Re: Oracle vs. Informix debate

       There was a bias in the bench marking of the DBMS's. Tuning the
       DBMS's make all the difference. Just imagine if the oracle
       RDBM's would have been running with all the wrong parameters in
       the init file. Also the DBMS's should be run under identical
       conditions. In your case the Informix and DB2 databases got the
       attention of the best tuners and the oracle database might just
       have been tuned wrongly. I have been working with oracle for
       the past 3 years and Oracle can really carry out the job of
       making a highly available, fast database. How ever I have found
       that some other DBMS's which are faster have serious
       disadvantages when it comes to support, manageability and other
       factors which make all the difference when it comes to a prod
       environment.
       So carry out the bench marking without bias and also consider
       factors which might seem insignificant at first like support.
       Rajiv



       From: ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com AT INTERNET on 08/04/2000 02:29 PM
             CDT

       To:   ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com AT INTERNET_at_CCMAIL
       cc:    (bcc: Rajiv Gangadharan/IN/ALLTELCORP)

       Subject:  Oracle vs. Informix debate


       Hi everyone,

           Recently I changed jobs and was hired on as an Oracle DBA
       in Denver, CO.
       About a month before I started, a big debate started about
       which DBMS to run


       (since their Oracle contract was almost up for renewal).  Some

       managers were
       questioning why some of the databases were so slow (and want to
       migrate some
       databases away from Ingres also), so they decided to hold a
       test.
           They decided to benchmark Oracle, Infromix, and DB2 against
       each other.
       The results turned out that Informix was roughly 10 times
       faster than
       Oracle, and DB2 was only somewhat faster than Oracle.  Here's
       the catch
       though, both IBM and Informix sent guys out to tune their
       databases.  The
       Oracle database was only tuned in-house.  (Since this test took
       place before
       I got here, I had no hand in this).  Anyway, it looks like
       management may be
       leaning towards Informix,  especially after 4 salesman from
       Informix came
       here and gave a great marketing speech that any manager would
       love!
           Any suggestions on papers to read on comparisons, opinions,
       etc.  Is
       Informix really that much faster?  What about 3rd party tools?
       It seems to
       me that most tools are written with Oracle in mind, not
       Informix.  And how
       about company stability?  It makes me a little nervous to
       convert to
       Informix after watching the stock price of Informix plunge over
       the past
       several months down to nearly $4 a share!  Plus, they just
       hired an ORACLE
       DBA, not an Informix DBA!!!!!  (Which makes me wonder if I'll
       be employed in
       a few months...) Any other valid points in this argument /
       debate?

       Thanks,

       Alan

       Alan Aschenbrenner
       Oracle DBA
       IHS Group
       alan.aschenbrenner_at_ihs.com
       --
       Author:
         INET: alan.aschenbrenner_at_ihs.com

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