John Pettigrew wrote:
In a previous message, Hans Forbrich wrote:
John Pettigrew wrote:
I need to move the database I use to run my business to linux soon and am starting to look at the options.
You gloss over a few parameters in your discussion, especially about which back-end database, and whether you intend to stay open source on this.
True - largely because I don't care :-)
But it does make a difference in the answer.
I'm more interested in whether it does what I need than whether it's MySQL, postgreSQL, Oracle or whatever. My only other preference is that it be free or cheap, but I'm not averse to paying a reasonable amount (reasonable, that is, for a single-user licence - not a developer licence).
Reasonable varies a lot in definition. a) Database ...... However, Oracle does have a special database license called 'Oracle9i Personal'. This is a full version of Oracle, 100% compatible with the Standard and Enterprise versions - designed for developers but permitting single user deployment. One nice thing is the built in analytics that tend to save huge amounts of time coding stuff like period-over-period comparisons, etc. The built in document indexing and keyword search capability is very useful as well - seen many developer duplicate that at an enormous cost because they didn't realize it's there. Finally the built in data-versioning capability (called Workspace Management) has some interesting uses, especially in what-if scenarios. For me the price is reasonable, so I own a copy, and I pay the annual support - putting that monkey on some else's back and giving me 'free' updates, patches, calls into support for any assistance (including SuSE Linux - SLES8) at any time at no additional charge. That said - if you really want only a SQL-based data store, the others you mention are great as well. b) Reporting, access & tools (following valid if you decide to go Oracle database) ... With an Oracle database decision you have a lot of flexibility in tools - 3rd party, open source and Oracle supplied. Oracle supplied: Oracle9i Application Server is a very complete set of middle tier products - somewhat resource intensive (understatement) and seemingly relatively expensive until you really look at what you get - web cache, reporting tools, adhoc query, full java/J2EE environment, portal, workflow, messaging and queueing, integration, single sign on, LDAP, etc. ad nauseum. Likely (definitely?) overkill for a one man shop, but often overlooked because of the assumption that Oracle is expensive. I've watched with considerable chagrin as I've seen people get all the components individually and then try to wire them together. The maintenance and wiring is the 'hidden' cost of Open Source (which I firmly believe in and support). Depends entirely on what your time & the experience is worth to you and your company.