Ibm's Db 2 And Sybase's System 10 example essay topic

IMPLEMENTATION OF AN OPEN SYSTEMS APPLICATION ENVIRONMENT RDBMS COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW The Defense Finance and Accounting Services Financial Systems Organization (DFAS) plans to establish a standard development and operational environment for DFAS applications running on workstations, network servers, and mid-tier platforms. To accomplish this, the Government has commissioned a study to 1) evaluate currently used development environments and industry standards and 2) perform an analysis of these alternative development environment; identifying the most effective solutions for DFAS. A key component of this planned Open Systems Application Environment (OSAE) is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) that will allow portability and salability across multiple platforms. This report provides a comparative analysis of three leading RDBMSs including Oracle, DB 2, and SYBASE System 10. In addition, it contains recommendations for RDBMS standardization within DFAS. OPEN SYSTEMS APPLICATION ENVIRONMENT REQUIREMENTS In it's quest to achieve an open systems application environment, the Defense Finance and Accounting Services Financial Systems Organization has defined a set of requirements that the selected development environment must meet.

In particular, the development environment must meet industry standards as well as DFAS specific requirements. Following is a listing of key industry standards and DFAS defined requirements. KEY INDUSTRY STANDARDS Data access language standards are key in the RDBMS industry. The American National Institute (ANSI) has adopted SQL as the standard language for relational database management systems as defined in document ANSI X 3.135-189 "Database Language SQL with Integrity Enhancement" or ANSI SQL 89. In addition, the International Standards Organization (ISO) in the document ISO 9075-1989 "Database Language SQL with Integrity Enhancement" and the United States Federal Government in the Federal Information Processing Standard Publication (FIPS PUB) 127 have also adopted SQL as the standard RDBMS access language. ANSI has also adopted a standard for Embedded SQL as defined in the document ANSI X 3.168-189 "Database Language Embedded SQL".

The current SQL standard, ANSI SQL-92 is defined in FIPS PUB 127-2, ANSI X 3.135-1992, and ISO 9075: 1992. DFAS DEFINED RDBMS REQUIREMENTS Following is an overview of DFAS requirements for the RDBMS component of the Open Systems Application Environment. o The selected database must have full ANSI SQL Compliance The RDBMS must be easily transported to the Oracle RDBMS which is currently in use on the DFAS mid-tier systems. o The RDBMS must provide salability from the workstation, Netware server, mid-tier, to the mainframe platforms. OVERVIEW OF FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS After careful review of the Government's requirements, in conjunction with a thorough evaluation of three RDBMSs, it is the evaluator's recommendation that DFAS standardize on the Oracle RDBMS. Key factors affecting the recommendation include Oracle's industry proven open and scalable architecture and it's superior ability to integrate into the current DFAS environment. The other two RDBMSs that were evaluated are IBM's DB 2 and SYBASE's System 10. Though these RDBMS provided several capabilities that can meet the Government's needs, Oracle provided a far more comprehensive and superior solution.

Below is an brief overview of the three RDBMSs reviewed, followed by a comparative analysis. RDBMS OVERVIEWS ORACLE 7 RDBMS The Oracle 7 Server is a relational database management system that enables true enterprise data management from the desktop to the data center. Oracle 7's scalable, reliable, integrated server architecture dynamically adapts to exploit uni processor and parallel hardware, to deliver unprecedented performance, salability, and availability providing unmatched price performance. Flexible, integrated, manageable distributed database facilities facilitate the deployment of practical distributed solutions that meet specific business needs.

Oracle 7 includes all the facilities necessary to construct enterprise-class applications, assure end-to-end user and data security, and comprehensively manage the Oracle environment. For high-performance transaction processing, Oracle 7 employs an integrated, multi threaded, multi server architecture to handle thousands of simultaneous user requests. Through its adaptable parallel architecture, Oracle ensures optimal performance, salability, and availability facilitating organizational growth and data access predictability. The sophisticated data concurrency control model of the Oracle 7 Server ensures the powerful support for a multitude of processing requirements including, but not limited to On-line Transaction Processing and Decision Support, thus meeting specific and varied application requirements.

