newsprompt.coKNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
From free and open source to the advent of scalable solutions, it can be hard just trying to navigate the world of database management software. Plus, going through a lengthy list of each solution and skimming through its pros and cons can be time-consuming.
Software is an important purchase, but you also have other IT demands. Time is of the essence and so is getting a proper software fit for your business.
Imagine how much money you may be throwing out the window if you make the wrong choice. Yikes. And then imagine having to once more spend precious time finding another solution. Double yikes.
Choosing The Right Database Management System
Databases should be chosen to match a company’s strategy.
Databases are the hidden workhorses of many organisations IT systems, holding critical business intelligence and carrying out hundreds of thousands of transactions each day.
In many ways, the database has become a commodity. Products differ on price, performance, ease of database administration and functionality.
There is a huge choice of database management systems (DBMS), which includes packaged and open source database suites. The main suppliers include Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM, Microsoft, NCR Teradata, Oracle, Progress, SAS Institute and Sybase.
The Big Three Relational DBMS Products
The relational landscape continues to be dominated by Oracle, IBM DB2 and Microsoft SQL Server. If you’re looking to acquire a new RDBMS, it makes sense to begin by reviewing these three market-leading products because there’s an abundance of experienced talent developing applications and administering databases using these RDBMSes. Furthermore, the technology is sound, each having been used for production systems for decades.
So which RDBMS makes the most sense for you? Well, that depends on a number of factors. If you’re a large organization with a mainframe and want to run your DBMS on that mainframe, IBM DB2 is the logical choice. Although you can run other DBMSes in a Linux partition on the mainframe, IBM is the market leader here. For Unix and Linux installations, your choices are Oracle and DB2. Oracle is the market leader on those platforms, though IBM has a solid presence there, too. For Windows development, all three are viable options, but Microsoft is the clear leader on its own OS.
All three of the leading DBMS products rate highly in terms of performance, application development capabilities, support, ease of use and functionality. Nevertheless, there are things that differentiate these three DBMSes.
Oracle
The overall market share leader is Oracle, with widespread adoption of its DBMS, the current version of which is Oracle Database 12c. Oracle supports a wide range of operating systems for its DBMS, including multiple versions of Windows and multiple Unix and Linux variations.
Given its installed base and wide platform support, the availability of skilled Oracle Database technicians and developers shouldn’t be a concern. Likewise, there are an abundance of tools for Oracle database administration, application development and data movement/management. If you’re looking for the market leader or want to ensure that skills and tooling won’t be an issue, then Oracle is a solid choice for your RDBMS.
In terms of functionality, Oracle keeps pace with many new and advanced features including JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) support, temporal capabilities and multi-tenancy. And Oracle Database In-Memory is a new Oracle Database option that uses in-memory columnar technology to enable enterprises to easily and transparently accelerate the performance of their business analytics.
In general, customers give Oracle good marks for performance and availability. Additionally, the company publishes the results of its own performance benchmarks. Although real-world performance data can vary greatly from lab benchmarks, vendor-provided benchmarks can be useful when viewed in conjunction with your requirements and performance benchmarks.
IBM DB2
DB2 is Oracle’s biggest competitor on Unix and Linux operating systems. In addition to these two platforms, DB2 is available on Windows, z/OS mainframe and iSeries midrange servers. The latest versions of DB2 are DB2 Version 10.5 for Linux, Unix, Windows (LUW), DB2 11 for z/OS and DB2 for i v7.2.
Skilled DB2 developers and DBAs are likely to be more difficult to hire than for Oracle, but experienced DB2 professionals aren’t scarce by any means. You will need to differentiate by platform, with mainframe DB2 for z/OS skills being different and somewhat more difficult to find than for DB2 for LUW. DB2 SQL is almost identical between the z/OS and LUW platforms, but administratively there are significant differences. Likewise, many development, data movement and DBA tools are available for DB2, both from IBM and other independent software vendors (ISVs).
In terms of functionality, DB2 is constantly revised and updated with market-leading features, including JSON support, temporal capabilities, shadow tables and advanced compression being among the recent advances. With the DB2 SQL compatibility feature, IBM delivers the ability to run Oracle applications in DB2 for LUW with no changes to business logic in the client code, triggers or stored procedures.
Feature-wise, it would be remiss not to mention IBM’s next-generation database technology for DB2 called BLU Acceleration. It provides a combination of in-memory performance techniques, compression capabilities and column store capabilities.
As is the case with Oracle, IBM regularly publishes benchmark results for DB2. As with any benchmark, it’s always advisable to perform your own performance benchmarks on your own systems.
Microsoft SQL Server
The last but certainly not least of the big three is Microsoft SQL Server, the current version of which is SQL Server 2014. Microsoft SQL Server runs on only Windows, but there are numerous Windows versions supported.
Skilled SQL Server developers and DBAs are plentiful. Likewise, there are many tools supporting development, data movement and database administration available for SQL Server, both from Microsoft and ISVs. SQL Server customers may be able to minimize their budget for tooling because SQL Server licenses come with Analysis Services, Integration Services and Reporting Services that provide functionality often requiring add-on tools for the other DBMSes covered here.
From a technology and functionality standpoint, Microsoft keeps abreast with the market. Features added to the latest version include in-memory capabilities for OLTP, enhanced in-memory column store, document store capability and hybrid scenarios enabled for Azure. With Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-integration vision for SQL Server is the strongest of the big three DBMS vendors, including simplified backup to Azure and the ability to set up an Azure virtual machine as an always-on secondary.
Microsoft boasts strong performance benchmark results for SQL Server 2014, including TPC-E, which measures modern OLTP workloads.
Other Commercial Relational Dbmses
Of course, there are other enterprise-level DBMSes available besides the big three. Some of the more popular ones include Teradata, SAP Sybase and Informix. All three DBMSes offer full-function, enterprise-quality capabilities but are best known within specific niches.
Teradata is known mostly for its analytics and data warehousing capabilities. For organizations looking to run analytical processes, the Teradata Database and the company’s Active Enterprise Data Warehouse offers a gateway to organizational knowledge based on advanced in-database analytics, intelligent in-memory processing, parallel in-database execution of scripting languages, native JSON support and transparent single query, multi-system processing.
Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE), now owned and marketed by SAP, was one of the pioneers in the relational DBMS marketplace. Once considered a strong competitor to the big three, ASE has lost market share over the years. SAP ASE is used predominantly in the financial market for its performance and scalability features.
Open Source Relational DBMS Products
There are several open source relational DBMS products worth considering. The primary benefit of an open source RDBMS is similar to the benefit of any open source software users are free to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. However, open source doesn’t mean completely free of charge at least, not usually for enterprise usage.
Two of the most popular are MySQL and PostgreSQL. MySQL is owned by Oracle, while PostgreSQL evolved from the University California-Berkeley Ingres project, which was one of the earliest relational database systems.
Although it is free to download, using an open source DBMS in an enterprise application requires vendor support, which comes at a price. Oracle offers support packages for MySQL, whereas EnterpriseDB offers a version of PostgreSQL with support.
