Thread: possible os recommendations

possible os recommendations

From
David Bear
Date:
wanting to avoid religious warfare, I'm curious if there may be some
who would have recommendations for what operating system is 'best' to
run postgresql 8.x on.. I've used postgresql 7.x on FreeBSD.  It was
already. But, I'm getting sucked into the linux world and have found
Suse 9.3 a pretty good distro.

Since I've chosen a packaged distro, I realize that I depend upon
'them' to keep me updated with criticals and other bug fixes wrt
postrgresql.

That may be consider bad by some, good by others.

I'm more concerned though about the complete experience, i.e.
postgresql performance on Linux vs Bsd vs Windows...
Maintainability.. Stability... os tweeks that were really needed to
make pg work well, etc.

I would really like to hear from those who have used postgresql on
multiple operating systems..

thanks.

--
David Bear
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 "Beware the IP portfolio, everyone will be suspect of trespassing"

Re: possible os recommendations

From
Scott Marlowe
Date:
On Mon, 2005-05-23 at 14:02, David Bear wrote:
> wanting to avoid religious warfare, I'm curious if there may be some
> who would have recommendations for what operating system is 'best' to

SNIP

> I'm more concerned though about the complete experience, i.e.
> postgresql performance on Linux vs Bsd vs Windows...
> Maintainability.. Stability... os tweeks that were really needed to
> make pg work well, etc.

There's not a lot of difference between running postgresql on BSD versus
Linux for most people.  As long as you or your sysadmin is reasonably
familiar with whichever you're running on, they should work fine.  Some
folks choose to run PostgreSQL on commercial OSes like Solaris or AIX,
primarily for it's ability to support hot swappable and high
availability hardware.  Generally speaking, a Very fast two CPU machine
running on AMD-64s with the latest and greatest FreeBSD or Linux kernel
is likely to outrun most of the big iron machines, they just don't
provide the 99.999 reliability.

The Windows port of PostgreSQL is just too new to be considered as an
equal to the unix or other ports.  Plus, the things needed to make
PostgreSQL competitive on Windows aren't likely to show up any time
soon, since stability is the main focus of such a new port right now.

Your hardware and quality hardware drivers for your given OS are
probably just as important as the amount of memory and CPU speed you
throw at things.  This is especially true of your RAID controller, it's
cache, and the number of hard drives you can throw at the problem.

Generally speaking, BSD handles lots of processes and file system I/O
better, while Linux handles CPU / memory intensive apps a little
better.  But the difference is small to nil, depending.

Re: possible os recommendations

From
"Joshua D. Drake"
Date:
>
> I'm more concerned though about the complete experience, i.e.
> postgresql performance on Linux vs Bsd vs Windows...
> Maintainability.. Stability... os tweeks that were really needed to
> make pg work well, etc.

Linux and FreeBSD is going to be your best bet. BSD is a little better
and dealing with very, very high loads. Linux tends (at least from my
experience) to be a little quicker. So it depends on your needs.

Basically if you stay with Linux (2.6 kernel) or FreeBSD (4.9+) you
should be rock solid.

Sincerely,

Joshua D. Drake

Re: possible os recommendations

From
"Rainer J. H. Brandt"
Date:
Hello,

> I'm more concerned though about the complete experience, i.e.
> postgresql performance on Linux vs Bsd vs Windows...
> Maintainability.. Stability... os tweeks that were really needed to
> make pg work well, etc.
>
> I would really like to hear from those who have used postgresql on
> multiple operating systems..

I've used PostgreSQL on lots of Unixes.  Most of the advantages and
disadvantages of those are not database-specific.  Here are some
pro's of each of them:

BSDs:  centralized, well-organized code management, code well thought-out
and readable, especially NetBSD.  Good performance and reliability.

Linux:  supports hardware faster, so if you want to play video games
or have rare network cards, use this.

Mac OS:  pleasing user interface, easier administration for
non-technicians, good performance

Solaris:  superior OS architecture and features, esp. in Solaris 10
(unbeatable diagnostics with dtrace/mdb), high degree of automization
(hands-off installation and configuration of everything)

Notice:  BSD, Linux, and Solaris cost nothing.  Mac OS is payware.
Sources are available for BSDs, Linux, Mac OS (the "Unix" subset),
and (within the next 5 weeks) Solaris.

So, if you're a professional, go with NetBSD or Solaris.
If you want a system that your grandparents (may they still be living)
feel comfortable with, take Mac OS X.

Greetings,
Rainer





Re: possible os recommendations

From
Chris Browne
Date:
David.Bear@asu.edu (David Bear) writes:
> wanting to avoid religious warfare, I'm curious if there may be some
> who would have recommendations for what operating system is 'best' to
> run postgresql 8.x on.. I've used postgresql 7.x on FreeBSD.  It was
> already. But, I'm getting sucked into the linux world and have found
> Suse 9.3 a pretty good distro.
>
> Since I've chosen a packaged distro, I realize that I depend upon
> 'them' to keep me updated with criticals and other bug fixes wrt
> postrgresql.
>
> That may be consider bad by some, good by others.
>
> I'm more concerned though about the complete experience, i.e.
> postgresql performance on Linux vs Bsd vs Windows...
> Maintainability.. Stability... os tweeks that were really needed to
> make pg work well, etc.
>
> I would really like to hear from those who have used postgresql on
> multiple operating systems..

You're going to be fundamentally better off if you go with a system
that you can more readily support than one that is unfamiliar to you.

In particular, if you want to use more or less esoteric hardware
features like in-OS RAID or volume management systems, or to tweak
filesystem parameters, you're going to have better luck with a system
you're already familiar with.

The one clear "quasi-religous" argument to be made is that it is
highly preferable to head to some Unix-like system for "production" as
opposed to Windows, as there simply isn't the long history of
Windows-based deployments to nail down OS-related issues.
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