Which box to make app server, and which to make customer db?

Question

I have 2 boxes:
1) a Sun ultra 10 w/40mb/s scsi, 160mb/s drive, 256mb ram, 366mhz sparc
2) a 1.7 ghz pc clone running linux 7.3, 256mb DDR ram, ATA-100 (but i can only make it run at 25mb/s)
both machines have 40mb hard drives.
i plan to run portal, enterprise manager, wireless (possibly, but not right now), single sign on (possibly).
should i:
a) upgrade the pc memory (by around 512mb), install infrastructure/apps there, customer db on sun?
b) upgrade scsi card on sun to 160mb/s, install infrastructure/apps there, customer db on pc?
i'm leaning more towards upgrading the memory on the pc, and maybe using web cache since scsi is more expandable than IDE in terms of simultaneous writes to drives (and oracle loves having lots of drives to write to simultaneously).
i guess a big factor in the decision is why oracle recommends that infrastructure and components should be placed on separate machines. is it due to security and/or less memory requirements on the component side, or is there another reason? i also don't see why infrastructure and components can't be placed on the same machine using IPC vs. TCP to connect the 2.
any suggestions/comments?
-- rob

Answer 1

Hi:
Separate boxes also means more licenses... isnt it ? of course it is :),even if in one box you run FORMS, the other REPORTS, the other one PORTAL, and the other J2EE apps... so this could be "unfair" :), and all parts together means 1 IAS :)
Besides CPU licensing how can Oracle measure USER licensing in a Web environment ? An example, the CPU licensing of IAS is the same price as licensing 50 users :)... my doubt sometime ago was "this 50 users are concurrent users or potential users" ?
And now i know that (citation) Named User: is defined as an individual authorized by you to use the programs which are installed on a single server or multiple servers, regardless of whether the individual is actively using the programs at any given time. A non human operated device will be counted as a Named User in addition to all individuals authorized to use the programs, if such devices can access the programs. If multiplexing hardware or software (e.g., a TP monitor or a web server product) is used, this number must be measured at the multiplexing front end.
So, if the named user licensing is not for concurrent users, i think that there are not any institution that will create a PORTAL to 50 users, isnt it ? and if it ccreate and say it, i think that lies :)
So, to an oracle customer to be "honest" with oracle, i think it's better to buy more SCSI 15K rpm hard drives and upgrade CPU's to 3Ghz :)))))))) for better performance, and i think that $20.000 (of another IAS license) it's enought to triple performance upgrading CPU's and hard-drives :)))
This was just a little note, because i think that in a WEB environment, the correct user licensing should be "user calls" and not "named users"...
Thanks
Joao Oliveira
PS: 9iAS r2 for win2000 seams to be very powerfull... and was much more easy to install than in Linux :)