Re: DSA vs Online Workgroup

I think even Workgroup Server is part of Informix's DSA engines. As far as I have understood the Workgroup Servers difference from the traditional OnLine server is that Workgroup Servers do not support multiple CPU's at all. That is you can not set MULTIPROCESSOR to anything but 0 (may be it isn't even in the configuration file?). Otherwise everything is the same in the engine itself, connectivity and so on. New tools and other things from WorkGroup Server will probably be available for the full OnLine server (whatever they call it) as well. This sure makes a big difference and both products are still interesting for different customers/sites. I don't think a single processor versus a multi processor engine is an artificial differentiator. On the contrary it is a way for Informix to be able to follow the downgoing trend of software prices without loosing out at the high end and the fact that you can charge higher prices there. After some time (in a year or two perhaps) I think even the low end engines will have to support multiple CPU's, but that is another story. SE is definitely on it's way out, although it will surely be supported for a long time yet. batonnet@zeta.org.au (Bryan Tonnet) wrote: :I recently saw a brief demo of Online Workgroup. I was duly impressed, :but wondered at the future of both DSA and SE. From the questions I :asked, it seemed that Online Workgroup had all the DB Engine features of DSA :(in fact, we were told that essentially it *was* the DSA engine). :Given that, what possible reason is there for recommending (and :purchasing) DSA? Online Workgroup is priced below DSA and has an :apparently full feature set. In my mind, a new installation would have :great difficulty choosing DSA over Online Workgroup. A few reasons :that DSA might be considered; :1) Online Workgroup is not ported to Unix : - but will be soon, so that will go away in the short term. :2) Site still has terminal only access. This may be valid, but if we are :talking "new" installation, it's unlikely. :3) Existing applications using DSA (or SE). Again, there may be an :administrative plus to using the existing infrastructure, but :connectivity tools can minimise the risk and Online Workgroup could still be :a better alternative ($$$ could go either way in this instance.) :Not great arguments you'll agree. Informix has even tried to :differentiate the products by imposing the artificial constraint of a :ceiling on the hardware for Online Workgroup. This is the dual :(or was it quad) processor maximum on which Online Workgroup can be :installed. The "Intel only" part is just a matter of the initial port, but :the processor maximum is surely cosmetic. :Assuming there is no technical reason for the restriction, is it :Informix's way of squeezing the last breath from DSA (and certainly :SE) before other ports of Online Workgroup are available? :Should we all be putting our DSA/SE manuals on the bottom shelf of the :bookcase (the one where most of the collective dust is kept) and :enrolling in Online Workgroup courses? :No critism of Informix intended here, just an interesting (I think) point :of discussion. :Bryan Tonnet :batonnet@zeta.org.au Nils.Myklebust@idg.no <- New E-mail adress NM Data AS, P.O.Box 9090 Gronland, N-0133 Oslo, Norway My opinions are those of my company