Re: Oracle vs. Informix

Regarding the page level locking -- yes, the number is a lot less (and that means not only space in RAM but time as well). To us it is very important because we update/insert at about 3-4K records a second. And it is not only the locks on data but on indices as well, so if you lock a page that contains N rows and you have 3 indices on the that table, you probably saved 3xN locks.

Regards,
Vladislav

Vincent GRENET <vincent.grenet_at_free.fr> wrote in message news:63ku3.47$on.286799_at_nnrp3.proxad.net...
> Though I am not a DB guru, here is my opinion as a developper (and a
little
> administration).
>
> a) Yes, it is easier with Informix to have many databases in the same
> server; although you can store unrelated tables in the same Oracle
database,
> if the needs for tuning (db_block_size...) are not different. You backup
> tablespaces independently.
>
> b) Tuning is as hard with Informix as it is with Oracle. You just have
less
> documentation to read. Paralellizing queries is possible in Oracle with
> Parallel Query Option (PQO).
>
> c) Why lock an entire page when you can lock a single row? Ok, the number
of
> locks can grow significantly. Just add RAM.
>
> d) Oracle is more friendly with the developper. The C precompiler is way
> smarter (you don't have to declare sql variables in special blocks).
PL/SQL
> is more powerfull than Informix procedural (?) SQL.
>
> e) regarding performance, I really don't know; some people say Informix is
> faster, others say Oracle is faster. I didn't have a way to make my
> personnal opinion (yet; I actually am relatively new to Oracle). The only
> feeling that is shared among all the people I know how had a chance to use
> both is that Informix is more friendly to the dba.
>
> Vincent.
>
> Vladik <reason_at_shadow.net> a écrit dans le message :
> rra2fmo9krl84_at_corp.supernews.com...
> > I think that Informix architecture is more elegant, more thought of,
> > more like well-designed from ground up compared to Oracle.
> > But this is just my personal view. And I am just starting to understand
> > more about Oracle -- most of my experience in db tuning/troubleshooting
> > was with Informix.
> >
> > a) I think Informix is a lot easier to maintain especially for
> organizations
> > where people use many Database instances (like development shops).
> > It is a lot lighter on resources. For example if I have 10
databases --
> > I do not need 10 separate database instances with their own data files,
> > index files, temp files -- I rather allocate those spaces for a
> > database server -- and all the databases on that database server
> > can use the same db space same index same rollback. The same
> > goes about memory allocation.
> > So if out of those 10 databases only 4 are used actively, the
space/memory
> > resource is not wasted by the database server -- it is just being used
as
> > needed.
> > In oracle, as I understand, if the other 6 databases are not used
> actively,
> > no one can use their data file space or index space, etc. So a DBA has
> > to constantly be figuring out what DBs are not used and reduce the
> resource
> > allocation for them.
> > We had to purchase more servers when we migrated from Informix to
Oracle,
> > just because Oracle asked for a lot more when it comes down to
maintaining
> > multiple databases (we have about 30 to 50).
> >
> > b) If you just look at the number of configuration switches for
> Performance
> > tuning -- Informix has a lot less. But the concepts behind those
switches
> > are very powerful, that is why I think that Informix is architecturally
> more
> > elegant and well thought off. For example, one of the most important
> > things for OLTP applications is to be able to distribute the
> databaseaccess
> > across as many CPUs as possible and as many disk spindles as possible
> > to achieve concurrency on the database server side. Well, Informix has
> > an notion of Virtual CPUs and Virtual IO CPUs . You can attach (ping)
> > a virtual CPU to a physical CPU of your DB server, and depending
> > on I/O requirements you can configure number of I/O CPus.
> > This virtual CPU concept allows (again in my view) to easier monitor
> > performance of the server, and figure out load balancing issues
> > (you can see what each virtual CPU is doing).
> > Oracle on the other hand, has myriad switches per DB instance, per
server,
> > etc.
> >
> > d) Informix supports page locking, row locking, table locking concepts
> > on per table level. It also supports the ability for locks to timeout
in
> > a given interval -- and this is configurable per each individual
database
> > connection! For our OLTP application it was very important as we,
> > from the application, could identify what transaction take longer then
> > needed because of lock waiting and do something about it.
> >
> > e) As far as stored procedures go -- I do not understand what
> > you mean by one line at a time. Stored procedures are compiled
> > by the database engine and cached the first time they are executed.
> > And never recompiled again (until you explicitly ask for it). They are
> > fast. In fact, once they are executed the first time -- you will not
> > see the stored procedure text anymore in your SQL EXPLAIN --
> > that is because Informix optimizer knows they are compiled
> > and just calls the stored proc in binary form.
> >
> > d) even earlier version of Informix supported table partitioning
> > and by now all the bugs are hopefully out of the system (I understand
> > that table partitioning support has been available in Oracle 8).
> >
> >
> > Oracle has more books written about it, I guess, a lot better marketing,
> > and has more money to spend in investing in interesting technologies
like
> > XML. Also, they now have a few former Informix folks working for them.
> >
> > Vladislav,
> > Just my biased opinions.
> >
> >
> > Chris Moehring <chris.moehring_at_txucom.com> wrote in message
> > news:37B42612.292BB35B_at_txucom.com...
> > > I am considering purchasing Informix's IDS rather than Oracle's 8.
> > >
> > > I have heard that
> > > 1) Informix was faster than Oracle but much harder to maintain.
> > > 2) Harder to get support for Informix. People don't want to mess with
> > > it.
> > > 3) Stored procedures have to be done one line at a time with
> > > Informix....very
> > > time consuming.
> > >
> > > I am please with the speed but the last thing that we need right now
is
> > > server/software taking up our time to maintain.
> > >
> > > Can anyone address the validity of these statements?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Chris
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
Received on Wed Aug 18 1999 - 19:26:19 CDT