Re: PostgreSQL on Linux PC vs MacOS X

on 11/3/04, Jeff Bohmer <bohmer(at)visionlink(dot)org> wrote:

>We use PostgreSQL 7.x on both OS X and Linux. We used to run OS X in
>production, but due to numerous problems we switched to Linux. OS X
>was not stable at all, especially under load. It was also a poor
>performer under load or not.
>
>In my tests, a P3/800, 512MB RAM (100MHz bus) was consistently faster
>at all queries than a G4/1.25GHz, 1.5GB RAM (266MHz bus) for our
>application. Both machines had single IDE drives.

In my experience, a G4/1.25GHz computer with standard apple drive was much
faster than the PC (Pentium 2+GHz, don't remember details) we tested running
Linux. Both machines had plenty of RAM, same PostgreSQL settings, etc. The PC
was much slower than the mac running backup/restore (more than 2x slower). The
queries we tested were slower as well. Both machines had IDE drives. I'd think
the Linux box could probably be made to be faster, but it had a long way to go
to even match the G4.

We have had excellent stability on both G4 and G5, MacOS 10.2.x and 10.3.x,
PostgreSQL 7.3.x and 7.4.x. The only time we experienced instability was just
after the G5 was released, the combination of G5, MacOS 10.2.7 and PostgreSQL
7.3.x just didn't work very well. Upgrading the G5 to MacOS 10.3.x and
PostgreSQL 7.4.x brought back the stability we expected and we haven't really
had any problems since.

>As a side note, we've also had major problems running multi-threaded
>servers on OS X which run great (stable and much, much faster) on
>Linux.

Any specific examples? Apache 2.x with PHP 4.3.x has been running well on
various single and dual-cpu MacOS X boxes here.

--
Jim Crate
Deep Sky Technologies, Inc.