Re: Best Oracle Platform??

Peter Mayne wrote:
>
> This works for Windows NT as well. You can start on a 486 and go up to
> an AlphaServer 8400 with 12 CPUs and 28GB of memory.
>

I'll give you that one. I confess I was thinking strictly Intel here.

> How many vendors make versions of HP-UX, or AIX, or Digital UNIX? You
> can count them on your nose as well.

That's not the point. HP-UX 10.x and Solaris 2.x are both Unix System V release 4 and if I write my code correctly (C, C++, shell, perl, awk, whatever)
then I can very easily port from a HP to a Sun (and have done it). I don't
think the port from NT to any other operating system would be that easy. Not
that it couldn't be done, just that it would involve significantly more effort.

>
> Which tools are you talking about here? An Oracle backup tool is an
> Oracle backup tool, no matter which operating system you're running on.
> If you consider tar, dump, dd, etc advanced, I'd be worried.
>

Sorry - I didn't mean THE oracle backup tool. I meant something like Alexandria
or OpenVision or any of the other 3rd party integrated backup solutions that
are available for Unix. These tools were basically developed for Unix environments
because NT wasn't there yet. Now that NT is gaining acceptance, most of these
will be available for NT (some already are) so this really won't be an issue
going forward. And yes, I would also be worried if someone thought tar was
an advanced backup tool.

>
> Would anyone in their right minds use a 6 year old PC for a serious
> database application? Do you have figures to show that a particular
> version of UNIX/DBMS is updated more or less frequently than Windows
> NT/DBMS?
>

That's exactly the point - you would never be able to keep a PC 6 years without doing a forklift upgrade. But Unix servers often last that long and longer without upgrades. Of course that is offset by the higher initial
cost. It's still really a preference thing unless you need a really big SMTP
box.

> > This is not to say NT won't work well in some instances, just
> > that Unix offers more flexibility.
>
> Maybe, maybe not.

Maybe yes. It definitely offers more flexibility, but everybody doesn't necessarily
NEED that much flexibility. You also have to pay for the flexibility. So like I
said, either one will do, depending on your particular situation.

-- 
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Allen Kirby			AT&T ITS Production Services
akirby_at_att.com			Alpharetta, GA.