Boss WTF

merreborn

myboss: mystery......
myboss: select from [active database], no issue
myboss: select from [inactive database], identical query, take 50X the time
merreborn: Caching. There's only so much ram on that box
myboss: nope
myboss: thats not it
merreborn: about a gig and a half of the ram on that box is dedicated to keeping databases in ram so you don't have to go to disk
merreborn: It's only the most active areas of the dbs that get cached.
myboss: it has been this way for as long as i can remember
merreborn: Yeah
merreborn: [inactive database]'s not nearly as active as [active database]
myboss: ok
myboss: assuming thats not the issue, what else could it be?
merreborn: Not a fan of occam's razor, eh?
myboss: no
myboss: doesn't work with programming and computers
merreborn: Bit faries.

There ya have it folks: Occam's Razor doesn't apply to computers.

savar

@merreborn said:

myboss: mystery......
myboss: select from [active database], no issue
myboss: select from [inactive database], identical query, take 50X the time

well on the bright side, he's obviously capable of reason, he just chooses to ignore it.

kuroshin

Sounds like Jed to me. Run!

qbolec

Well, even if you are right that the problem is in caching, it's still nice to gather or possible issues/causes/problems for a visible defect just to a) learn something, b) be prepared for the worse, c) thinking outside of the box is always cool d) it's nice puzzle for dull evening...I don't know...I tend to also, whenever possible ask smarter than me for solution to all possible variants of a problem that I have (..yeah, they have time for that..I'm at the University:) [and not S/WTFUniversity] )

marvin_rabbit

boss: It just keeps getting wierder...
boss: I restarted the database server,
boss: and the first time I did the select
boss: it took a long time even against the
boss: active database.
mereborn: um, yeah...
boss: guess we disproved your caching theory!
mereborn: <whimper>

CodeRage

@merreborn said:

myboss: mystery......
myboss: select from [active database], no issue
myboss: select from [inactive database], identical query, take 50X the time
merreborn: Caching. There's only so much ram on that box
myboss: nope
myboss: thats not it
merreborn: about a gig and a half of the ram on that box is dedicated to keeping databases in ram so you don't have to go to disk
merreborn: It's only the most active areas of the dbs that get cached.
myboss: it has been this way for as long as i can remember
merreborn: Yeah
merreborn: [inactive database]'s not nearly as active as [active database]
myboss: ok
myboss: assuming thats not the issue, what else could it be?
merreborn: Not a fan of occam's razor, eh?
myboss: no
myboss: doesn't work with programming and computers
merreborn: Bit faries.

There ya have it folks: Occam's Razor doesn't apply to computers.

Yes, because Occam's Razor PROVES that the simplest explanation is ALWAYS the TRUE one. Why does everyone abuse Occam's Razor so much?

Irrelevant

@CodeRage said:

Yes, because Occam's Razor PROVES that the simplest explanation is ALWAYS the TRUE one. Why does everyone abuse Occam's Razor so much?

Whoa there... ease up on the bile already...

savar

@CodeRage said:

Yes, because Occam's Razor PROVES that the simplest explanation is ALWAYS the TRUE one. Why does everyone abuse Occam's Razor so much?

Ha, I almost wrote the same response but then I didn't feel like getting into that discussion with the people here. It's true folks, Occam's Razor is not a theorem or even a postulate! It's just a tool: use it when it is convenient to do so, don't use it when it would lead to misplaced certainty.

Skurry

Just curious: Is it MSSQL?

triso

@merreborn said:

...
merreborn: Not a fan of occam's razor, eh?
myboss: no
myboss: doesn't work with programming and computers
merreborn: Bit faries.

There ya have it folks: Occam's Razor doesn't apply to computers.

Your boss probably thinks he or she shaves with Occam's Razor.

obediah

@CodeRage said:

Yes, because Occam's Razor PROVES that the simplest explanation is ALWAYS the TRUE one. Why does everyone abuse Occam's Razor so much?

I'm always amazed at just how bad people misspell parsimony.

I especially like the people that feel the need to use one of the 50 spellings of occam not yet used in a thread just so they can feel more pseduo-intellectual than all the other pseudo-intellectuals.

RayS

Caching does seem a very plausible option, but (and not knowing the
specifics of the OP's situation) generally I'd go for indexes rather
than caching as the number one suspect. If there's one aspect of DBs
that can give you performance differences in terms of orders of
magnitude, that's it.

I'd have at least said that it could be that too.

pLu

Ockham's
Chainsaw...

marvin_rabbit

@pLu said:

Ockham's
Chainsaw...

"If there is a teen party with bright flashy lights and loud thumping music, then we can only conclude that someone will be selling Extasy."

-- Occam's Raver

dhromed

@pLu said:

Ockham's
Chainsaw...

If a tree falls in the woods and crushes the man who felled it, we can reasonably assume that both made a sound.

WWWWolf

@merreborn said:

There ya have it folks: Occam's Razor doesn't apply to computers.

Of course not.

The simpler, easier-to-program, clearer solution is the right one.

Except that there's apparently an ugly bug in some library (or a design feature that's not documented all that well anywhere) and you need a particularly ugly hack to get around it.

And then someone else needs to maintain it.

JustThat

Occam's Manager: "The simplest supervisor is usually yours"