Re: Oracle on ram drive with no redo log or other archiving

On Wed, 28 Sep 2005 17:32:42 -0700, robertbrown1971 interested us by writing:

> Question:

Yee-haw, ride 'em cowboy. Can anyone say 'skunk works'?

>
> 1) How can I start oracle to minimize or disable redo log? I know there
> is a NOARCHIVE mode. Is that it? How do I enable it for the whole
> instance?

Nope. NOARCHIVE is related to how the log files are safely tucked away by the archiver.

Basically the redo log is so fundamental to Oracle's philosophy of protecting the database that I doubt there is a way of telling it to not generate any redo. There are ways of minimizing it, yes, but not eliminating. Then again, is anything wrong with having 2 redo log groups at, say 1M (or less). They are used in a circular buffer basis, wasted pretty quickly, and eliminate any risk of hitting some undocumented log file check/read that might exist (although logically probably doesn't).

Perhaps a few days in the Concepts manual will help.

> 2) What other logs are there and how can I turn them off (or minimize
> output)

look for the background_dump_dest (and other *dump_dest) parameters. The alert.log comes to mind. And you may want to point those directories to oblivion.

>
> 3) What other files besides that data files for the tablespaces used by
> tests need to be in RAM drive for fastest performance. In other words,
> if I have a regular oracle account and just execute vanilla updates
> where does Oracle write to besides the redo log and the data files.

Control file, orapwd, spfile/pfile are required to run, or at least start. First one is a writeable file and MUST be visible. This would also be identified in the Concepts manual. (Ya, I know - that takes time, and things are moving real fast here!)

>
> Note that not all are in RAM. Since ram is expensive it would be
> preferrable to keep the files that are changing rarely in durable
> location and then only put the files that actually affect performance on
> the ram drive.

Check out Oracle's Times Ten as well.

Why bother with RAM drive under a traditional Oracle database when Oracle already provides a full-fledged optimized (and supported) in-memory database. (Unless you are trying to buffalo some sucker?)

-- 
Hans Forbrich                           
Canada-wide Oracle training and consulting
mailto: Fuzzy.GreyBeard_at_gmail.com   
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