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 Suggestions on sql server hardware

Author  Topic 

paul.rowling
Yak Posting Veteran

81 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-14 : 04:27:50
Hi,

I have an sql server database of which the two main tables are a customers table (storing customer details such as name, address etc) and a transactions table (storing tansactions made by each customer i.e what the have bought in the shop and when).
The transactions table holds at the moment approx 4 million records with the customers table holding approx 90,000 records.
In general the more frequent tasks carried out on the database are update queries from multiple tables, and general select queries again using multiple tables. An example of a typical request is to find all customers who have bought perfume, but havn't been back into the shop within 16 weeks.

I need to buy some new hardware to run the database on, there will also be other databases held on this same machine although they will not be as large.

All queries will be ran directly on the local machine. Because of budget constraints I will probably be looking at a high end PC as money will not allow me to buy server hardware.

What should I go for? Should I just buy as much RAM and as fast a processor as my budget lets me? Should I use IDE Hard Drives or SCSI?

Please let me know if you have any ideas.

Best Regards

Paul Rowling

Andraax
Aged Yak Warrior

790 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-14 : 04:33:09
Hi Paul.

Naturally, a fast processor and as much RAM as you can lay your hands on. If you can afford it, SCSI drives would be good. I would go for fast (15000rpm or something) scsi drives. RAID 5 or 10 would be good also, but then the price goes up significantly :(

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Page47
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

2878 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-14 : 07:40:32
This is not a simple question to answer in a forum setting. You've told us nothing about number of users, transactions per second and requirements for performance.

Jay White
{0}
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paul.rowling
Yak Posting Veteran

81 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-14 : 07:53:14
Hi,

There is only one user, and that's me!! Basically the database is used for marketing reasons and as such we provide stats and targeted mailings based on customers EPOS systems data.
When I run a query I need the results within a few minutes, hence I need good performance from the hardware.

Hope this helps!

Cheers

Paul

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X002548
Not Just a Number

15586 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-14 : 10:05:29
memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more memory...and then buy more



Brett

8-)
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MichaelP
Jedi Yak

2489 Posts

Posted - 2003-05-14 : 12:11:12
I agree, get as much RAM as possible and the fastest drives you can put your hands on. Processor is important, but if you can save a few hundred bucks on the processor(s) and put that towards another 512MB-1GB of RAM then I say do it!

Michael

<Yoda>Use the Search page you must. Find the answer you will.</Yoda>
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