Re: Informix vs. Sybase vs. Oracle vs. (gasp) MS SQL Server

Pablo Sanchez wrote: > In article <3351f3b1.8299223@gate.idg.no>, Nils.Myklebust@idg.no writes: > > ichudov@algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home) wrote: > > > > :I have been asked to do a comparison of captioned database engines, > > :to choose a database server for a medium size database (less than 2GB, > > :about 60-100 tables). > > > > I can do a *moderate* comparison between Informix and Sybase (32 bit > port): > > Sybase 11.0.X Informix 7.22 > ------------- ------------- > o ~2 gig max for data cache o 1 gig max for data cache > > Drawback Informix. With a smaller data cache there's less data you > can cache in memory. I know of no such general limitation on the size of the buffer pool, except for HP platforms where some limitations existed for 7.1x OnLine on HP-UX 10.01 and possibly HP-UX 10.10. Which platform are you discussing? > o variable I/O read/writes: o based on platform, only 2/4K read/writes - > 2/4/8/16K although on the log there are > group writes > Drawback Informix. I/O is *always* the bottleneck. Allowing 2/4K > only is very limiting. Oracle does it even better... allowing up > to 128K per I/O. Excellent for DSS and/or table scans. Having tuned over five production systems in the last year, I can comfortably say that I/O is _not always_ the bottleneck, although it could be. There are several mechanisms by which Informix increases I/O performance: read aheads, big buffer reads and writes, and light scans on PDQ queries are a few. > o private log cache manipulation o internal group commits, no management > allowed by the dba > Drawback Informix. By allowing the DBA to micro-manage the RDBMS > you can tune for high performance. The log is always the > bottleneck and allowing more "knobs" is excellent. I believe you're talking about the equivalent of logical log buffer flushing here. There is enough control afforded the DBA in this area. Most customers are not interested in turning knobs which afford only incremental increases in performance (like log buffer flushing). Or, I could be misunderstanding your statement. BTW, I thought I/O was _always_ the bottleneck :)? > o table partitioning is limited o heavy support for table > fragmentation > Drawback Sybase. Informix has excellent "logical" striping. You > can fragment (stripe) your table based on key values or > round-robin. Very nice! This is being somewhat nitpicky, but fragmentation is not striping unless the underlying structure (ie. a logical volume) is striped. > o command line interface: o no command line interface. You > isql/sqsh have to use their gui. Ick! > Minor drawback Informix. Personally, I hate having to use their > GUI. It's cumbersome because it's ascii based so it's not even a > GUI. I hate having to use the dbaccess "GUI" as well. So I use the command line: dbaccess <database> - will start a command line session without a problem. Also in shell scripts, you can use here-documents to redirect stdin to the dbaccess executable. In fact, I don't navigate the menu system very well because I don't ever use it. > > Overall: > ======== > Due to the limitation of the data cache (max of 1 gig) and the lack > of variable I/O read/writes I'd pick Sybase over Informix as of this > writing (4.14.97). For a heavy DSS application I'd probably pick > Oracle but I don't know enough about Oracle to really say but with a > current max of 128K per I/O.... well... I think the limitation of which you speak doesn't exist, unless I am misunderstanding what it is. The variable I/O read/writes occur, just not the same way as Sybase. And well, then there's that pesky ease of use factor...:) > -- > Pablo Sanchez | wk: 415.933.3812| pg: 800.930.5635 -or- pablo_p@pager.sgi.com > --------------+-----------------+-------------------------------------------- > pablo@sgi.com ... when mailing me, place "not spam" in the Subject -- --- /////////////// Wes Gamble /////////// // Senior Consultant - ECS Strategic Applications /////// / /// Informix Software Inc. ////// // //// 1330 Post Oak Boulevard, Suite 2350 ///// // ///// Houston, Texas, 77056 //// // ////// /// // /////// Phone: 713 626 7282 Fax: 713 626 1252 // ////////// E-mail: wgamble@informix.com ////////////// WWW: http://www.informix.com