Running large DB's on FreeBSD

[Paul Allen]

>From Mike Jakubik <mikej at rogers.com>, Mon, Oct 23, 2006 at 07:44:45PM -0400:
> Chuck Swiger wrote:
> >On Oct 23, 2006, at 4:01 PM, Mike Jakubik wrote:
> >>   So, first of all, am i crazy for choosing fbsd+mysql for this 
> >>rather than something like Solaris + Oracle? :)
> >
> >Moderately...it kinda depends on the budget available.  I regard 
> >Solaris + Oracle as one of the most reliable combinations for moderate 
> >to extreme load, for a system that might well be in operation for five 
> >to ten years.  If I was going to do FreeBSD, I might look into 
> >Postgres instead of MySQL; well, I might look into something else than 
> >MySQL under many circumstances.  I've gotten some pretty good use out 
> >of OpenBase, for another choice.
> >
> 
> I believe the front-end application is MySQL dependent, but what is so 
> much better about PostgreSQL? I understand that it has some more 
> advanced features, but if they are not used, then what is the advantage? 
> (I really like the InnooDB storage in MySQL)

The argument for pgsql over mysql given freebsd is based on freebsd being
fairly competitive for process-based concurrency whereas the more refined
1:1 thread implementation in linux often gives mysql an edge on that platform.

pgsql vs. mysql performance comparisons are usually run on Linux and do not
necessarily predict performance under freebsd for the testload.

** Find a testload similar in structure to your workload before deciding;
   make sure that the testload uses hardware with similar bottlenecks to
   your production setup **