FreeBSD 5.3 MySQL Performance

[Joe Kelsey]

On Wed, 2005-02-09 at 16:44 -0800, Matt Olander wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 09, 2005 at 07:58:56PM -0500, Alec Berryman wrote:
> > > Also, does anybody have any FreeBSD 5.3/MySQL benchmarks? I searched
> > > the mailing lists but didn't turn up anything.
> > 
> > There was an article posted to Newsforge today about benchmarking
> > MySQL on different operating systems.
> 
> oh! thanks...but according to this article, Linux outperformed FreeBSD
> in every metric shown :-(
> 
> is that accurate?

LinuxThreads is the WORST implementation of threading that anyone can
imagine.  Do not ever use Linux or the horrid LinuxThreads for anything
that you want to save.

Any so-called "benchmark" comparing Linux to anything else (especially
windoze) has been polluted by the tradition in the linux/windoze world
of running their disks in the completely unsafe "asynchronous" mode so
popular with the ATA disk drive manufacturers.  This method means that
you never actually know whether or not the drive ever writes your data
on the disk.  It could just sit in the cache waiting for a power failure
so that you lose everything.  This "async" mode means that the
benchmarks "look" fast but are completely unsafe.

> > > The customer is looking for some kind of validation that he'll be
> > > safe running his database on FreeBSD.
> > 
> > I don't usually look at benchmarks when wondering if my databases are
> > 'safe'.
> 
> Perhaps you misunderstood or I fired that email off to quickly. In
> addition to benchmarks, he's also looking for anything to show that
> he won't be a pioneer in using large MySQL databases on FreeBSD.
> 
> In other words, I'd love to point this customer to FreeBSD if it makes
> sense for them. any help appreciated!

Many companies have used FreeBSD and MySQL for years and years.  There
is no reason to not jump to FreeBSD and start using MySQL.  At my last
job, we ran very large MySQL databases on FreeBSD.  For speed we used
15,000 RPM SCSI-3 disk drives.  This gives you all the speed you need
with the guaranteed safety of FreeBSD.  Of course, SCSI-3 15,000 RPM
drives are more expensive than those wimpy ATA drives.

Go to FreeBSD.  Leave that unsafe Linux crap in the dust.

/Joe