| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 295.1 | V6/TPS Has Perf. Problems | MAIL::DUNCANG | Gerry Duncan @KCO | Wed Feb 01 1989 20:42 | 18 |
| I just spoke to a project manager of a large software firm that
has numerous products layered on top of Oracle. They have been
a field test site for Oracle V6/TPS for quite some time. He told
me that the latest release of V6/TPS is 6.0.25 but he has not received
it yet. He added that Oracle was having performance problems in
certain application environments (didn't know which) and that V6/TPS
was being held from production until the problems could be found.
His latest word is that V6/TPS was "planned" for production in Feb
89 but doubted if it would be ready.
Last fall the release cycles were fast and furious and we saw the
variant number (the last two digits) change rapidly and new field
test kits release every few weeks. Now that the release cycle has
stretched to over 2 months, it may mean that they're really having
trouble finding and fixing bugs.
Could it be that the window of opportunity is beginning to open
for Rdb ??
|
| 295.2 | Oracle sweating in Swindon | BRILLO::BIRCH | Peter Birch, DTN 842-3297 | Thu Feb 02 1989 15:11 | 23 |
| A customer in Swindon, UK, has been testing Oracle V6/TPS and has
discovered that in their application, with more than 4 (four) users
performance
is WORSE than v5. Oracle have blamed this on a routine called SETVBUF
in our C runtime library, the symptom of which is that when you
call this routine to be given a buffer of, eg, 8192 bytes, it gives
you 512 whether you like it or not. This apparently slows their
forms processing no end. Anyway, C development chaps are fixing
this buglet, and we shall see whether this helps Oracle out of their
hole.
When asked directly by me in front of the customer 'will this fix
your performance issue', the Oracle technical chap sweated a lot
and refused to make any guarantee of any kind. So it remains to
be seen whether they're really in trouble and are using the 'C'
bug to buy time, or whether that really is the answer. When I hear any
more, I'll keep you informed.
PDB
P.S. if it really is a VMS problem, why didn't their own internal
testing show this up? Do they do any?
|
| 295.3 | It did no good, well I never thought it would... | BRILLO::BIRCH | Peter Birch, DTN 842-3297 | Thu Feb 09 1989 15:14 | 25 |
| Well, we apparently fixed our bug in the C RTL and it has (so my
spies tell me) made NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL.
Oracle are now sweating even more profusely; it would appear that
the technical people and even the salesmen have started zooming
off to the states in a desparate bid to save the situation.
True to form, Oracle have blamed us all along the way, and their
accusations are apparently becoming wilder and wilder. Fortunately,
this is beginning to wear rather thin with the customer, who is,
by all acounts, more or less frothing at the mouth over it, and
wants heads on platters.
I'm rather torn here; I don't like to see one of our customers in
the mire like this (they've got two and a half years of work invested
in Oracle; they're too far in to back out now), but on the other
hand it does this old heart no end of good to see Oracle squirm
on a knife made by their own foul hand.
I post more from the front when I get it (if you're interested)_.
Cheers
PDB
|
| 295.4 | It's Not Soup Yet ! | MAIL::DUNCANG | Gerry Duncan @KCO | Fri Feb 10 1989 01:30 | 21 |
| I talked with my Oracle contact today and my customer who has decided
to implement with Oracle V6/TPS on April 1. They tell me that Oracle
6.0.26 will be the "Production" release and is now scheduled for
Feb 28 (this year). My customer received 6.0.25 today and we are
rerunning our benchmark on their recently delivered 8840 tonight.
Also, TPS (Transaction Processing Subsystem) has now been renamed
to TPO (Transaction Processing Option). This is interesting since
their V6/TPS (oops TPO) manuals have already gone to press. Wonder
how much they'll have to eat (if any) in manual costs !!
The "Production" release WILL NOT contain support for VAXclusters.
My customer has been told April, but my Oracle contact told me they
haven't even began testing the recently inserted code. He added
that the pressure was so great to get V6 out the door that cluster
code was not included ON PURPOSE. His understanding is that VAXcluster
support will be included in V6.1 which has no release date so far.
Other items ... in the next few weeks Oracle will announce SQL*forms
V3. It will include the PL/SQL. He mentioned that SQL*forms "needed
the functionality" of PL/SQL ... whatever that means.
|
| 295.5 | SOme numbers from Swindon | BRILLO::BIRCH | Peter Birch, DTN 842-3297 | Wed Feb 22 1989 13:25 | 27 |
|
The customer has given us (informally) some results of the testing
that they have done with Oracle V6/TPO(S).
