Re: [PERFORM] Does PostgreSQL run with Oracle?

2004-10-21 Thread Jim C. Nasby
On Fri, Oct 15, 2004 at 10:19:48AM -0700, Steve Atkins wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 15, 2004 at 11:54:44AM -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > My basic question to the community is "is PostgreSQL approximately as fast
> > as Oracle?"
> 
> > I'm currently running single processor UltraSPARC workstations, and intend
> > to use Intel Arch laptops and Linux.  The application is a big turnkey
> > workstation app.  I know the hardware switch alone will enhance
> > performance, and may do so to the point where even a slower database will
> > still be adequate.
> 
> I have found that PostgreSQL seems to perform poorly on Solaris/SPARC
> (less so after recent improvements, but still...) compared to x86
> systems - more so than the delta between Oracle on the two platforms.
> Just a gut impression, but it might mean that comparing the two
> databases on SPARC may not be that useful comparison if you're
> planning to move to x86.
 
As a point of reference, an IBM hardware sales rep I worked with a few
years ago told me that he got a lot of sales from Oracle shops that were
running Sun and switched to RS/6000. Basically, for a given workload, it
would take 2x the number of Sun CPUs as RS/6000 CPUs. The difference in
Oracle licensing costs was usually enough to pay for the new hardware in
one year.
-- 
Jim C. Nasby, Database Consultant   [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Give your computer some brain candy! www.distributed.net Team #1828

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Re: [PERFORM] Does PostgreSQL run with Oracle?

2004-10-19 Thread Greg Sabino Mullane

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> My basic question to the community is "is PostgreSQL approximately
> as fast as Oracle?"
>
> I don't want benchmarks, they're BS.  I want a gut feel from this community
> because I know many of you are in mixed shops that run both products, or
> have had experience with both.
 
My gut feeling is not just "as fast", but "often times faster." I've found very
few cases in which Oracle was faster, and that was usually due to some easily
spotted difference such as tablespace support.
 
- --
Greg Sabino Mullane [EMAIL PROTECTED]
PGP Key: 0x14964AC8 200410191925
 
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Re: [PERFORM] Does PostgreSQL run with Oracle?

2004-10-15 Thread Mike Rylander
On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 11:54:44 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> My basic question to the community is "is PostgreSQL approximately as fast
> as Oracle?"

My personal experience comparing PG to Oracle is across platforms,
Oracle on Sun/Solaris (2.7, quad-proc R440) and PG on Intel/Linux (2.6
kernel, dual P3/1GHz).  When both were tuned for the specific app I
saw a 45% speedup after switching to PG.  This was with a customized
CRM and System Monitoring application serving ~40,000 trouble tickets
and monitoring 5,000 metric datapoints every 5-30 minutes.

The hardware was definitely not comparable (the Intel boxes have more
horsepower and faster disks), but dollar for dollar, including support
costs, PG is the winner by a BIG margin.  YMMV, of course, and my
results are apparently above average.

Another big plus I found was that PG is much easier to admin as long
as you turn on pg_autovacuum.

--miker

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Re: [PERFORM] Does PostgreSQL run with Oracle?

2004-10-15 Thread Marc Slemko
On Fri, 15 Oct 2004 11:54:44 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> My basic question to the community is "is PostgreSQL approximately as fast
> as Oracle?"
> 
> I don't want benchmarks, they're BS.  I want a gut feel from this community
> because I know many of you are in mixed shops that run both products, or
> have had experience with both.

That all depends on exactly what your application needs to do.

There are many more features that Oracle has and postgres doesn't than
vice versa.  If you need to do something with your data that isn't
possible to do as efficiently without one of those features, then yes
postgresql can be much slower.  If you don't need any such features,
it can be ballpark, until you start getting into fairly hefty
hardware.

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Re: [PERFORM] Does PostgreSQL run with Oracle?

2004-10-15 Thread Tom Lane
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> My basic question to the community is "is PostgreSQL approximately as fast
> as Oracle?"

The anecdotal evidence I've seen leaves me with the impression that when
you first take an Oracle-based app and drop it into Postgres, it won't
perform particularly well, but with tuning and tweaking you can roughly
equal and often exceed the original performance.  The two DBs are enough
unalike that a database schema that's been tuned for Oracle is probably
mistuned for Postgres.  You will certainly find "some things are faster,
some are slower" at the end of the day, but we've had lots of satisfied
switchers ...

regards, tom lane

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Re: [PERFORM] Does PostgreSQL run with Oracle?

2004-10-15 Thread Steve Atkins
On Fri, Oct 15, 2004 at 11:54:44AM -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> My basic question to the community is "is PostgreSQL approximately as fast
> as Oracle?"

> I'm currently running single processor UltraSPARC workstations, and intend
> to use Intel Arch laptops and Linux.  The application is a big turnkey
> workstation app.  I know the hardware switch alone will enhance
> performance, and may do so to the point where even a slower database will
> still be adequate.

I have found that PostgreSQL seems to perform poorly on Solaris/SPARC
(less so after recent improvements, but still...) compared to x86
systems - more so than the delta between Oracle on the two platforms.
Just a gut impression, but it might mean that comparing the two
databases on SPARC may not be that useful comparison if you're
planning to move to x86.

Cheers,
  Steve


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Re: [PERFORM] Does PostgreSQL run with Oracle?

2004-10-15 Thread Bruce Momjian
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> My basic question to the community is "is PostgreSQL approximately as fast
> as Oracle?"
> 
> I don't want benchmarks, they're BS.  I want a gut feel from this community
> because I know many of you are in mixed shops that run both products, or
> have had experience with both.
> 
> I fully intend to tune, vacuum, analyze, size buffers, etc.  I've read what
> people have written on the topic, and from that my gut feel is that using
> PostgreSQL will not adversely affect performance of my application versus
> Oracle.  I know it won't adversely affect my pocket book.  I also know that
> requests for help will be quick, clear, and multifaceted.
> 
> I'm currently running single processor UltraSPARC workstations, and intend
> to use Intel Arch laptops and Linux.  The application is a big turnkey
> workstation app.  I know the hardware switch alone will enhance
> performance, and may do so to the point where even a slower database will
> still be adequate.

I have always been told we are +/- 10% of Oracle. That's what I say at
talks and no one has disputed that.  We are +10-30% faster than
Informix.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian|  http://candle.pha.pa.us
  [EMAIL PROTECTED]   |  (610) 359-1001
  +  If your life is a hard drive, |  13 Roberts Road
  +  Christ can be your backup.|  Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073

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