Re: Should I use Oracle 8 or SQL Server 7 on the Library System?

In article <7c4foi$8lf_at_bobs.unbc.ca>,
  "Trevor Fuson" <fuson_at_unbc.ca> wrote:
> I am the systems administrator for a University library. I am looking into
> moving the library system to a real DBMS. Does anyone know of an existing
> library based Oracle solution?
>
> Current Problem: (Summary: Too Slow and Unreliable)
>
> 1. A query on the existing system takes 1 hour for every 400,000 records.
> (4/233Mhz)
> 2. The existing DBMS(Proprietary) has problems with corruption.
> 3. The existing DBMS will lock up when more than one person accesses a
> particular record. The database isn't really relational so each record has
> 400-500 fields. Making changes using some of the system tools means the
> entire database is locked.
> 4. Some information is not stored, simply because the DBMS cannot cope with
> the data. (Query Speeds)
>
> I would like to implement a new DBMS on an NT Server. Yes, an NT server,
> sorry, sorry, sorry.
> I don't know whether to go with SQL Server or Oracle. Any opinions welcome
> :)
>

This is an Oracle board so we may not be unbiased.

> I would like the following results in this order:
>
> 1. Easy Development. I am not an idiot, just that I am one person team and
> I need something that is quick and easy to work with.

There are many third party tools that work with Oracle. You can use Oracle's Developer product to generate screens (Forms) and reports (ReportWriter). There are several web, really browser based, tools that can be used to access Oracle.

>
> 2. Reliability. I don't want corrupted data. I want the users to be able
> to use the database without it always locking up or crashing. Daily lockups
> are currently common.

Lockups are a design issue, but Oracle handles concurrent access to the same tables and rows pretty well. Readers and writers of the same data row do not wait on each other as a general rule, but two updaters to the same row will require one to wait.

>
> 3. Performance. I want to be able to do queries on the fly that are
> currently run as reports. Some libraries using this system are having
> problems doing backups because the reports take so long to run, I don't want
> to run into those problems.

Oracle provides a lot of tunning options via hints to the cost based otimizer.
>

4. Web Access / Remote Access. I need to be able to do queries on the web, most will be simple, but some need to be secured. In the future the library will be in multiple locations, I need to be able to give regional access to the databases.

>
> 5. Costs. I need something that is cost effective, we are on a tight
> budget. Currently we spend 30,000 (Canadian) for yearly licensing related
> to the current solution. The new database needs to be less than that. One
> time expenditures can be flexible up to 100,000 Canadian.
>

I would think that after paying the initial fee that the licensing would run less than what you are paying now. I do not know what the initial cost would be, but in both cases you are going to have a learning curb and initial training costs.

> We have up to 30 concurrent users, with a growth of about 10% per year.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Trevor.
>
>

Mark D. Powell -- The only advice that counts is the advice that  you follow so follow your own advice --

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