May 11, 2010 at 10:03 am
Hi all,
Do any of you use open source database systems, such as MySQL, Firebird, postgreSQL, etc?
If so do you also use SQL server for more robust databases?
I'm looking at if this would be feasible for non-mission ciritcal databases, and obviously to save on costs.
Any thoughts/suggestions are appreciated.
May 11, 2010 at 10:34 am
I had to use MySQL for a project and I generally find it stable and a reliable way of storing and accessing data. If you are looking for this basic function then there is little reason to beleive MySQL would be a solution for you. In my expierenece, with the exception of Linux based code, The beggest difference is usually in the bells and whistles that make them easy to use.
Dan
If only I could snap my figures and have all the correct indexes apear and the buffer clean and.... Start day dream here.
May 11, 2010 at 10:57 am
Have you considered SQL Server Express editition, it is also free and you will integrate nicely into a Full SQL server environment. However there is a 4gig limit on the databases
May 11, 2010 at 2:48 pm
Good suggestion steveb, the main reason I am hesitant about express addition is backup capabilities. I suppose the same goes with the other open source alternatives, they don't have the ease of use and high reliability of SQL server.
May 12, 2010 at 3:22 am
yes the lack of the sql agent is a problem, however you can use t-sql to create the backups and then use windows scheduler to schedule your backups.
May 12, 2010 at 7:09 am
..... and SQL Express 2008 R2 has now a 10Gb DB limit (same 1Gb memory and 1 processor limit though).
MySQL is a nice alternative. If you really don't even want to go on Linux, it runs also well on Windows.
May 12, 2010 at 9:57 am
Thanks guys, I think I'll propose using express edition for smaller less important databases. If the needs of the database usage grow then I assume I could simply detach/attach from Express to our Standard version.
May 13, 2010 at 6:37 am
I'ved used PostgreSQL for several important databases. Although I prefer SQL Server for many reasons, PG works well in a Unix environment. It even has a few interesting advantages over SQL Server.
May 14, 2010 at 3:38 am
The main issue with using Postgres or MySql when you're already a SQL Server shop is that the dialects of SQL are slightly different, so you'd potentially have to rewrite some of your queries to work against the new servers. SQL Express doesn't have that problem, and it's pretty easy to work round the lack of the Agent for backups and the like.
May 14, 2010 at 5:50 am
paul.knibbs hits on the big issue. We do stuff with data (data warehousing, data migrations, data cleansing, etc) and the differences in SQL between the DBMS's can create head aches. We use MySQL heavily in cases where licensing costs are an issue and rely on modeling tools to manage the SQL code generation. There are several that are reasonably priced that will generate the ORM in the database of your choice (currently using Visual Paradigm).
If you do jump into multiple databases, consider your workbench. I use either NetBeans (preference) or Eclipse (when required). Workbenches specifically designed for a data base (i.e. SQL Server Management Studio, MySQL WorkBench, etc.) are great tools, but you'll find switching between them cumbersome. This is where the modeling software comes into play. Something simple like renaming a table is accomplished by changing your ERD, generating the SQL and then executing it. You do not have to worry about the SQL syntax. Not quite as simple as right clicking on the table name and typing a new one, but it does have the advantage of always having an up to date entity diagram for the developers and architects.
May 14, 2010 at 6:19 am
In my opinion MySQL is the poor guy SQL Server while postgreSQL is the poor guy Oracle - don't take me wrong, I've installed both in my personal lab a.k.a. my home vmware based computer; I find them kind of cute.
Problem is neither MySQL nor postgreSQL offer the latest capabilities SQL Server or Oracle offer. Like those products were developed in a parallel universe where technology is a little behind.
I'm used to work large environments - nobody even suggests to use MySQL or postgreSQL as the platform for a 80K+ execs/second database environment.
_____________________________________
Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.May 14, 2010 at 6:45 am
I have a postgreSQL box that I'm migrating over to SQL, and I have several MySQL that I have to work with.
I would agree with everyone, SQL Express will be the way to alieveate headaches, and if you ever need to move them to a enterprise or standard server you can upgrade.
One thing to keep in mind with MySQL as well is based on the disk format type there are size limits as well, and I forget what it is (I'm sure it is available via google or the mysql website) but I believe there is a windows configured disk that has a 4 GB limit as well.
So if you go Windows MySQL you may be no better off than you are on SQL 2005 or SQL 2008 Express.
As someone already mentioned SQL 2008 R2 Express will let you have a 10 GB DB
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