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

From: Serge Rielau <srielau_at_ca.ibm.com>
Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2005 07:28:14 -0500
Message-ID: <38r2huF5qvvl8U1@individual.net>

DA Morgan wrote:
> Gert van der Kooij wrote:
...
>> You're mixing up things. As Serge and others always said the
>> Unix/Linux/Windows codebase is the same, only the lowest operating
>> system layer is different. I guess this is the same for Oracle. Also
>> there are some extenders which are not available on all operating
>> systems.
>>
>> Differences arise when talking about DB2/zOS and DB2/AS400, these are
>> both different codebases and have different administration tools,
>> tuning options etc.
>> The table name length difference is a difference between DB2/LUW and
>> the others, not between DB2/Windows and DB2/Linux or DB2/Aix etc.
>>
>> Kind regards, Gert

> 
> 
> No it isn't the same thing. It may well be true that the *NIX and
> Windows code bases are the same. 

Thank you, can we rely on you rememembering this next time around or are we trapped in the Seattle remake of "Groundhog Day" here?

> But the differences going to other
> code bases can be substantially the same as changing products as
> recoding and retesting may be required.

And when is the last time you have moved an Oracle zOS (or Oracle OS/400 ;-) ) system to Unix or Windows or vice versa? You are complaining about an imperfection in an area of DB2 that practically never happens on Oracle and rarely happens on DB2.

Fact is that it is a lot easier to apply DB2 zOS skills to DB2 for LUW than to Oracle on any platform. The same is true for porting apps. And that is what matters most to DB2 customers: Proximity.

You don't need a migration tool; no need to deal with different isolation levels, ANSI VARCHAR vs VARCHAR2 semantics, NUMBER vs INTEGER, CONNECT BY vs UNION ALL recursion, PL/SQL vs PSM, %TYPE vs DISTINCT TYPE, NEXT VALUE FOR vs .NEXTVAL, DUAL vs SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1, PREVIOUS VALUE FOR vs. .CURRVAL, ... SQLCODES (!).

The difference is there, no hiding it, but Oracle on zOS can be likened to an SUV built on a sedan chassis, while DB2 for zOS "does what other DB2's don't" (to borrow a line from Volkswagen). The DB2 for zOS marketshare of >90% clearly shows that that is what customers want way more than one codebase.

Cheers
Serge

-- 
Serge Rielau
DB2 SQL Compiler Development
IBM Toronto Lab

Received on Fri Mar 04 2005 - 06:28:14 CST