Re: DB2 UDB or Oracle (who has better support)

NormaJean Sebastian via DBMonster.com wrote:

> I want to hear about the non-technical, the touchy-feely human side
of
> support. When I am stuck between a rock and a hard place, I want to
pick
> up the phone and get help, i don't want the run-around.

:) You are an optimist, aren't you? There is no human side of support anywhere, in these days of offshore-ing anything that even remotely smells of "work".

Having said that: I've used both IBM's and Oracle's support. The IBM folks have always been very willing to help, even though many times they didn't have a clue how to resolve the problem. The amount of doco available on their sites is very large, although poorly indexed: you have to go through a lot of searches before you narrow down to the really interesting bits. I'm used to their way of documenting now but it was a shock initially. AFAIK, they have nothing like Metalink.

Oracle's Metalink is as good as I've ever seen a site for support information. They make a lot of info available both there and via OTN, but they DO expect you to do some of the "dig" work. It's reasonably indexed and it is easy (for me) to find any info I need.

> Please enlighten me on the quality of oracle support, the frequency
of
> database patches needed, the frequency of maintenance outages (DBA
> housekeeping and what housekeeping items are needed).

Well, I'm suspect in this as I don't use support people that much: between Metalink and a fast download line, I can usually handle most of the problems. IME once you install the standard release, it pays to search for any patch releases (service packs in IBM parlance): apply the latest and be done with it. They come out at about same frequency as IBM ones, so not much of a separator there. The only instance where I had to get a special once-only patch in all the years I've been using Oracle, they got it fixed in less than 24 hours. Can't complain.

> I feel my bottom line decision will not be based on
features/functionality,
> but rather on quality of support.

I think you need to be prepared to do a lot on your own, whatever option you take. The time when support had a hand-holding role is long gone. You'll have to make do or pay a lot for the kind of touchy-feely stuff that was taken for granted 15 years ago.

Of course once you're into it, you tend to form a working relationship with the folks you hit on the other side. Once they know you and that you have done your research instead of "hitting them for the price of sugar", then they all become a lot more friendly. Goes for both makers, really.

Bottom line: there is not much separating the two. If I had to pick one, I'd go with Oracle. Mostly because I like Metalink, warts and all. Received on Wed Mar 02 2005 - 20:31:06 CST