DBMS COMPARISON REPORT

Oracle 11i
Price: Appx . 1280 $ Platform dependency: The Oracle Database is the only information management system that is proven to scale to meet all business requirements on all hardware platforms, from single processor and mid-range multiprocessor systems to large-scale mainframe and clustered environments. This proven scalability unlocks the full potential of any hardware and operating system investment and ensures any organization will able to meet all business requirements in the future. Scalability and locking: Oracle9is unique multi-version read consistency model minimizes internal contention of data. By avoiding contention, the number of users who can simultaneously access data increases. DBMS will dynamically re-create a read-consistent image for a reader of any requested data that has been changed but not yet committed. In other words, the reader will see the data as it was before the writer began changing it (until the writer commits). Critical Business Availability: Oracle9i is the most cost-effective database to ensure minimal downtime and zero data loss. It takes care of most scenarios that might lead to data unavailability, such as system failures, data failures, disasters, human errors, system maintenance operations and database maintenance operations. In addition, Oracle Real Application Clusters provides high availability for mission critical applications. System Failure Protection Oracle database recovery allows the DBA to provide service-level guarantees for the system, ensuring the database availability meets the business needs. Oracle Real Application Clusters and Oracle Failsafe provide continuous availability to database in the event of a system failure. Automatic application fail over masks the failure from the users so their work continues uninterrupted.

MS SQL 2000
Price: Appx .1530$ ( For The Entire SBS Suit ) Platform dependency: Supports Intel and Alpha Platforms. But Only Windows 2000 Operating systems is supported on Intel Platforms.

Scalability and locking: SQL Server 2000 is capable of supporting the growth requirements of any Web site, as well as the largest enterprise systems. It includes Distributed Partitioned Views and log shipping to distribute workloads and takes full advantage of SMP hardware with new parallel operations.

Critical Business Availability: In SQL Server 2000, more operations can be performed online so that the server can stay up and running. Additionally, new backup features ensure that backups can be performed with little or no impact on server performance or availability.

System Failure Protection SQL Server 2000 includes enhanced fail over cluster support to keep applications up and running even when disaster strikes. Fail over clusters are both easier to manage and more flexible in SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition. SQL Server 2000 setup automatically detects the presence of Microsoft Cluster Services, so no separate cluster wizard is needed.

Joy V.Ramachandran Consultant SAP BASIS IVL India Pvt Ltd Technopark Trivandrum joy_rama@msn.com ; joy.rama@sapgenie.com

Online Maintenance Operations Oracle9i almost completely eliminates the need to bring down a database while an administrator is performing maintenance operations on the database. The online data redefinition features improve data availability, database performance, response time and disk space utilization Indexes can be added, rebuilt or de-fragmented. Tables can be relocated, de-fragmented, reorganized or have their storage parameters changed. Schema evolution allows table definitions to be modified while the data table is in service. Flashback query Users can make mistakes such as entering the wrong values or deleting the wrong set of rows. Oracle9Is flashback query allows an administrator or a user to view the database at a point-in time in the past. Developers can use this feature to build self-service error correction applications, empowering end-users to undo and correct their errors without delay. Security and Protection of the Privacy of Sensitive Business Information Oracle9i offers all the features and functionality required to secure and protect all important business information. It addresses all major security hazards, providing a wide choice of authentication and authorization mechanisms and protecting data from prying, even by the DBA. It supports a number of different application architectures including two-tier, three-tier, Internet based and hosting.

Online Maintenance Operations In SQL Server 2000, more operations can be performed online so that the server can stay up and running. Additionally, new backup features ensure that backups can be performed with little or no impact on server performance or availability.

Flashback query Not Supported

Security and Protection of the Privacy of Sensitive Business Information Oracle does not provide basic security features such as integrated security for single sign-on, network packet encryption, PKI, or Kerberos as a standard feature of the database. These are available only as extra charge options and only for the enterprise edition of the Oracle9i database. SQL Server 2000 has all these options as standard features built into the database. SQL Server 2000 introduces significant new security enhancements and features. SQL Server 2000 has been certified under the U.S. government's C2-level security certificationone of the highest levels of certification available in the industry. Flexible Data Partitioning In order to attain flexible data storage and additional query performance, developers can use the Partition Wizard to easily scale out one logical cube into separate physical partitions on multiple servers with complete transparency.

