On Wednesday 09 October 2002 7:11 am, CYWare wrote:

> You should also consider Firebird.  It runs natively on both Windows and
> Unix and has all the features you are looking for.  Anyway, all responses
> below refer to PosgreSQL and Firebird only.  I don't know enough about
> MYSQL since we don't use it.

I've heard a lot of good things and positive feedback about Firebird. Is 
Firebird GPL?

> ANSI SQL is used for both databases which is simple enough.

Glad to know that. IIRC, GUI clients developed in Progress supports ANSI 
SQL-92 also, so it's safe to assume both client and server will understand 
each other.

> I've seen it rapidly grow to gigabytes without any problems, however, the
> expectation of "deploy-once-then-forget" is a bit unrealistic.  I've worked
> with Progress on a VAX VMS for a few years and it required
> maintenance/tuning and was actually a pain in the xxxx to work with.

Yup. Progress on a VAX VMS is a pain in the arse. But they virtually nuked the 
bugs with versions 7.1 on Windows NT 4.0. Progress database server on NT is 
very stable and very fast. I can connect 150 simultaneous clients on a single 
database server on the flimsy Proliant hardware that I previously mentioned, 
and the database server will not crumble under the load (12hrs. a day / 363 
days a year). And all queries are snappy as though our 100mbps network runs 
on fiber-optic hardware. I have never done extensive retuning with the 
database on the NT4.0 due to its good defaults. The database was really 
plug-play-forget.

I hope performance on PostgreSQL and Firebird will be comparable and even 
better.

> Not quite sure about the internals, but I haven't experienced any
> corruption from either database even with all the brownouts we experience
> here in the Philippines.

Glad to hear that. Power is unstable in our area, and line-condition 
fluctuates wildly. Our CIO purchased UPSes for the counters, but these were 
cheap Taiwan-made Sunstar UPSes. The UPS provides backup power for only 2 
minutes, and will mysteriously shutdown and restart on a power outage, 
causing the counters to shutdown and reset as well. We've replaced these 
cheap UPSes with TrippLite and they've been running perfectly.

The ability to program transaction rollback is a very useful feature. I simply 
have to restart the failed application and the program will restore the 
database to its uncorrupted state, as well as verify uncommitted transactions 
in the before-imaging file. I find the database's before-imaging a lifesaver.

I'm optimistic I can find similar transaction-integrity routines in PostgreSQL 
and Firebird.

Thanks for all the info.

-- 
mikol

"There is no concept more closer to intellectual emancipation than free 
software. Freedom to responsibly code and share in its most free and pure 
form."                          -- Floyd Robinson,  September 24, 2002


_
Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph
To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Fully Searchable Archives With Friendly Web Interface at http://marc.free.net.ph

To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Reply via email to