFORM] Hardware/OS recommendations for large databases ( Thread-Index: AcXsARNdwzQ0YbPFQJC9u/hNHCb98wABVaAV In-Reply-To: <87zmo2pmas.fsf@stark.xeocode.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 18 Nov 2005 06:07:55.0088 (UTC) FILETIME=[6A835D00:01C5EC06] X-WSS-ID: 6F63B03121G13205170-01-01 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at hub.org X-Spam-Status: No, score=1.254 required=5 tests=[AWL=0.000, RCVD_NUMERIC_HELO=1.253] X-Spam-Score: 1.254 X-Spam-Level: * X-Archive-Number: 200511/346 X-Sequence-Number: 15603 Greg, On 11/17/05 9:17 PM, "Greg Stark" wrote: > Ok, a more productive point: it's not really the size of the database that > controls whether you're I/O bound or CPU bound. It's the available I/O > bandwidth versus your CPU speed. Postgres + Any x86 CPU from 2.4GHz up to Opteron 280 is CPU bound after 110MB/s of I/O. This is true of Postgres 7.4, 8.0 and 8.1. A $1,000 system with one CPU and two SATA disks in a software RAID0 will perform exactly the same as a $80,000 system with 8 dual core CPUs and the world's best SCSI RAID hardware on a large database for decision support (what the poster asked about). Regards, - Luke