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Question Vendors When Selecting a Database
When Selecting an enterprise,
embedded, or micro database you are making a critical decision
- and it's often a confusing process. If database vendors
are beginning to sound the same - consider the importance
of the questions below:
Does your product adhere to the full SQL92 standard? If not
what don't you support?
Asking about SQL-92 compliance
helps you understand a vendor's adherence to the industry
standards and helps you understand the data types and features
they may not be capable of supporting.
Which additional SQL99 features does your product support?
Many SQl-99 features are used
extensively by current enterprise and embedded applications
- such as triggers, Blobs, save-points, and user-defined functions.
Does your product use proprietary SQL extensions?
The use of proprietary extensions
reduces the value of industry standards, decreases portability,
and adds difficulty should you select a different database
vendor in the future. For example, OracleLite can be accessed
via ODBC but for enhanced performance utilizes OCI (oracle
Call Interface) a set of proprietary Oracle SQL extensions.
If you implement using OracleLite you have just created a
proprietary database solution.
Can your database be corrupted - do you have referential integrity?
Open source databases such as
MySQL and Postgress lack referential integrity. No commercial
database lacks this feature because it is essential to reliable
performance.
Does your database use fixed allocation of memory?
Many embedded applications and
mobile device applications must work using the same memory
all the time, every time. The manufacturer must have guaranteed
performance and must be able to predict how the database will
perform in every situation. How a database aquires, uses,
manages, and releases memory - does it use fixed allocated
memory - is an indication of whether the database was designed
specifically for embedded solutions.
Can your database really run out-of-the box with zero need
for a Database administrator? Can the database recover from
failures?
Enterprise databases such as
Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM require database administrators.
embedded applications and many mobile applications do not
have the luxury of a full-time database administrator - to
customize queries, optimize indexes, delete journals, check
memory, archive log files, etc. Whether you have an enterprise
application or an embedded application it is often better
for the database administrator tasks to be automated and for
journaling to be used to recover from unexpected failures.
Does you database support replication and synchronization?
Mobile device applications in
particular are driving the need for sophisticated replication
and synchronization features such as asynchronous bi-directional
synchronization to ensure users "anytime-everywhere"
access to data both online and offline. The remote synchronous
and asynchronous updating of the database needs to support
your real business needs.
Do you publish your performance benchmarks on Transcation
Processing Council tests? ill you provide specific benchmark
results using my test and my application?
TPC tests such as TPC-B, TPC-C,
TPC-W can provide a general comparative database performance
test in an artificial test environment. TPC-B results for
example can provide a database "stress test" for
short data types. TPC-W can provide a more comprehensive database
"stress test" for longer image and blob type data.
The TPC results will show basic characteristics, however,
generic tests do not represent your application's needs. Ask
vendors to benchmark performance using your application and
your test criteria. Will the vendor assist you at no cost
to determine which database solution really works best for
your needs? RelX does.
What are your licensing costs, support guarantees, and maintenance
promises for embedded applications and commercial applications?
At RelX we pride ourselves on
offering the best price/performance ratio, and the most responsive
support available. We are happy to provide custom benchmarked
results using your application and test criteria (free with
no obligations!) together with guaranteed pricing in 48 hours.
Are you looking for an embedded or mobile device database
solution, please contact us:
For further information:
contact us now!
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