Re: Off Topic: open source databases

Mladen Gogala <no@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

I guess this is a legitimate topic now that MySQL is essentially an
Oracle product, too. My question, however, is not devoted to MySQL or any
other specific OSS database. I am just interested in what OSS databases
are mostly used in data centers, in addition to Oracle and why?
Specifically about MySQL, did the fact that Oracle Corp. now owns it,
lessen its appeal or even increase it? I must confess that I expected to
see a massive exodus from MySQL which did not materialize. I confess that
my understanding of the world may not be entirely correct and I will even
allow the possibility that the Earth is not flat, but this I do not
understand.

I don't think Oracle's onership of MySQL (or Sun's before that) has
really changed that much because they really appeal to two different
markets/requirements.

Many web hosting companies provide MySQL. Very few provide Oracle. I
think this is mainly because a lot of web applications really only use
databases in a very limited way - essentially a repository for key-value
pairs. MySQL is pretty good for this type of use, while Oracle is
overkill.

My experience has been that most of the apps I've worked with that use
Oracle are apps where the database is the main part of the application.
The non-Oracle parts of the app tend to be just interfaces.

The MySQL systems I've worked with, the app is usually some other
'thing' like Java, perl, ruby or PHP and the database is really just a
simple data store.

I think the main appeal of MySQL is that it can easily be administered
by a competant sys admin or developer. There is not a lot you can
tune/tweak and the feature set is quite limited. Oracle on the other
hand is a much more complex beast, with a lot that can be tuned/tweaked
and a much richer set of features. I have never met a good developer or
sys admin who is also an up-to-date, experienced and competant Oracle
admin.

Postgres does appear to be gaining some ground, though I suspect a bit
of this is more discussion than actual usage i.e. some are a little
worried regarding what Oracle will do with MySQL, so for risk
mitigation, they are considering postgres for new apps. At the same
time, they are alittle worried about postgres as its a little less
proven in the enterprise. From my limited experience, I find postgres to
be somewhere between Oracle and MySQL. I am a little negative regarding
MySQL due to issues I've had with it in the past, particularly with
respect to its storage reliability and limited SQL compliance, such as
not supporting subqueries (my MySQL knowledge is probably out of date -
I believe its underlying storage engine is now much improved and its SQL
has been extended). Postgres is also relatively easy to administer and
easily within the skill set of a competant sys admin/developer. Postgres
has had a reputation as being slower than either Oracle or MySQL and
unlike Oracle, you don't have many options to tweak performance. It has
been fine in systems I've used it for, but none of them are what I would
have categorised as being under a heavy load. However, I've always
preferred postgrs over mysql because it has always felt more like a real
database to me where mysql always felt like a cut down somewhat crippled
system.

I believe there is also plans out there to fork MySQL and have an OSS
version that is not controlled by Oracle. The original author of MySQL
was pretty vocal regarding his oposition to Oracle, which in my opinion
was pretty pathetic - he sold it for a large sum of cash to Sun, which
I think forfits his rights to get huffy about what someone does with it
who has paid to own it.

Some of the recent Oracle support and licensing stories I've heard
recently does make me wonder if postgres might not become more popular,
but I think this is separate from anything related to MySQL.

Tim

--
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Article on the future of Python
    ... But if your needs are simple, MySQL ... Postgres has solid support for advanced features like replication. ... The default MySQL engine, MyISAM, doesn't do proper transaction ... your database *structure* is maintained) are MyISAM. ...
    (comp.lang.python)
  • DBSync for Oracle and MySQL 1.0.0
    ... DBSync for Oracle and MySQL is a database synchronization tool ... also applicable for MySQL database replication to another MySQL ...
    (comp.software.shareware.announce)
  • Re: DB question
    ... I'm a beginning Perl programmer trying to choose a database to learn and ... use in mission critical applications. ... three" are MySQL, PostgreSQL and Oracle. ... Since I use all of MySQL, Postgres and Oracle in my daily life, I do ...
    (perl.beginners)
  • Re: Sun to Acquire MySQL AB
    ... I will also admit to my own personal preference for Oracle's database product because I am used to it, and because of their relatively recent claims to more fully integrate with and support open source development. ... Between Postgres and MySQL though, it occurs to me that MySQL AB is somewhat more ahead of the market curve. ... corporation is aggressively pushing and marketing their own in-house database software, it stands to reason that Sun would want to emulate this business model and thus grab a similar slice of their own DB pie. ...
    (comp.unix.solaris)
  • DBConvert for Oracle and MySQL 1.0.0
    ... performs two-way conversion from Oracle databases to MySQL server ... database migration to another MySQL database and is quite adept at ... possible conversion errors, etc. ...
    (comp.software.shareware.announce)