Re: performance issues

On Thu, 02 Jul 1998 14:39:00 -0400, "Art S. Kagel" <kagel@bloomberg.net> wrote: >Gijs Wuyts wrote: >> >> We're about to decideon / purchase a server + DB tool, and are looking >> to different combinations ( bundles like Compaq+NT+Oracle ). >> Oracle is one possibility, SQL server or Informix, we will be >> inserting several 100K's of records, and clients would all be >> IIS-alike webservers. >> On Hardware side we're looking at CPQ, DELL, .... >> Is there anyone that can tell me what I should be looking for, both >> Hardware and DB-software. Access to the DB can be achieved through >> ODBC, JDBC or prop. driver. >> Expandibility is also important ( adding another processor later ), >> but $$$ is of course also to be watched. > >Go with Informix and I'd recommend a small UNIX system using some >easily expanded architecture like Sun SPARK, NCR, or Data General. > >Art S. Kagel With as little data as this (several 100K's of records isn't much) I have to take issue a little with Art here. Any DELL or Compaq server will handle this with ease with a fairly large number of simultaneous users and at a significantly lower price - at least last time I checked. Of course if you are designing a web site that's going to get a significant number of hits in it's bussy periodes you may want a more powerfull machine like the ones Art mentions, but the dollar issue may become harder then. Informix runs very well on NT wich would possibly be the natural OS if you run IIS web servers. You can however also run Unix (SCO or Solaris) on these machines with the appropriate version of the Informix engine. This is an option even if you use IIS on NT. An advantage of NT is the current offer Informix has for NT developers. Check out: http://www.informix.com/informix/products/freent.htm Another big advantage of Informix is the Universal Data Option. This can give you significant advantages not only for web site design, but for general database design as well. Check out how it works and what it does. That's the way database engines will have to work in the future, just that Informix delivers now. If you want to be able to add more CPU's you do of course have to select the appropriate model server. Remember if you have a server that does nothing but run the database engine (the web servers and other processing is on other machines) you will not get much extra performance out of 1 extra CPU. You should prepare for an upgrade to at least 4. As the servers that can take only 1 or 2 CPU's are usually much cheaper it may be worthwhile to buy one of these first and upgrade to a completely new server later on if the need arrise. Small PC servers have become such a commodity these days that might even prove not to be all that much more expensive. Often you can use the old server for some other purpose, and possibly even save money in this way. For access drivers you would want to use the OpenLink ODBC and/or JDBC drivers. They give you top notch performance, easy administration and good security options. Although they cost a little they are much better than the "free" ones you can get from Informix. Actually they are better than most other drivers from other sources for any database engine. If ODBC access security is an issue you have few other options as far as I know. On the JDBC driver scene a lot of things are happening, so you might want to check other options as well. Generally you want to stay away from proprietary drivers. It used to be said a lot when ODBC first came out that these drivers (often very mistakenly called native drivers) where faster. Now ODBC drivers are generally as fast or faster than the proprietary ones from the database vendors. When it comes to JDBC the jury is still out on what types of drivers are the best ones. What is clear is that a JDBC/ODBC bridge driver isn't usefull for production purposes. For server side JDBC connections all the other types have advantages and disadvantages for different purposes. For client side JDBC (in an applet or application) the issues are different. You have to study this for your self. Here is a link to an article that can give you some insights although it also has it's quirks (ODBC administration doesn't need to be hard if you do it right and there are more issues to a type 3 driver and why you might want one than he mentions such as user and security administration, automatic execution of sql-statements on database connect and other issues): http://www.javareport.com/frompages/9806/9806_scottssolution.html Nils Myklebust NM Data AS Norway E-mail: Nils.Myklebust@nmdata.com FAQ at: http://www.iiug.org/techinfo/faq/faq_top.html (Now with ODBC info under "Third party products".)