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Monday, September 7, 2009

Automatic Storage Management

0028-Automatic Storage ManagementAutomatic Storage Management

Oracle Database 10g introduces Automatic Storage Management (ASM), a service that provides management of disk drives. ASM can be used on a variety of configurations, including Oracle9i Database RAC installations. ASM is an alternative to the use of raw or cooked file systems and is part of Oracle's overall desire to make management of the Oracle Database 10g easier, overall.

ASM Features

ASM offers a number of features, including:

Image Simplified daily administration

Image The performance of raw disk I/O for all ASM files

Image Compatibility with any type of disk configuration, be it just a bunch of disks (JBOD) or complex Storage Area Network (SAN)

Image Use of a specific file-naming convention to name files, enforcing an enterprise-wide file-naming convention

Image Prevention of the accidental deletion of files, since there is no file system interface and ASM is solely responsible for file management

Image Load balancing of data across all ASM managed disk drives, which helps improve performance by removing disk hot spots

Image Dynamic load balancing of disks as usage patterns change and when additional disks are added or removed

Image Ability to mirror data on different disks to provide fault tolerance

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