Distributed database query and transaction processing requirements are also supported with the Oracle 7 Server. Developers and users can treat a physically distributed database as a single logical database though the transparent distributed capabilities of the Oracle 7 Server, enabling the enterprise flexibility in the placement of its data. In addition, Oracle 7 allows organizations to transparently replicate commonly used data to multiple nodes offering further flexibility in the placement and use of the enterprise's critical information. Oracle 7's Open Gateway architecture ensures the smooth transition from legacy systems by enabling transparent data access during the migration process.

Oracle 7 also enables the enforcement of complex business rules through the storage of powerful PL / SQL procedures and triggers right in the Oracle 7 Server. Stored procedures and triggers increase application reliability and reduce development costs by allowing common procedures to be developed and maintained in a central location. Additional features of the Oracle 7 Server include extensive National Language Support (NLS) of 8- and 16-bit languages, encompassing virtually all European and Asian languages. Further, Oracle 7 delivers an advanced security architecture based on roles and privileges, significantly reducing the burden and cost of security management. As an open, integrated, relational system Oracle 7 allows for efficient and dynamic operations of active and evolving applications. In addition to the above features, Oracle also provides a variety of additional enabling technologies that support a variety of specialized information system requirements.

For text management and thematically based text search and retrieval, Oracle offers the Oracle Text Server and Context. For the management of spatial temporal data, typical of GIS systems, the Oracle Spatial Data Option is available. Further, user's multimedia requirements can be met through the use of Oracle's Media Server technologies. And for environments that are tapping into the World Wide Web, Oracle provides the powerful and unparalleled Oracle Web Server.

IBM DB 2 DB 2 technology is now available in an entire family of products that run on all major IBM platforms, including MVS / ESA, AIX/6000, OS/2, OS/400, VM and VSE. Many DB 2 products also run on non-IBM platforms: HP-UX clients and servers for Hewlett Packard's UNIX environment; Solaris Operating Environment clients for Sun systems. Additional ports of DB 2 for AIX/6000 code are planned. Version enhancements to DB 2 provide a better platform than ever before for application development and data management in an open client / server environment.

DB 2's functional enhancements conform to Open Blueprint and move closer to the ANSI / ISO 1992 SQL standard. DB 2 provides support for large networks supporting a maximum of 25,000 users per DB 2 system. DB 2 allows information systems personnel to better control their distributed threads by allowing them to assign a different dispatching priority to each distributed application. DB 2 Performance is bolstered via new functions and major enhancements to some existing functions. For System/390 Parallel Sys plex users, new data-sharing capabilities take full advantage of power.

Applications running on more than one DB 2 subsystem can read from and write to the same set of data concurrently. A single catalog and directory serve all the DB 2 subsystems, and you can run the same application on more than one DB 2 subsystem. You can grow the system incrementally and achieve higher transaction rates than are possible on a single DB 2 subsystem. Data sharing protects your investment in current applications, because existing SQL interfaces and attachments remain intact. Developers don't need to modify applications to share data. And if one DB 2 subsystem needs to come down, users can access their DB 2 data from another subsystem.

DB 2 now includes stored procedures. This new programmer-friendly function introduces a SQL interface that allows SQL requester's to invoke user-written programs, or stored procedures, at a DB 2 server. Local DB 2 applications or remote Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA) applications can issue the new SQL CALL statement to invoke a stored procedure. A single send / receive operation invokes a series of SQL statements in the stored procedure, thus decreasing the costs of distributed SQL statement processing. In enhancements to the existing partition independence function, of DB 2 improves concurrent access to logical partitions of a non partitioned index by utilities and SQL applications. To further enhance performance, it extends parallel processing to CPU-intensive queries.

