From: "Rich Mycroft" <rich.mycroft@synchrologic.com>
Subject: Re: MS SQL server VS Oracle
Date: 2000/07/07
Message-ID: <_yk95.6092$%J6.13363@newsfeed.slurp.net>
References: <3199c290.cab8096a@usw-ex0103-024.remarq.com> <39649DAC.5169@btinternet.com> <8k49rg$b8l$1@news.sovam.com>
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OK, my 2 cents - and this is probably a dangerous group to be mentioning
this in, but...

MS pricing is thick in my opinion - their major advantage was lower cost to
get going and generally lower cost to keep running.  Jacking up the price is
going to eliminate one of their major advantages.  SQL Server is in my
experience very stable -NT is another story!  (Prefer Linux myself.)  SQL
Server 7.0 is an extremely capable db system that I have personally managed
for 24x7 shops with no downtime due to SQL Server with tables with the afore
mentioned multiple millions of rows on pretty sizeable databases.  The
biggest problem I had in performance was related more to the db design
rather than to SQL Server.  (Why does anyone think that storing massively
wide rows is going to help performance?)  7.0 is quite a bit faster than
6.5x - we had Compaq 4 cpu boxes with raid 5 and were getting very
satisfactory results for a series of financial applications.

Oracle - really fail to see why this is the leading database other than the
power of their marketing - which I've met and dislike nearly as much as I
dislike MS marketing clowns.  It is a major pain to run with every shop
needing a very competent dba to keep the dang thing running.  The DBA/ADMIN
GUI tools are better than they were but are still well behind SQL Server, or
even Sybase ASE 12.0 .  Finally realized the only way to properly deal with
Oracle is to move back to sqlplus and svrmgrl - Oracle just doesn't quite
get the GUI thing.  I've got a dual cpu Dell with two SCSI controllers and
multiple disks and the Oracle GUI stuff, probably due to doing everything
through Java, are just plain slow.  But I'm pretty comfortable with the
command line anyway.  Oracle has a bazillion switches, some of which
conflict with other switches, most of which are difficult to get information
on.  For SQL Server I have one book (Inside SQL Server 7.) that has pretty
much everything I need to manage SQL Server very effectively.  For Oracle I
currently have 5 books on my desk and am forever bouncing between them to
figure out some of the most arcane problems.  Oracle is job security in the
extreme - but then that's why I took the current job that let's me get into
this and then up my salary.

In terms of performance on NT SQL Server seems to run just as well as
Oracle.  Oracle gets a boost here in my opinion by being available on UNIX
and the boxes you can get there.  (Sorry, but I really fail to see the need
for a server with a GUI.  Run several Linux boxes with no GUI - few with no
monitor and everything just cooks.)  Maybe if MS gets split SQL Server will
get ported to UNIX and then we'll see how it does on that platform.

Rich Mycroft
(DB Master - If they can have Web Masters then I can be a DB Master!)



"Dmitry Pugachev" <dev@ellink.ru> wrote in message
news:8k49rg$b8l$1@news.sovam.com...
> Hi,
>
> I think this message about new pricing just announced by Microsoft
> will be interesting:
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 05, 2000 7:11 AM
> > To: SQL 2000 Discussions
> > Subject: SQL 2000 Licensing
> >
> > Does this seem ridiculous to anyone else?  Our current cost for a dual
> > processor SQL box running Enterprise Edition, used exclusively for
> > connecting to web servers is approximately $14,000.  ($7000 - Enterprise
> > Edition, $3500 x 2 Internet connectors = $7000 more).
> >
> > Under the new licensing structure, our cost for the same box would /
 will
> > be $40,000.  This does not include the OS.
> >
> > Am I missing something??
> >
> > Check it out yourself:
> >  http://www.microsoft.com/directaccess/products/windowsdna/market.asp
> >
>
> Hth,
> Dmitry Pugachev, Oracle DBA
>
>
> David Pomphrey - DNP <High.Flight@btinternet.com> ñîîáùèë â íîâîñòÿõ
> ñëåäóþùåå:39649DAC.5169@btinternet.com...
> > Oracle (standard edition) can be cheaper than MS Sql Server.
> >
> > This is based on pure licence costs alone - never mind total cost of
> > ownership.
> >
> >
> > As regards MS Sql Server -  how many simultaneous transactions will the
> > DB need to support?  Oracle has better concurrency.
> >
> > If anyone starts mentioning TPC-C benchmarks (or similar) as a reason
> > for getting a product then that is your early-morning-wake-up call to
> > start looking for a better job with a better employer. Marketing has
> > clearly started to overrule careful consideration of the technology
> > whenever the debate gets to that stage.
> >
> > There is almost no worse way to pick a product than looking at
> > benchmarks alone.
> >
> >
> > 3 million ( 3,000,000) rows is nothing special in the enterprise
> > database arena. Oracle will chew through tens of hundereds of millions
> > of rows no problem.
> >
> > 3 billion ( 3,000,000,000 ) rows is a bit more unusual.
> >
> >
> >
> > Notwithstanding the above, it all comes down to choosing the best tool
> > for the job. Unfortunately the decision making process is often
> > influenced by a  mixture of hearsay, prejudice, inappropriate statistics
> > and supposition.
> >
> >
> > Caveat Emptor.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > David N. Pomphrey  OCP |DBA|  MCP |TCP/IP|  B.Tech.
> >
> > Glasgow, Scotland.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) :    http://www.ietf.org/
> >
> > 'Standards Track' RFCs :     ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/std/std1.txt
> >
> >
> > ======================================================================
>
>