Flexible Data Partitioning

Oracle partitioning allows table and indexes to be partitioned into smaller, more manageable units, providing DBAs with the ability to pursue a divide and conquer approach to data management. For example, a typical usage of range partitioning for manageability is to support a rolling window load process in a data warehouse. When, for example, a DBA loads new data into a table on a weekly basis, that table could be range-partitioned so that each partition contains one week of data. The load process is simply the addition of a new partition.

Joy V.Ramachandran Consultant SAP BASIS IVL India Pvt Ltd Technopark Trivandrum joy_rama@msn.com ; joy.rama@sapgenie.com

Complete Summary Management Summary management enhances query performance by storing pre-aggregated data anddynamically re-writing queries to use this data, thereby avoiding the overhead of scanning very large tables, often several gigabytes in size, at runtime. Oracle9Is robust summary management implementation allows the creation of dimensions, or summary hierarchies, so that only the most frequently used summary tables need be physically stored while less frequently used summary information can be derived based on stored summary tables. This reduces the amount of storage required for summary tables. Manageability And DBA Expertise Oracle9i simplifies database management and increases database administrator productivity with smart selftuning.

Complete Summary Management Analysis Services (formerly OLAP Services) in SQL Server 2000 is to provide a complete, end-to-end platform for analysis including relational storage, data extraction, OLAP optimization and querying, data mining, and semantic modeling, among others. Moreover, Analysis Services is designed for database administrators and application developers rather than an elite audience of statistical experts.

Manageability And DBA Expertise Oracle is late to the game in recognizing that customers want databases that are intelligent enough to manage critical resources and perform routine tuning automatically. For several releases, SQL Server had the ability to automatically tune itself based on run-time conditions. As a result, SQL Server requires little, if any, tuning by a database administrator; memory, file sizes, and the I/O subsystem are a few of the items SQL Server manages on behalf of the administrator. Oracle has only just begun to explore this area with the addition of wizards in its management tools. SQL Server first implemented wizards over six years ago and is years ahead of other vendors with its dynamic automated resource management and tuning capabilities. Additionally, many management tools and utilities that come as standard features in SQL Server are extra charge options in Oracle9i.

Workload Management Oracle9i features a significantly enhanced Database Resource Manager with new capabilities such as authentic prioritization and proactive governance of any SQL statement. With its automatic prioritization feature, an Oracle9i database can detect long running operations and limit their resource consumption ensuring that the online users do not experience slow performance. Oracle9i Database Resource Manager also provides execution of highly resource intensive queries during certain times of the day. These capabilities allow for prioritization of work and provide almost unlimited system scalability without compromising performance.

Workload Management SQL Server performs several operations to keep itself tuned. SQL Server 2000 features dynamic algorithms that rely on adaptive feedback. SQL Profiler includes new events for Data File Auto Grow, Data File Auto Shrink, Log File Auto Grow and Log File Auto Shrink. These events allow DBAs to monitor the circumstances under which automated management tasks are occurring. Developers can also create applications that use SQL Profiler stored procedures to automate the adjustment of the operational characteristics of SQL Server.

Joy V.Ramachandran Consultant SAP BASIS IVL India Pvt Ltd Technopark Trivandrum joy_rama@msn.com ; joy.rama@sapgenie.com

English Query Not Supported

English Query Microsoft English Query allows end users to pose questions in English instead of forming a query with an SQL statement. English Query acts as an intermediary, turning the users question into a proper SQL query that pulls the desired results from the database. English Query is fully integrated into SQL Server 2000. Microsoft is unique in the industry in offering such functionality. Database backups SQL Server 2000 includes the capability to perform differential backups. Using this approach, backups run relatively quickly and are smaller in size than other types of backups. Moreover, differential backups may be performed while users access the database.

Database backups Supports on-line and offline database and redo log backups. Oracle supports a number of certified vendors equipments for backup.

Joy V.Ramachandran Consultant SAP BASIS IVL India Pvt Ltd Technopark Trivandrum joy_rama@msn.com ; joy.rama@sapgenie.com