SQL Anywhere and Network-attached storage

[JimDiaz]

A customer is considering changing the server configuration in there data center to virtual machines and Network-attached storage. Are there any issues we should be aware of regarding SQL Anywhere in this configuration? We are currently moving all databases to 12.0.1 but will have a few still running 9.0.2 when this is scheduled to take place.

Thanks

Jim

[VolkerBarth]

A related - and possibly helpul - FAQ:

Is "separate physical drive" no longer important on RAID, SAN and/or NAS?.

[Former Member]

See http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1092313 that discusses some important factors related to I/O semantics across Linux and Windows operating systems.

What virtual machine OS software are you planning to use, Jim? VMWare?

[Breck_Carter]

How does that article relate to NAS, SAN or VM usage? None of those terms appear in the article (which might explain why it didn't turn up in the search).

[Former Member]

The article explains the I/O semantics required by both Linux and Windows with respect to their filesystems. The issue with running under a VM is whether or not the VM relays flush() and similar calls from the host OS through to the underlying hardware. If it does not, then potential exists for corruption, particularly with power failures.

[JimDiaz]

I believe the plan is to use VMWare. I've asked for proposed specifications on both the Virtual Machine and NAS. Thanks as always for the assistance.

[Breck_Carter]

See http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1034790

FWIW I found that article by using the search box on this page: http://sqlanywhere.blogspot.ca/2012/03/tales-from-doc-face.html

[JimDiaz]

Thanks Breck, I'm learning...

[VolkerBarth]

@Breck: Now is the time to spread the "tales" link, methinks:)

[Breck_Carter]

@Volker: Not yet. The Google Custom Search Engine feature seems to be broken. I have done some fiddling, but it will probably take some time to see any results. The symptom? Bogus result sets for some searches, like "select" returning only one hit, but "olap" returning several. The Google CSE GUI also seems to be unstable.