A single query can generate several tasks that are performed on data in parallel. DB 2 provides a REORG TABLESPACE utility providing for improved performance and the ability to reclaim space by reorganizing the catalog and indexes. To maximize the accessibility of DB 2 provides new availability features. DB 2 further enhances availability through improvements in partition independence. SYBASE SQL SERVER 10 The SYBASE SQL Server supports mission-critical on-line transaction processing (OLTP) applications. SYBASE SQL Server Release 10 builds on the SYBASE SQL Server and adds advanced new features to help organizations further reduce costs and improve competitiveness.

In addition, the SQL Server's reliability has just been enhanced by the release of Backup Server, the newly designed backup system that helps companies manage backup and restore of databases and logs for SQL Server 10. SYBASE SQL Server is more than an industry-leading RDBMS for on-line applications - it's also provides features that enable client / server computing. It's the foundation of the SYBASE Enterprise Client / Server Architecture, a modular, integrated approach to building enterprise-wide information systems. This foundation is enhanced in Version 10 with support for the X / Open X / A protocol, which provides standards-based distributed transaction management. SQL Server technology simplifies, controls, and supports open, standards-based connectivity, making it easy to build flexible, productive applications. The SYBASE Enterprise Client / Server Architecture is a software framework to help organizations develop and build an, enterprise-wide information system.

SYBASE System 10 products support the SYBASE Enterprise Client / Server Architecture with: SYBASE servers for a distributed system, including: - SQL Server, RDBMS - Navigation Server, for the management of terabyte databases with thousands of users and or transactions -Replication Server, for building, highly available distributed systems SYBASE Open Interoperability products, including the OmniSQL Gateway and Open Client / Server Interfaces, which provide location-transparent interoperability among a range of RDBMSs and native file systems SYBASE System Management family of products, to provide mainframe-class control of data and information in a distributed environment SYBASE Client / Server Tools, for an application development environment that helps businesses create, use, and manage a wide variety of applications The SYBASE SQL Server RDBMS is available on a variety of systems: from personal computers to minicomputers and workstations, to symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) systems. SQL Server helps organizations with connectivity, with full and open standards compliance and guaranteed interoperability with standards-compliant components including X / A-compliant TP monitors. SYBASE lets developers write against the standard application programming interface (API) of their choice (such as Microsoft's ODBC) and then run the applications against SQL Server. SYBASE provided server-enforced integrity in SQL Sever with stored procedures and triggers. Version 10 enhances this feature with ANSI SQL standard declarative referential integrity. The new declarative features can be mixed in any combination with procedural (trigger-based) integrity mechanisms.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS This section will compare how each of the three RDBMSs comply with key industry standards and how they address DFAS' OSAE RDBMS and requirements. KEY INDUSTRY STANDARDS Of the three RDBMSs reviewed, only Oracle is fully ANSI SQL 89 compliant as well as ANSI SQL 92 Entry Level compliant. Looking at the facts, ANSI standards reflect a basic foundation upon which advanced functionality may be carefully added. While standards frequently represent a less glamorous side of database technology, compliance provides assurance that vendors have invested in the building blocks to ensure a solid baseline from which to launch more innovative features.

RDBMS REQUIREMENTS FOR THE OSAE The Selected Database Must Have Full ANSI SQL Compliance As noted above, all three RDBMSs reviewed are fully ANSI SQL 89 compliant, however, only Oracle is ANSI SQL 92 Entry Level compliant and has also implemented many key features of the Intermediate Level. The RDBMS Must Be Easily Transported To The Oracle RDBMS Which Is Currently In Use On The DFAS Mid-Tier Systems Since Oracle is currently installed on the Mid-Tier Systems at DFAS it follows that any migration of systems would be most easily achieved using the same RDBMS, which is Oracle 7. The RDBMS Must Provide Salability From The Workstation, Netware Server, Mid-Tier, To The Mainframe Platforms While DB 2 is available on a variety of platforms, a key problem with the product is that it has inconsistent code lines. DB 2/6000 is written in C and ported to AIX from OS/2, whereas DB 2/MVS is written in 370 assembler and PLS. DB 2/6000 V 2 is not functionally equivalent to DB 2/MVS. DB 2 applications, DB 2 programmer / administrative skill sets are only painfully portable between the DB 2 family.

