Clik here to view.
New My Oracle Support note on Advanced Format (4k) storage
In the past I have been a little critical of Oracle’s support notes and documentation regarding the use of Advanced Format 4k storage devices. I must now take that back, as my new friends in Oracle...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Understanding Flash: Garbage Collection Matters
In the last post in this series I discussed some of the various tasks that need to be performed by the flash translation layer – the layer of abstraction that sits between us and the raw NAND flash on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Postcard from Oracle OpenWorld 2014: The Oracle FS1 Flash Array
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about my trip to Oracle OpenWorld 2014 and the surprise announcement of the Oracle FS1 Flash Array. I posted it on the Violin Memory corporate website here:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Understanding Flash: The Write Cliff
For the last couple of posts in this series I’ve been banging on about the importance of garbage collection (GC) in a flash system. I attempted to show you what happens if you don’t perform any GC at...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oracle AWR Reports: When Averages Lie
I was recently contacted by a customer who runs a busy ERP system on their Oracle database. Their users have been screaming for some time about unpredictable performance, where application screens...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Understanding Flash: Unpredictable Write Performance
I’ve spent a lot of time in this blog series talking about the challenges involved in using flash, such as the way that pages have to be erased before they are written and the restriction that erase...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Cookbook: Oracle Linux 6 Update 5 within an Oracle VM Template
I’ve posted a new installation cookbook for using Oracle within a virtual machine running on Oracle VM. Surprisingly, I was unable to come up with a satisfactory method of accessing external storage...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oracle AWR Reports: When IOStats Lie
If you’ve been unfortunate enough to follow my dithering on Twitter recently you’ll know that I’ve been lurching between thinking that there is and isn’t a problem with Oracle’s tracking of I/O...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Understanding Flash: Floating Gates and Wear
One of the important characteristics of flash memory is wear. We know from previous articles in this series that flash packages consist of dies, which contain planes, which contain blocks, which in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Deprecation of Non-CDB Architecture in Oracle 12c
Back in July 2013, Oracle released the latest version of its flagship database product, Oracle 12c. Among the usual fanfare was information about a number of new options – including one known as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Oracle Exadata X5: The Road To Ten Billion Dollars
Now that the dust has settled on the announcement of Oracle’s new Exadata X5 Database Machine, I’ve been doing some research in order to update my History of Exadata post (it’ll be ready soon). While...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Understanding Flash: Fabrication, Shrinkage and the Next Big Thing
Semiconductor Fabrication Plant (picture courtesy of SemiWiki.com) Before I draw this series on Understanding Flash to a close, I wanted to briefly touch on the subject of manufacturing. Don’t worry,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Postcards from Storageland: Three Years At Violin
A few weeks ago, in what seems to be a truly modern phenomenon, I became aware that it was my third anniversary of joining Violin after I noticed a number of people congratulating me on LinkedIn. In...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Paris Oracle Meetup (Jeudi 26 Mars 2015 @ 7pm)
A quick post to say that this week, on Thursday 26th, I will be giving a talk (in English!) on the subject of Flash for DBAs (and architects, designers, developers, managers etc) at the Paris Oracle...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Implementing Linux native multipathing or DM-MPIO together with EMC PowerPath
Guest Post I’m delighted to say that this is another guest post from my good friend Nate Fuzi, who performs the same role as me for Violin but is based in the US instead of EMEA. Because he is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ASM Rebalance Too Slow? 3 Tips To Improve Rebalance Times
I’ve run into a few customers recently who have had problems with their ASM rebalance operations running too slowly. Surprisingly, there were some simple concepts being overlooked – and once these...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Great Hypervisor Bake-off: VMware ESX vs Oracle VM
This is a very simple post to show the results of some recent testing that Tom and I ran using Oracle SLOB on Violin to determine the impact of using virtualization. But before we get to that, I am...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Understanding Flash: Summary – NAND Flash Is A Royal Pain In The …
So this is it – the last article in my mini-series on understanding flash. This is the bit where I draw it all together in a neat conclusion that makes you think, “Yes! That was worth reading”. No...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Was I Mentioned During Oracle’s Q4 2015 Results Call?
In a proud moment for me, it appears that Mark Hurd, CEO of Oracle, has mentioned my flashdba blog during the Oracle Q4 2015 results call. At least, that’s what I’m reading into this section from the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
All Flash Arrays: What Is An AFA?
For the last couple of years I’ve been writing a series of blog posts introducing the concepts of flash-memory and solid state storage to those who aren’t part of the storage industry. I’ve covered...
View Article