[Xapian-discuss] Incremental indexing limitations

[James Aylett]

On Sun, Oct 14, 2007 at 04:45:07AM +0100, Olly Betts wrote:

[Impact of disk size of db]
> Also factor in the cost of backup for that 1TB, and the extra RAM you'll
> need to cache enough of it for searches to run fast.  Also, a disk that
> size is likely to run hotter and draw more power (as will the extra
> RAM), so your may need a beefier power supply and better fans.  The
> extra electricity will tend to increase your hosting costs too.  And
> being cutting edge technology, a 1TB drive will probably be more liable
> to failure.

The electricity is a bigger thing than anyone realised just a year or
so ago. A recent survey (I think done by Sun) found that electricity
costs were higher than hardware costs in some enterprises. Many major
data centres with good peering are in places with poor electricity
supply compared to demand: it can cost real money to do high density
computing with more than minimal power requirements. Everything Olly
says would raise warning signals on a data centre manager [1]. And
cooling costs electricity as well: vicious circle :-(

[1] I think of them as human-shaped robots with blinkenlights. But
then I rarely meet them face to face ;-)

J

-- 
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  James Aylett                                                  xapian.org
  james at tartarus.org                               uncertaintydivision.org