Scaling from the PC to the mainframe, thus is a complex and cumbersome task if DB 2 is the RDBMS being used. The SYBASE architecture has been proven not to scale beyond four processors. Until SYBASE re-architects the core engine, customers are limited in their use of increasingly popular symmetric multiprocessor hardware. Oracle 7 is identical on all platforms. Oracle truly has the same look and feel, functionality, and usage between all products on all platforms. Oracle applications, programmer skills, and database administration tasks are easily portable across all 80 plus platforms on which Oracle products run.

The Oracle RDBMS ports to PC, Mid-tier Server, SMPs, mainframes, and massively parallel processors (Maps). As such, the Government can grow the Oracle database as it's database requirements grow. COMPARATIVE PRODUCT MATRIX Administration = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Name of Administration Tool Serv. Control Backup, On-line 'hot' Mgr.

Srv. Backup, Parallel yes Bit-Mapped Monitoring Tool New New Distributed Database Admin. New + Recovery from System Failure o Recovery, On-line (Concurrent) o Recovery, Parallel New + Recovery, Point-in-Time o IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 Data Hub PE + limited PE Alerts = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Name of Product or Option included Open Server Alerts Non-Polling Alerts + Transaction-based + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + - + planned + + Architecture = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Client Multi-Server VSA Multithreaded Server Multi-User Database Raw Devices, Support for Unix Sharable Cached Data Shared Dynamic SQL + Shared Static SQL o IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + o Architecture, SMP = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Automatic Load Balancing + Scalable SMP Performance o VSA IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 Architecture, Loosely Coupled = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Name of Product or Option Parallel Navigation Loosely Coupled Architectures Serv. Scalable Performance IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + - + + Bulk Data Loading = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Name of Utility or Option SQL Loader BCP Data Loader Direct Writes from Database + Flexible Format Controls o Incremental (table w / data ) + Indexes Maintained During o IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Bulk Load = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Parallel Direct Path Loads New + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 PE Concurrency Control (reference locking) = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Deadlock Resolution Default Trans. Isolation Level ST CS Select for Update New Committed Read (CR) + + Cursor Stability (CS) + o Dirty Read (DR) + + Repeated Read (RR) + o Statement.

Consistency (ST) o + Versioning + + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 RR / CS/DR + o o o + + Consistency = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Distrib. (multi-site) Consistency + Multi-Stmt. Consistent Read + Multi-Version Read Consistency + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + + + Data Dictionary = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Active Data Dictionary Can Query Data Dictionary FIPS, Basic Info. Schema + +

