Re: SQL server Vs Oracle

Ling,

I think you get a reasonably representative response in the thread! <g>. I hope you posted it in an Oracle news group as well - for balance.

I work with both (although my origins are Orace and I have to confess to a bias that way - well, each to his or her own). I _do_ think that Oracle is more "industry strength" than SQL server - but, if you do not need that level of strength, then SQL Server is an adequate tool.

My two-penn'th is: whatever you do, involve a DBA (who understands things like file placement, indexing, space alocation, backups) from the outset. To some extent I would argue: chose the product for which you have people with proven experience - and if you don't have such people for either then either get them or work harder at making Access satisfy your needs!

Microsoft would like you to believe that you can run SQL Server 7 straight from the box. (In fact, they tried to make us believe we could do that with 6.5). v7 _is_ better, but you will still need to work at making the thing work well if it is at all complex or large.

Note, despite some comments, I don't believe either Oracle or SQL Server will perform optimally with an Access front-end unless you think carefully about how you're using the back end - and do a bit of re-engineering. (Neither company spent research effort on stored procedures for nothing.) Also, if your application is OLTP, then be careful about MS's love affair with Clustered Indexes.

I find SQL's T-SQL a bit clunkier than PL/SQL - although I accept that it might be a bit easier to learn for VB programmers than Oracle's PL/SQL. Note the comments about "standard" SQL: one of the conclusions we came to in comparing the two was that there are a number of features in SQL Server that make porting difficult, should you need to grow it into Oracle (or, indeed, UDB/DB2).

I guess one other comment: are there other parts of your organisation using one or other already? The company I'm working (population measured in 1000s) for at the moment has embarked on two fairly important projects based on SQL Server but has _no_ expertise in this area (which is okay for me!) - but they have several teams of Oracle DBAs and developers.

I hope some of this helps towards your decision.

Len

>Hi all,
>Our project team is looking into upsizing a VB/Access database to either MS
>SQL Server/ Oracle on NT. We don't know what their main differences are and
>which one we should use. Any information regarding this subject or any
>recommendation will be very appreciated.
>
>Thanks in advance
>
>Ling
>
>
Received on Sat May 08 1999 - 08:37:56 CDT