examples of large databases

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examples of large databases

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sorgan SSC-Addicted Points: 429 More actions · Answer 1

I run a data warehousing shop on SQL2000, IBM 5500's, 6000's (pretty midrange stuff) and I have 2 servers with over 200GB of databases running on each. Largest individual database is @ 80GB. We prety happy and intend to add more data. My bottlenecks are all hardware related, not SQL Server.

Shawn Organ

zach_john SSCertifiable Points: 5922 More actions · Answer 2

I've worked with RDB as well, BO (Before Oracle). Compare the administration overhead SQL Server wins hands down. I manage 40 servers; one server alone has 35 user databases (total 250G). On VAX VMS we would have had at minimum 3 DBA's.

I'm going to use some constraint in regards to Oracle on AIX. Just one comment, in a perfect world with a perfect laid out database plan, security, DR, hardware configuration, with a perfect DBA who has been there since inception, oh and some $$$, Oracle screams, great performance and scalability !!!!

Now try walking into a shop where none of this is present. Where the database that is in use contains all the world secrets, sales, revenue, it's the company's gold seam, the cash cow, and the previous DBA just quit without notice. If you have dedicated yourself to both databases equally, fairly, without prejudice, tell me you’re not wishing this database were built using SQL Server.

quote:
We may be a better example due to ignorance.
We started SQL Server because it was handy and cheap and we had a few hundred meg of data.
We grew that "data warehouse" to something more worthy of it's name, it's currently around 170G, with quite heavy use.
I came from an Rdb (was DEC, then Oracle) background with big hardware and expensive software and didn't have a lot of hope this would scale well, but it did. While it was on a small server (bought for about $8k) we ran benchmarks with live data against Oracle Rdb running on a $100k Alpha, and in no case did Rdb keep up with SQL Server 7. I've also used Sybase, though am not that knowledgeable there.
We've since expanded to a much heftier server, actually a pair we update in parallel and/or replicate between, and continue to be pleasantly surprised how well it works. It's also been surprisingly stable -- to date we've had no corruption in any data, and very few problems (not zero -- but I'd say very comparable to my experience in Sybase and Rdb in terms of reliability).
It lacks some of the maturity of Rdb -- the documentation "depth" is poor, and on-line maintenance, while dramatically improved over 6.5, is still mediocre in comparison to Rdb 4 years ago. ON the other hand it's a LOT easier to maintain without a Dba.
FWIW, YMMV.

John Zacharkan

k_anantharaman SSC Rookie Points: 38 More actions · Answer 3

I was a bit surprised to read the DB sizes mentioned in this thread. Wow ! Didnt know that MSSQL could handle such *BIG* ones. Bravo!

I have a question to all those gurus who are managing such VVVVLDBs ... can you share with me any URLs or references on the Net which would help one manage such mega sizes without crashes and hiccups? I know that this is a very very subjective question which has big dependencies on the kind of transactions, availability requirements, hardware resources provided, etc. But I am sure there must be some very broad thumb rules which could be referred to for managing such VLDBs. Any kind of input on this would be appreciated.

-- Kannan

ewingtonc SSC Rookie Points: 37 More actions · Answer 4

http://www.sql-server-performance.com is a good start.

phmorris Grasshopper Points: 13 More actions · Answer 5

We have a 1.2TB DW running on SQL Server 2k sp2. We process/transform 24GB/day, in about 8 hours of processing. The DW is going to grow to 150GB of processing/day by the end of 2003 or so. We have HELL with SQL Server!! It is not designed to scale to this level. If anyone has a DB even close to this, IN PRODUCTION, I would like to know how they did it. It worked GREAT when it was small 300-500GB after that it was down hill fast. I have yet to find a good artical on this ultra scaling of SQL Server. I like SQL Server but I can't get it to scale to the level the business needs it to.

My advice is stick with a proven DB engine for TB DB installations.

5409045121009-7368 SSCoach Points: 15740 More actions · Answer 6

Phmorris , just for curiosity sake, how many processors and MHz, SAN, memory, disks, controllers, channel speeds, etc.?