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to Remote Objects o o Synonyms o o New Synonyms, Public o o New IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Datatypes = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Array Datatype + Auto Datatype Conversion o Bit / Binary (Logical) + o Char., Fixed Len. (CHAR) o o Char., Variable Len. (VARCHAR) o o Date and / or Time o o Decimal New Float Integer Multi-Dimension (2 D, 3 D, 4 D) Multi + Native Binary + o User-Defined + o IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Datatypes, BLOb / Long = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 BLOb Filters + + BLOb / Long Text / Image Datatype o o Comparison Semantics o partial o Manipulation Under Transaction Management o + Piecewise Access, Insert / Update + Piecewise Access, Query o IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Datatypes, Stored Procedures = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Array, Multi Dimension + + Array, Single Dimension o + BLOb / Long Datatype (max.) o 32 K + - User Defined o + - Record o + Type Reference from Table o + - IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + + o '2 GB, 32700' o + - + - Distributed Database = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Automatic Distributed Transaction Recovery + Definable 2 PC Coordinator + Distributed Query, Cursors o OmniSQL Force commit / Rollback of In-Doubt Trans. + Global Database Names + Remote DDL + o OmniSQL Remote Update o o OmniSQL Simulate dist rib. trans. failure o + Transparent Two-Phase Commit o + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + o + + planned o limited o Distributed Database (Date's Rules) = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Database Autonomy No Reliance on Central Site partial Continuous Operation Location Transparency + Fragmentation Independence partial o Navigation Replication Independence partial o Replication Distributed Query OmniSQL Distributed Transaction Mgt. + Hardware Independence o Operating System Independence o Network Independence o partial DBMS Independence o IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Distributed Database (Replication) = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Name of Product or Option Distributed Replication Corporate Rollup New Declarative Master / Slave New (single master) Dynamic Ownership + (rotating masters) Real-time Replication + (asynchronous) Shared-Ownership + (update anywhere) Conflict Resolution + (store & forward resolution) Datatypes of Image / BLOb + + Selective Subscription o o New Forward replicate updates o o New to primary Time-based Replication New Transaction-based New New Replication Replicate Specific Tables + Event Based Replication + use logs + - Replication for 'hot-standby' IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 Propagatolimited + - + o o + Gateways, Procedural = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 APPC Gateway + C, Ada... Stub Generation o Open Server Under Transaction Management + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + - + - Gateways, Transparent = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Name of Product Transparent OmniSQL Developers Kit beta Open Server Distrib. Heterogeneous Trans. + Gateway to DB 2 o Gateway to Informix + o beta Gateway to Ingres + + Gateway to Oracle + - o Gateway to SYBASE + + - Gateway to DRDA o + Gateway to SQL/400 o + DEC RDB (Transparent) + DEC RMS (Transparent) + HP All base + - + IBM IMS + - + Gateway to SQL / DS o + Passthrough Capability + o IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Indexing = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 B-Tree Clustered Index, Multi-Table + Clustered Index, Single Table + o Hashed Index + (table access by algorithm) Parallel Index Building New + ISAM + + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 PE + - Integrity, Server Enforced = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Check Constraints New Declarative Cascading Deletes + Declarative Cascading Updates + + Declarative Entity Integrity o o New Deferrable Constraints + + Distributed Declarative Integrity + + Distributed Integrity via Triggers o o Enable / Disable Integrity o + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Constraints = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Foreign Key Declarations New End of Stmt. Integrity Checks + - Prevent Invalid Transitions o Primary Key Declarations o New Check Constraints Sub queries + + - Unique Predicate o o Views with Checks Options o o New IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Limits = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Max. Columns Per Table 255 250 Max. Columns Per Index 16 16 Max. Indexes per table no-limit 251 Max. Length of Schema 64 K + - Definition 508 K o 1962 bytes Max.
Row Size Max. Size of SQL Statement 64 K + - Max., Unstructured BLOb 2 GB o 2 GB Max., Var. Length Char. 2000 o 255 Max.
