Re: New Linux xfs/reiser file systems

At 02:09 AM 5/4/01 -0500, Thomas Swan wrote:
> I think it's worth noting that Oracle has been petitioning the
> kernel developers for better raw device support: in other words,
> the ability to write directly to the hard disk and bypassing the
> filesystem all together.

But there could be other reasons why Oracle would want to do raw stuff.

1) They have more things to sell - management modules/software. More
training courses. Certified blahblahblah. More features in brochure.
2) It just helps make things more proprietary. Think lock in.

All that for maybe 10% performance increase?

I think it's more advantageous for Postgresql to keep the filesystem layer
of abstraction, than to do away with it, and later reinvent certain parts
of it along with new bugs.

What would be useful is if one can specify where the tables, indexes, WAL
and other files go. That feature would probably help improve performance
far more.

For example: you could then stick the WAL on a battery backed up RAM disk.
How much total space does a WAL log need?

A battery backed RAM disk might even be cheaper than Brand X RDBMS
Proprietary Feature #5.

Cheerio,
Link.