Oracle White Papers: architecture compared to other RDBMS

Hi all,

Hope someone out here can help. I am looking for some white papers with regards to Oracles database architecture for comparing with other RDBMSs.

I need papers that highlight Oracle's strengths (and hopefully weaknesses too). For example, is it a single or multi-threaded architecture (I understand it is multi-threaded as queries can be parallel-processed).

As I understand it, there is the 10% rule in Oracle in that if the query retrieves more than 10% of records in the database, it will bypass any index and go straight to the tablespace to save having to search index > record > index > record etc.

I understand that unlike SQL Server which, after locking so many records within a table, raises the lock from row level to page/table level which may result in unnecessary locks on the records.

There are also other issues that I would be interested in reading about. I understand that Oracle uses something called shared-drive architecture whereas DB2 uses shared-nothing. Each has its merits and weaknesses. Can anyone point me in the direction of some white papers that explain all?

I appreciate any help (as I am not an Oracle Guru. :P).

Thx,

Kalten
p.s. Please send a reply to my email address. Received on Mon Oct 08 2001 - 16:44:32 CDT