Re: Best Oracle Platform??

Steve Neal wrote:
>
> I need to implment a new Oracle database (order processing thru' GL)
> which will have about 80 concurrent users. The total Db size will be
> about 5Gb.
>
> My questions...
>
> What is the best platform: UNIX or NT?
>
> If NT, would an Intel system (dual Pentium Pro?) be sufficient or
> should I look to DEC Alpha?
>
> The clients will initially be Win3.x with migration to Win95/NT in the
> future.
>
> TIA
>
> Steve

Steve,

	You're going to get both opinions here.  Being a Unix bigot,
	I would have to recommend Unix, although either would probably
	work given enough hardware.  The Unix advantage is in the
	scalability of the hardware (ability to add processing power
	with just an upgrade) and in the tools provided with Unix.
	NT doesn't have tools like awk,sed,grep,ksh, etc. except through
	3rd party packages like MKS Toolkit.  You will find these
	utilities invaluable for doing administration and maintenance.
	You're also not locked into one vendor with Unix (Let's see,
	how many companies make versions of NT? You can count them on
	your nose!)   The tools for doing backup/recovery of
	the database as well as system recovery, remote administration,
	network administration are much more advanced and more widely
	available on Unix.  Unless you are already entrenched in NT
	with every other application, consider Unix.  You'll also have
	much fewer (sometimes none) hardware and operating system
	upgrades.  We have applications still running on 6 year old
	(and older) Unix machines.  How many six year old PCs are you
	using today?  I guess what I'm saying is that the initial cost
	is probably higher but the long-term cost can be the same or
	possibly lower.  

	This is not to say NT won't work well in some instances, just
	that Unix offers more flexibility.  The decision is yours,
	and neither one would be wrong.  

	Spoken like a true Unix bigot, eh? :-)

-- 
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Allen Kirby			AT&T ITS Production Services
akirby_at_att.com			Alpharetta, GA.