System is an 8530. Actual response times are not given (and probably
wouldn't be meaningful anyway without knowing what the application
does) but in terms of a base value, x seconds.
30 users 4 users
V5 Oracle 90% CPU used, x sec response 20% CPU, x sec resp.
V6/TPO 100% CPU used, 2x sec response 40% CPU, 0.9x sec resp.
One good point (possibly the only good point) was that the database
conversion went well (database is 2gb).
So it would appear that V6 can improve your response times slightly
at the expense of vastly increased CPU usage. If you haven't got
spare CPU, it will degrade your response times very badly.
The SETVBUF routine was complete red-herring, as Oracle modified
their code not to use it and it still didn't make any difference
at all.
Cheers
PDB
|
| 295.6 | 6.0.25 = Index Corruption ! | MAIL::DUNCANG | Gerry Duncan @KCO | Thu Feb 23 1989 17:33 | 11 |
| Talked with my customer yesterday. They recently loaded 6.0.25
with the thought that the index corruption problem had been fixed.
However, THERE IS STILL A PROBLEM WITH 6.0.25 that CORRUPTS INDEXES.
Oracle is well aware of this bug and tells the customer that "they
haven't had time to test the fix" which tells me they haven't fixed
it yet. The latest thought is that 6.0.26 MAY be the production
release but Oracle has not decided yet. No word either if the index
corruption problem will be fixed in 6.0.26.
-- gerry
|
| 295.7 | Oracle V6 on Clusters ... | CHEFS::HUDGELL | Mike Hudgell - Product Management | Fri Mar 03 1989 15:31 | 1 |
| For the latest - see CHEFS::VIA_FORUM note 181.0
|
| 295.8 | Condemned out of their own mouths.... | BRILLO::BIRCH | Peter Birch, DTN 842-3297 | Mon Mar 13 1989 18:33 | 26 |
| Quotes from internal note given by Oracle to a customer:
"Even with the gains listed above, the CPU utilisation of ORACLE
version 6 will always be greater than version 5. This is a fact
of life."
"It is also a fact that version 6 makes better use of large cpu
machines and the upgrading of hardware will show clear improvements"
So, if I chose to be cynical (which I do) I could interpret this
to mean
"Load version 6, and if your performance gets worse (although we
said with v6 it would get better), buy a bigger machine and you
might get back what you lost with v6"
Or am I too critical?
I trust you will note that this came from from an internal note,
and therefore not quote it directly directly to customers or mention
its source.
Cheers
PDB
|
| 295.9 | 6.0.26.3 Might be Production | MAIL::DUNCANG | Gerry Duncan @KCO | Sat Mar 18 1989 18:02 | 7 |
| Talked with my customer yesterday. They are getting ready to load
6.0.26.3 which is supposed to be production. I have verified this
with my other Oracle user as well. We should know early next week
if the index corruption problem still exists. My customer also
has HP system running HPUX. I'm trying to find out if they're using
V6 there or not cause they're having lots of trouble with their
HP systems. Will report as soon as I find out.
|
| 295.10 | V6 Not Ready Yet | MAIL::DUNCANG | Gerry Duncan @KCO | Tue Mar 21 1989 03:25 | 8 |
| Talked with my customer today. They were promised 6.0.26 last
Thursday. Haven't got it yet.
FYI They're using Oracle V5.1 on HPUX. When I asked them about V6 on
HPUX, he laughed and said, "... as far as I know, V6 is not available
on any system except VAX...".
-- gerry
|
| 295.11 | Oracle give up... | BRILLO::BIRCH | Peter Birch, DTN 842-3297 | Mon Apr 10 1989 16:53 | 14 |
| Customer I referred to has abandoned a full benchmark with Oracle
V6, as Oracle couldn't guarantee them a stable product. Odd, since
as I read some of these other notes it's already out in the field.
Oracle have to all intents and purposes given up. Their position
apparently is 'it goes as fast as it goes, and as for what we led
you to believe you'd get with v6, well, you aren't going to get
it'. The customer is beginning to mutter darkly about ACMS and Rdb.
I think we might encourage him quietly.
Cheers
PDB
|
| 295.12 | V6 is finally production | MAIL::DUNCANG | Gerry Duncan @KCO | Mon May 01 1989 15:58 | 9 |
| My customer who has been beta test for many months has the following
versions running:
Oracle V6.0.26.3.0 - Production
PL/SQL V1.0.17.0.0 - Alpha
It is important to note that "production" is appended to the DBMS
since the previous version was labeled "limited production". I
will find out this week if the index corruption bug has been fixed.
|