Win2K Mount Points

Hello,

I have been tasked to upgrade an existing Openserver 5 / 7.3.4 installation to a Win2K / 8.1.7 installation. The hardware is an IBM 8500R 8-way with 4GB main memory and 32 mirrored pairs.

Under Unix it is simple to mount each filesystem at an appropriate mount point. However, the traditional method of using drive letters in Windows is somewhat limited by the number of available letters. The obvious solution with NTFS5 is to use mount points - which is what I have done. I have a directory located in $ORACLE_BASE under which I have mounted 25 of the mirrored pairs, i.e. all of the filesystems that will be used exclusively by Oracle

Currently, the Openserver installation is still live and I am configuring the Win2K installation on identical h/w for a period of testing. Whilst I have had not had any issues with using NTFS5 mount points, I have been scratting around trying to find real-world experience of such a configuration. The official Oracle line (via an iTAR that I filed) is that as the base OS is fully supported, i.e. supported without certain features being excluded, the use of mount points is okay. However, should I observe any issues with such a configuration then any queries should be directed to Microsoft.

The response is fair enough, I guess, but it didn't provide what I was asking for. Therefore, I would like to ask the wider audience if they have any experience of such a configuration, i.e. any known issues with NTFS5 mount points in general, the number that is "safe" to use beneath a base directory, recovery issues etc.

I should point out that the application data that is stored in the database is roughly 80% static and 20% "hot" and in the ideal world the static data could be stored on a smaller number of larger arrays to allow the h/w to do most of the load balancing. However, I have no say in h/w matters so this isn't really an option for me.

Finally, as this is my first post to the list, perhaps I should introduce myself as a lurker(!): I have enjoyed following the various discussion threads on a daily basis. The collaboration of people helping each other with common issues and the willingness to share expertise etc makes ORACLE-L a powerful resource.

Many thanks.

---
nigel.





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Author: Nigel Cemm
  INET: n.cemm_at_dial.pipex.com

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