Multiple databases on 1 machine

[Former Member]

I have 5 independent SQL anywhere databases currently running on 3 servers. I want to consolidate them to one server. My question is should I run them under a single network service, or should I start them as different services on different ports.

The main DB is over 30 GB and is the largest and busiest of the 5. The rest are 250 MB and smaller. The server should be capable. It has 24 cores and 64 GB of RAM.

Does anyone here have experience with running multiple databases on a single server? Any suggestions?

[Former Member]

Thanks guys. I've installed 12.0.1 in my test environment. The 30GB DB is currently running dbsrv9 and averages 20-30 active users. The others are running dbsrv8 and average 1-3 active users. I've already migrated the main DB from 9 to 12 in our test environment. Application testing is underway, and things are looking great. I still need to migrate the other DBs from 8 to 12 and test the applications.

On the 30GB database, do you think I would benefit from increasing the page size from 4096 to 8192? I read through the SA12's performance improvements tips and thought it might be worth addressing.

BTW, Gotta love the smaller indexes after moving from 9 to 12. The DB file shrunk from 32GB to 22GB.

[Dan_Cummins]

My experience was with multiple databases, that were hosting different applications, running under one server. Each of the databases hosted a different web application (SQL stored procedures served up responses for the browser). When I wanted to upgrade the servers and applications to v12, I had to plan to upgrade and test the applications together, so I could upgrade the entire system at once.

I found that this situation was not convenient for me; I wanted to be able to upgrade the applications independently. I ended up running the applications under different servers, so I could have more control over their upgrade path in the future. For example, I can move one to 12.0.1 GA, then when that is done move the next one, which may move to 12.0.1 EBF1.