Re: Advice on Informix/Oracle switch

From: Willis Gregory <tacedi@series2000.com> > >We've been using Informix since 1986 and are VERY happy with it. > >Unfortunately, we've recently come under a new organization which has >mandated that we switch from our current HP/Informix environment to their >Sun/Oracle environment. We're NOT happy about it, but have no choice. > >Does anyone have experience with both Informix and Oracle who can answer >the following questions for me: > >1. What are the Oracle equivalents of the following Informix products >which we use? > > Informix SE Oracle 8i > Informix 4GL Querix or (SQL*Forms and SQL*Report) > Informix SQL SQL*Plus > Informix ESQL/C Pro*C >2. How stable is the corresponding Oracle database engine compared to >Informix? Depends on who you ask.. :-) There is no real comparison between SE and O8i. O8i is like Informix-Turbo with all sorts of bolt-ons. It's waaaaaaay more complex and therefore probably less stable. But unlike other people in the group, I found that once it was up (which could take weeks, for reasons I never quite worked out) it didn't fall over much. [And before Nikita and DNP start abusing me, I'd like to point out that every Oracle install I've been to was done by Oracle engineers.] >3. Does the corresponding Oracle database engine require more systems >administration? (SE administration is minimal, which is great for a 3 >person shop) Yep. You will require at least one fulltime, dedicated DBA. >4. We have been told there are tools which convert Informix code to >Oracle. Do they really work, or would we be better recoding everything >from scratch? All of our data entry software is written in 4GL, and our >communication software with remote systems is in ESQL/C. Your best bet would be to get Querix (querix.com? querix.co.uk?) for the 4GL stuff, which should be relatively painless if you can believe the sales people. :0) You will have some fun migrating ESQL/C to Pro*C, but it is doable. Oracle probably have a grammar for doing this. >5. What advice can you give us on training, etc. for this conversion >effort. A *huge* training budget. Oracle have a wonderful set of nicely integrated courses, and you have to do them all before you can do anything. :-) IIRC, you start with PL/SQL, which everybody has to know, and then go on into different streams from there. Don't skimp on the training, the implementation differences are massive, and you will have a lot to learn. ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com