Re: Which Database (MySQL, Oracle, mSQL, Protgress etc.)

[Thomas Wenrich <wet_at_timeware.co.at>]
|
| > the Oracle web server is a joke. I would never use it for any serious
| > application and I don't know any professional who would. it is *BAD*.
|
| Can you tell more about this ? Does it crash ? Performance problems ?

first we tried the server without any cartridges. I wrote a program to measure response times under various load-patterns and the server handled light loads gracefully, but the performance dropped through the floor when I gave it loads equivalent to that of an Apacheinstallation  I maintain.
then when we wrote a cartridge for it things really got bad. the server gave us response-times that were worse than most servers using CGI and after a few thousand requests the entire server would freeze up and we'd have to shut it down and take it up again. After Oracle sent us a newer version the cartridge-performace got a bit better, but it was still not the performace I'm used to under Apache.

| My company wants to use it in the near future...

I feel sorry for you.  

| > | - Solid gives you an almost naked database (I remember the five-line
| > | select to get the names of all indexes from the database),
 

| > then create those views yourself. (mental note: perhaps I should put
| > my views on a web-page somewhere)
|
| WHERE ? Perhaps this should be somewhere on Solid's tech support
| pages.

I haven't put them on the web yet.

| > I'm not sure what you are referring to, but if we're talking
| > maintainance you're in for a ride with Oracle. call your wife and ask
| > her to tell the kids daddy said hello and that he'll be around for
| > their graduation some time.
|
| This depends largely on experience and knowledge about Oracle's
| concepts. IMHO a well-designed Oracle DB (but you need LOT of
| experience and knowledge to design this) will not require much
| maintainance.

I was talking about the server itself. the DBA doesn't usually concern himself with designing applications -- he is in charge of the well-being of the database, sometimes lending a hand when databases are being designed. if your database needs are advanced enough to mandate a DBA, chances are that your Oracle-database is a busy place in constant flux. if your database needs are less advanced, programmers will have to attempt to tame the beast that Oracle is.

in any case, Oracle needs a lot of work and thus costs a lot of money. if people tell you otherwise I am tempted to believe that they either don't know what they are talking about or they're selling something.

-Bjørn

-- 
 Bjørn Borud <borud_at_guardian.no>       | "The Net interprets censorship 
 <URL:http://www.pvv.unit.no/~borud/>  | as damage and routes around it."
 UNIX person, one of "them"            |         - John Gilmore