OK Bryan - You say you're an OSS newbie. That's fine; we all were once.
Why Postgres? Personally, I virtually always use Postgres when I can, but there is another OSS database available (well, a bunch, but it often comes down to Postgres vs....): mySQL. Up front, let me say that I'm not a fan of mySQL. To me, mySQL = Access; Postgres = Oracle (roughly, in both cases). But there are time when you just need Access. Here's a quick hit list of the pros and cons of each (my opinions, but backed by experience and reading): POSTGRES Pros: - Robust, scalable - ACID compliant - ANSI 92 compliant; contains a plethora of functions that make life easier - Fast (used to be a dog; in v7.1 and up, much faster - see Tim Perdue's articles as www.phpbuilder.net) - Excellent security model - Many tuning options POSTGRES Cons: - More complex (including set up) - Lack of GUI tools (I have not found one I like yet; I do all my PSQL from the command line) - Overkill in some cases - Just like you would not install Oracle for "Bob's Pet Shoppe" Web site, Postgres is sometimes unnecessary - Not really cross-platform yet. Hopefully in 2004. MYSQL Pros: - Trivial set up - Fast, at least for selects (main Web Server use) - Cross platform; runs well on *NIX or Windows. Big plus - Some good GUI tools out there (I use SQLYog; which I like a lot) - It's improving rapidly - the cons outlined below may go away shortly MYSQL Cons: - You can outgrow it quickly (the locking mechanism is particularily troublesome; can take a real performance hit on high-traffic sites - Weird, proprietary SQL - No subselects (my biggest complaint) - No transactions! (with the innoDB extension you can get transactions, but that's not currently a native solution, I believe) Like the platform wars, a lot of folks take the mySQL vs. Postgres comparison as a war; I view them as two tools. Pick the best one, but be aware of the costs/benefits of each. RE: Cost, as in $$: Yep, both are free, with some businesses offering bundles for cost (as RedHat does with Linux etc). One other note: For clients that are going to have a NON-dedicated server: It's almost impossible to find hosting for Postgres. Everyone has mySQL; very few with Postgres, and it's usually a "managed business solution" that is expensive. It's the chicken and the egg thing: Everyone has mySQL, so it's cheap; few have Postgres and it's not cheap, so they don't run it... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm?link=t:4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm?link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting. http://www.cfhosting.com
