Re: Changing from Informix to Oracle
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i am sure there are "Informixers" lurking around here somewhere. wouldn't =
it be prudent to find out who the customer is, and what the potential loss =
of income is to the company? then proactively determine what to do in =
order to keep the customer in-house. loss of customer =3D loss of market =
share. don't they teach this in business 101 (intro to business management)=
. i think being proactive is good, but hey thats just me...
-kudzi
>>> "Stephen F. Cawley" <sfcawley@interaccess.com> 07/20/00 07:01AM >>>
I would have to agree with the Clown.
I have significant experience with both Informix and Oracle, and neither =
is
'cheap.' What you may save in the initial licensing cost WILL be made up =
for in
other areas (services/consulting fees or training).
Larry did not get so rich by giving the product away. The same is true =
for Las
Vegas.
As to your current problem, you need to look at the basics (disk layout, =
server
configuration, etc.). Please remember that the crux of any database is =
I/O, and
you always need to be monitoring the system to ensure that you do not have =
any
bottlenecks. The only advantage Oracle would have in this situation is =
that you
would be looking at a fresh install and could do a better job optimizing =
your
hardware environment based on lessons learned. I would recommend that you =
do
this for your current Informix environment as it is relatively inexpensive =
and
the results could surprise you.
You might choose to post more detailed information about your current =
problem to
the newsgroup with the relevant onstat outputs (borrowed from a Clown =
post):
onstat -
onstat -c
onstat -m
onstat -p
onstat -P | tail -5
onstat -u | tail -2
onstat -R
onstat -F
onstat -d
onstat -D
onstat -g iov
onstat -g ath
onstat -g iof
sar 5 12.
SC
> From: Boscia <rwboscia@worldnet.att.net>
> >
> >I work at a large company with a corporate headquarters that tries to =
tell
> >us what to do....
> >
> >Well, we use Informix for all but one of our databases. We use Oracle =
for
> >the one.
> >
> >Corporate is suggesting that we switch all our databases to Oracle.
> >Corporate got some fantastic price deal and pays for it on the =
corporate
> >level and each individual location does not have to pay for any Oracle
> >software or support. We pay over $150K for our Informix apps at our
> >location only, so of course this looks good to some.
> >
> >Can anyone tell me if we go this route, how hard is it to convert?
> >And if you can give me any ammunition to use to convince why or why =
not...
> >
> >We have many & quite large databases now - with one of the tables =
having
> >over 115 million rows. Right now we are getting slow writes when we =
select
> >and write into temp tables and everyone is claiming Informix is =
causing
> >the
> >slowness and if we had Oracle, it would not do that.
> >(I feel Informix is causing the slowness & I am in the process of
> >"tweaking"
> >, but I don't know enough about Oracle to know how they do their select
> >statements and temp tables....or their disks or for that matter =
anything at
> >all.....)
>
> Well, it's generally quite a painful experience to migrate from anything =
to
> anything else. I have to grit my teeth as I say this, but I would =
generally
> not even advise Oracle-istas to migrate to Informix without some very =
good
> reasons. (My usual reasons when looking at a new database don't count.)
>
> Apart from that, though, I think it's complete twaddle to say Oracle =
would
> do one thing better than Informix, and therefore you should move. And I =
also
> think it's complete BS that Oracle doesn't have the same sort of =
problems as
> Informix. If it doesn't have Informix problem A, it will certainly have
> equally upsetting problem B. TANSTAAFL.
>
> Perhaps you could also point out the minor training costs and the amount =
of
> lost productivity during and in the months after the implementation. And =
the
> cost of recruiting Oracle DBAs. Perhaps it's not looking so cost =
effective
> any more?
>
> Have you considered getting a consultant in to look at your database? =
I'm
> not knocking you, but often you get so wrapped up in a problem, you =
can't
> see the wood for the trees.
>
> I do, anyway.
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
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<DIV>i am sure there are "Informixers" lurking around here somewhere. wouldn't
it be prudent to find out who the customer is, and what the potential loss of
income is to the company? then proactively determine what to do in order to keep
the customer in-house. loss of customer = loss of market share. don't they teach
this in business 101 (intro to business management). i think being proactive is
good, but hey thats just me...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>-kudzi<BR><BR>>>> "Stephen F. Cawley"
<sfcawley@interaccess.com> 07/20/00 07:01AM >>><BR>I would have
to agree with the Clown.<BR><BR>I have significant experience with both Informix
and Oracle, and neither is<BR>'cheap.' What you may save in the initial
licensing cost WILL be made up for in<BR>other areas (services/consulting fees
or training).<BR><BR>Larry did not get so rich by giving the product away.
The same is true for Las<BR>Vegas.<BR><BR>As to your current problem, you need
to look at the basics (disk layout, server<BR>configuration, etc.). Please
remember that the crux of any database is I/O, and<BR>you always need to be
monitoring the system to ensure that you do not have any<BR>bottlenecks.
The only advantage Oracle would have in this situation is that you<BR>would be
looking at a fresh install and could do a better job optimizing your<BR>hardware
environment based on lessons learned. I would recommend that you
do<BR>this for your current Informix environment as it is relatively inexpensive
and<BR>the results could surprise you.<BR><BR>You might choose to post more
detailed information about your current problem to<BR>the newsgroup with the
relevant onstat outputs (borrowed from a Clown post):<BR>onstat -<BR>onstat
-c<BR>onstat -m<BR>onstat -p<BR>onstat -P | tail -5<BR>onstat -u | tail
-2<BR>onstat -R<BR>onstat -F<BR>onstat -d<BR>onstat -D<BR>onstat -g
iov<BR>onstat -g ath<BR>onstat -g iof<BR>sar 5 12.<BR><BR>SC<BR><BR>> From:
Boscia <rwboscia@worldne