At 06:31 AM 5/03/2008, Christian Kaufmann wrote:

>> For a database server, yes, it's certainly worthy of consideration.
>OK and is there a preferred Linux distribution to be used for a
>Firebird server.

Everyone has a preferred Linux distribution. :-) Mine is Mandriva, for a lot of reasons that are important to me. This includes that it supports Firebird "out-of-the-box".

>Is there a manual somewhere about how a configuration should look
>like? Hardware and also config of Firebird?

In one manual, no, I don't think so. If I were writing such a manual, I would have difficulty advising what anything *should* look like. There are too many variables from one system to another. Ann's "expert" papers (at IBPhoenix website) are well worth studying.

>> Also think about putting in a dedicated fast hard-drive which
>> you configure just for sort space and virtual memory caching.

>What does this mean? Setting TempDirectories to this drive?

Yes, and also locating your swap memory on a physical drive that is fast.

>Or even use a RAM drive for that?

Didn't mean a RAM drive. Firebird will move the intermediate tables for sorts and group bys to the temp sort space if there is insufficient RAM available for it. It's a dynamic decision made by the engine according to the RAM it can get at the time, i.e., it will materialise the set in the tempdirectories space if there's not enough RAM available to accommodate the whole set. You can configure the amount of sort space available in RAM.

When multiple sort spaces are configured, the engine tries each one in order until it finds one large enough. Hopefully someone can tell you whether assigning sort space to a RAM disk could buy you anything...I simply do not know.

./heLen