We are currently using RAC with 2 Nodes
both are RS6k Machine with the following:
System Model: IBM,7026-6H1
Machine Serial Number: 10C15CA
Processor Type: PowerPC_RS64-IV
Number Of Processors: 2
Processor Clock Speed: 602 MHz
CPU Type: 64-bit
Kernel Type: 64-bit
LPAR Info: -1 NULL
Memory Size: 2048 MB
Total Paging Space: 2496MB
Percent Used: 79%

The RAC is running Oracle9i Database.

According to AIX tools (nmon,topas,lsps-a) are reporting
the RAC is very low in memory paging (is this normal).


[RS1:/]:> vmstat 1

kthr memory page faults cpu
----- ----------- ------------------------ ------------ -----------
r b avm fre re pi po fr sr cy in sy cs us sy id wa
0 0 660500 1402 0 0 0 0 0 0 485 3995 804 0 1 99 0
2 0 660500 1402 0 0 0 0 0 0 1055 11137 1072 4 3 92 0
0 0 660500 1402 0 0 0 0 0 0 871 7709 1011 6 2 92 0
0 0 660500 1402 0 0 0 0 0 0 982 8499 1040 3 3 94 0
1 0 660500 1398 0 4 0 0 0 0 2007 16017 2110 20 6 47 28
1 0 660500 1396 0 2 0 0 0 0 1774 13317 1932 21 5 42 32
0 0 660500 1395 0 1 0 0 0 0 1659 10965 1749 19 3 50 28
1 0 660500 1395 0 0 0 0 0 0 1801 11658 1804 22 4 48 26
3 0 660500 1395 0 0 0 0 0 0 1314 8414 1597 21 5 45 29
2 0 660500 1395 0 0 0 0 0 0 1880 12071 1884 20 4 48 28
0 0 660500 1395 0 0 0 0 0 0 1846 12036 1869 14 6 46 33
2 0 660500 1393 0 2 0 0 0 0 1713 13900 1740 34 4 28 34
0 0 660500 1393 0 0 0 0 0 0 1491 9444 1765 16 7 45 32
0 0 660500 1391 0 2 0 0 0 0 820 5452 1107 8 2 83 6
0 0 660500 1391 0 0 0 0 0 0 378 2836 783 4 0 96 0
0 0 660500 1391 0 0 0 0 0 0 365 2775 762 0 0 99 0
0 0 660500 1391 0 0 0 0 0 0 371 2773 769 0 0 99 0
0 0 660500 1391 0 0 0 0 0 0 369 2768 753 0 0 98 0
0 0 660500 1391 0 0 0 0 0 0 373 2777 760 0 0 99 0
0 0 660500 1391 0 0 0 0 0 0 451 3080 878 1 7 87 5

[RS1:/]:> svmon -G
size inuse free pin virtual
memory 524277 523679 598 94136 660625
pg space 638976 501127

work pers clnt lpage
pin 93967 201 0 0
in use 514233 3776 5670 0

As a result, I am gonna recommend to add more memory RAM to 4 GB. (what do
you think)

Questions:
1. Do I really need to add RAM to resolve this issue or I can get around it?
2. if I want to order memory Do I need to upgrade any firmware, reconfigure
the box ..or anything else?
3. How much will cost me the 2GB RAM, I need to care about the model of the
memory


Thanks

AVM from your vmstat output

660500*4096=2705408000
2705408000/1024/1024=2580MB

You only have 2GB, this means that you have more AVM than memory and
yes you will be paging out to paging space. This is ok, but
performance will suffer as disk latency at best is 10,000 times slower
than memory latency.

You need to buy some more memory for you current work load, or reduce
the size of your SGA.

HTH
Mark Taylor