Re: Database Comparison Info

WARNING: Rabid personal opinions are contained in this post. From: "Craig Carpenter" <CrCarpenter@harland.net> > >Does anyone have a rather current comparison/evaluation checklist of the >various large scale databases (Oracle, Informix, UDB) that they wouldn't >mind sharing??? > >Any other relevant info to make a business decision on is greatly >appreciated..... I don't have a checklist, and if I did, you can be sure Informix would win it! :-) However, I will share some thoughts with you, if you're up for it. 1. Any database will do the job of database work. 2. They all have roughly the same features (with one important exception I'll get to later) albeit that they get implemented slightly differently. 3. They're all roughly as fast as each other, or near enough that it's unlikely to be a real issue in implementation. 4. A very important thing to consider is how good the support is, how comfortable you are in dealing with the vendor, and how much they want you on board and vice versa. This is a huge differentiator. Oracle are very keen to get you on board. Keeping you on board is only important in that they don't want to lose the revenue or market share. Some Oracle people can be very arrogant, it's an unfortunate consequence of success. (SAP people tend to be much, much worse! :-) I have, over the years, dealt with Oracle and Informix support. I've generally found Informix support to be overbearingly arrogant and rude (just kidding, Marco, put down that shotgun! :-) No, seriously, Informix support has never disappointed me (except when they've failed to miraculously recover something impossible caused by my stupidity), whereas Oracle's support was so bad that after two or three goes at entry-level stuff, I just didn't bother any more. I know a couple of chaps in IBM support and if they're anything to go by, you should be OK. I don't think I even need to talk about Microsoft "support", do I? 5. Architecturally, watch out for Oracle. It's ancient, and they rely on brute force and ignorance to get it to run. It's also quite a handful to administer and typically requires a lot more admin resource than Informix. SQL Server is probably the easiest to administer, but I think that's just because it does so little. :-) I believe that Informix has excellent, coherent design and great admin tools built in. Having belittled SQLServer, I must say that they have done a remarkable job in boosting the performance and capabilities of 7 over 6.5. It is a very good _database_ for its price. 6. The major functional difference between the databases is in their implementation of non-standard database functionality, and I will use the Informix term of extensibility to cover this. a) Oracle implement this via horrendous middleware ("Cartridges") and specific servers, so that it's not always possible to implement all their "extensibility" simultaneously. Also, Oracle don't see this as important, so it's elastic bands and sealing wax technology. I also don't know how easy it is to roll your own. Based on every other aspect of Oracle I've ever seen, I'd say it's probably a nightmare, but that's just a guess. b) DB/2 has some really good stuff, but it's all proprietary Big Blue, and TTBOMK, they don't even publish the APIs, so you can't roll your own. c) I don't think SQL Server does this at all, really. d) Informix really have got a good story to tell here. I'm a real rookie with this extensibility, but if you forget about "DataBlades" entirely, and just look at an environment where your database server becomes something else. Want a funny datatype? No problem, knock one up and stick it in the server. Want to wrap some C or Java business logic into the server? No problem. Want to embed some bizarre new function into your database? No problem. Normal application / business issues take on a whole new perspective when you can make the database server do what ever you want. You're not limited by what Informix gives you in your database server, you can make it do whatever you want. It's way beyond stored procedures or triggers. (I think its quite cool, if you hadn't noticed. :-) FWIW, HTH... ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com