Re: Informix vs. Sybase vs. Oracle vs. (gasp) MS SQL Server

In article <5j09ci$14g_at_mew.corp.sgi.com>, Pablo Sanchez <pablo_at_sgi.com> wrote:
>
>In article <3353A408.F9C85873_at_strengur.is>, Snorri Bergmann <snorri_at_strengur.is> writes:
>> > Sybase 11.0.X Informix 7.22
>> > ------------- -------------
>> > o ~2 gig max for data cache o 1 gig max for data cache
>> >
>> > Drawback Informix. With a smaller data cache there's less data you
>> > can cache in memory.
>>
>> Can't see the problem here. On 32 bit systems max memory is usually
>> 2 gig so you won't be using it all for data cahce anyway.
>
>Correct, but you typically don't have 1 gig of
>data structures. Realistically you end up with
>about 1.7-ish gig for data cache. Quite a bit
>more than 1 gig.... therefore I still give
>Sybase the advantage here.
>
>> > o variable I/O read/writes: o based on platform, only 2/4K read/writes -
>> > 2/4/8/16K although on the log there are
>> > group writes
>> >
>> > Drawback Informix. I/O is *always* the bottleneck. Allowing 2/4K
>> > only is very limiting. Oracle does it even better... allowing up
>> > to 128K per I/O. Excellent for DSS and/or table scans.
>>
>> This is incorrect. Informix has a configurable parameter RA_PAGES that
>> you can set to whatever you like. If you set it to 100 it would
>> read 200K/IO for a system with 2K pages.
>
>Really? I thought that RA_PAGES was simply how
>many pages to read-ahead and that they'd still
>be performed as 2/4K I/O's. Suto's book isn't
>quite clear. Can you confirm this please?
>
>> > o command line interface: o no command line interface. You
>> > isql/sqsh have to use their gui. Ick!
>> >
>> > Minor drawback Informix. Personally, I hate having to use their
>> > GUI. It's cumbersome because it's ascii based so it's not even a
>> > GUI.
>> >
>>
>> What about dbaccess? I love it!
>
>Ick! :-)... this is *strictly*
>preference... Sybase has a tool called "isql"
>which...err... is pretty bad... but there's a PD
>tool named "sqsh" which has t-shell like
>interface. Extremely cool! I was planning, in
>my spare time! :-), to rip the API out of
>"sqsh" and replace it with Informix API... just
>a matter of time... and permission from the
>"sqsh" author.

Hey man...it says in the README for sqsh, that I'll port it in exchange for hardware. And you DO work for sgi... hmmm ideas are beginning to form. A dual processor R10k would do just find, I think :)

-scott

-- 
Scott C. Gray                 gray_at_voicenet.com     "my keybard is brken"
Sybase Professional Services  scott.gray_at_sybase.com
   http://www.voicenet.com/~gray/sqsh.html