RDBMS Feature Matrix (FAQ in the works !!!)

I thought it might be useful to maintain an On-Line feature comparison matrix of the various major RDBMS products as part of a comp.databases.* faq. It seems to be a repeated theme that people ask for such comparisons and I haven't seen a good one yet.

I've included a document below that should be a good start. Note it originally came from a company justifying an Oracle evaluation so it is certainly biased - this is why I ask you all to nominate additional features to the list, or if you see useless features you'd like removed.

I would appreciate it if those of you in the know would do three things.

1. Nominate additions to the list of features. I am sure I do not have every feature all of the products have listed that are important to we users. Also nominate deletions.
2. Let me know if there are other products you'd like to see here, and if you can fill out the matrix for them. I did not include rdb, Non-Stop SQL, Gupta, OS2 Database Manager and a few others that I can think of.
3. Please help me by filling in Y, N, or P (For Yes, No, or Partial) for the products listed below ONLY IF YOU ARE AN EXPERT AND ARE SURE YOUR INFORMATION IS UP TO DATE AND CORRECT !!! Please indicate specifically the Version of the product you are replying for. Please DO NOT send futures - IE production products only please. I hope the vendors will help me out by sending this information as well.

I will compile a summary with a completed matrix and periodically post.

• Dan

Daniel Druker
Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA                    

Disclaimer: None. I'm a student now and I don't care what you think.

Feature comparison Matrix:

Product

O = Oracle7 		Version 7.0
S = Sybase  		Version 4.9
A = Ask/Ingres 		Version 6.4
I = Informix On-Line	Version 5.1
B = Borland Interbase 	Version ??
D = DB2 Version	 	??

Product						O S A I B D

1. Row Level Locking Y
2. No Lock Escalation Y
3. No Read Locks Y
4. Multi Server Architecture Y
5. Symmetric Multi-Processor Support Y
6. Support for Loosely Coupled Systems Y
7. Array Interface Y
8. Shared Commits Y
9. Asynchronous I/O Y
10. Shared Log Files Y
11. Non-Blocking Queries Y
12. Clustered Tables and Indexes Y
13. ANSI Standard Cursor Support Y
14. Sequence Generator Y
15. Intelligent Optimizer Y
16. Network Optimization Y
17. Cost Based Optimizer Y
18. Stored Procedures in Database Y
19. Shared Procedure Cache Y

II.INTEGRITY O S A I B D

20. Adherence to Industry Standards		Y
21. Business Rules Logic			Y
22. Database Defined Integrity 			Y
23. Declarative Integrity Model			Y
24. Adaptable Datatypes				Y
25. Null Support				Y
26. Shared Procedures in applications 		Y
27. Database Triggers				Y
28. Before and After Triggers			Y
29. Per Row Triggers 				Y
30. Stored Procedures 				Y
31. Automatic Procedure Recompilation		Y
32. User Defined Datatypes			N
33. Event Alerters				Y
34. Database Pipes				Y


III. DATABASE					O S A I B D
=============			
35. Portable					Y
36. Automatic Database Recovery 		Y
37. Multiplexed Log Files 			Y
38. Mirrored Databases				Y
39. Dynamic Database Backup			Y
40. Dynamic Log Backup 				Y
41. Database Task Control 			Y
42. On-Line Software Diagnostics		Y
43. Hot Standby Server				Y
44. Full Cluster Utilization			Y
45. On Line Recovery				Y
46. Multiple Log Files				Y
47. Resource Limiter/Governor			Y
48. DBA Utilities 				Y
49. Database Auditing 				Y
50. Standard (Model) Database			Y
51. Standard Database Tuning Parameters		Y

IV.DISTRIBUTED RDBMS				O S A I B D
======================
52. Distributed Join				Y
53. Heterogeneous Data Support 			Y
54. Table Replication 				Y
55. Connections to other Databases		Y
56. Transparent Two Phase Commit		Y
57. Two Phase Commit to Heterogeneous RDBMS	Y 
58. Movable TPC Coordinator 			Y
59. Remote Procedure Calls			Y
60. Procedural Gateway				Y
61. SQL Based Gateway				Y
62. XA Compliant				Y
63. TP Monitor Support				Y
64. Distributed Optimization			Y
65. Multi-Protocol Routing			Y
66. ODBC Support				?
67. SQL Access Group Support			?


V. DATABASE SECURITY				O S A I B D
======================
68. OS Security Integration 			Y
69. Database Auditing 				Y
70. User Group Permissions			Y
71. Roles 					Y
72. Mandatory Access Control 			Y
73. Undergoing for Evaluation by NCSC		Y
74. Standard Tools with	Trusted Product		Y	
75. Non-Dedicated Server			Y


VI.LANGUAGES & TOOLS				O S A I B D
======================
76. SQL Procedural Language 			Y
77. Text/Image Datatypes			Y
78. Visual Query Language 			Y
79. Union Operator				Y
80. NIST Verified Conformance to Standards	Y
81. Select for Update 				Y
82. CASE Tools - Upper and Lower		Y
83. Graphics Tools				Y
84. Mail Systems Integration			Y
85. Office Automation Tools 			Y
86. Bit-Mapped Graphics 			Y
87. GUI Transparency Portability		Y
88. Portability of Tools			Y
89. National Language Support 			Y
90. Integration of Tools			Y
91. Precompiler Support 			Y
92. Bind Variable Support 			Y
93. SQL Generator/Editor 			Y
94. Application Generator 			Y
95. Financial Applications			Y
96. Manufacturing Applications			Y