Tables in a Join Query no-limit o 16 Max. Triggers per Table unlimited o 3 Max. Users per Database unlimited o unlimited IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 255 16 32767 + - o 4005 + - o 2 GB o 32700 o no-limit + n / a o unlimited Locking = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Implicit Locking for Dml Indexes locked at entry / key + Lock Escalation always Avoided + 'Read Locks, no non-Requested' + Row Level Locking + User Definable Locks + Writers don't Block Readers + Readers don't Block Writers + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + + + o o limited + + Logging / Journaling = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Automatic Archiving programmatic Checkpoint Control Differed Database Writes Group Commits + - Multiplexed (mirrored) Logging o Transactions may span log files + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + - + - o o o OS level + - National Language Support = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Alternate Double Byte Char Set Error Messages Translated European Languages Session Level Control New Sorting / Collating Sequences Translated Documentation Upper / Lower case Conversion IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + o o o Networking = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Name of Product or SQL NET Net LibOptionAlternate Network + RoutingsAuto Detection of + -Server Failure Dead Connection + + Detection (Server) Client-Server Support o o Name Server o + (Global DB Names) Network Protocol Net-Gateway Translation Programmatic (3 GL) Interfaces Module Language +ODBC " Pre compilers (C, Cobol, o Ada) ' Proprietary Call-level o Interface OCI oDB-Lib / CT-Lib IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Query Optimization = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Cost-based Optimizer Data Value Histograms + + Distributed Cost Optimization o + Estimate Statistics o + Optimizer Directives (hints) awkward Index Only Access Min. /Max. Values stored OR's in index + Parallel Data Query o Navigation Rule Based Optimizer + - Statistics Dynamically Updated + + Statistics on Data Distribution o + - Can prevent query start + + Disk Quotas by User o + Can Limit Amount of I / O o + Can Limit Idle Time o + Can Limit Amount of CPU o + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. PSQL Implementation = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Alter table add col. cmd. + - Alter table drop col. cmd. + + - Alter table modify col. cmd. o + - ANSI SQL 89 (FPS 127-1) Cert. o + ANSI SQL 92 Entry (FIPS 127-2) o + New Bind Variables Supported New Conditional Expression Eval. + Cursors o New Supports Fetch Across Commits + - Multi-Row Fetch via Cursor o New Multi-Row Insert via Cursor + Nested Aggregates in Select + - Nulls o Outer Join (1-sided) o Outer Join (2-sided) + Scrollable Cursors + + Scrollable Updatable Cursors + + Select Stmt. in Select List + o Temporary Tables + o Transitive Closure (connect by) o + Unions in Views + Update T Set + Update Where Current of cursor o New Updatable Views of Joins + o User Defined Function o New + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Security = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Col. Select and Update Privileges New Database Authorization Password Expiration + Encryption of PW Inside DB o New Encryption of PW Over Network o New non-Procedural Auditing o New O / S Authorization + and Authentication Roles with Hierarchy + (SQL 3 style) Roles, Selective Activation + User Groups or Roles o IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Security, Multilevel = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Name of MLS Product Trusted SYBASE Oracle Secure Underlying Server release 7/7.1 10 B 1 + under evil. B 2 + +Compartments o o DBMS MAC Mode o +OS MAC mode + - Labels o Multilevel Import Utility + - Same as Standard RDBMS + - Trusted Subjects + o Trusted Comp. Base TCB o o micro (Subset Design) kernel IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Sequence Generators = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Seq. Number or Serial Datatype New No contention for Seq. Numbers New Gap Free Generation... use table use table Reference Current Val. of Seq. + - IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + + o use table + Storage and Space Management = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 BLOb space for stor. of 'long' + Control Growth of DB Objects o Data compression of ASCII data + + Data compression in Indexes o o DB objects may span O / S files Data Segmentation Default Object Locations Horizontal Striping + Navigation on Disk by Key Value Objects can be placed o on specified disks Read only access + - for optical storage Var. Length Data o in Var. Length Rows Vertical Table Partitioning + o Navigation IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. PE limited + - o + Stored Procedures = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Atomic Execution + (all works / all rolled back) Cached in compiled format + - Call Other Procedures o Create or Replace Syntax + Dependency Mechanism + - Execute Privilege o for Stored Procedures Remote Data my be Referenced o OmniSQL Remote Procedure Calls o Return Any Datatype + Returns Database Values o Tabular Data Streams o may return rows Trans. Integrity for Distrib. Calls + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Stored Procedure Language = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Name of Language PL / SQL Transact-SQL Cursors Supported New DDL Supported + + Dependency Tracking o + Dynamic SQL DDL + + Dynamic SQL DML o New + Forward Referencing o + If Then, Else Logic Looping Overloading + Packages + Parameters, IN o Parameters, IN / OUT o Parameters, OUT + Parameters, Passed by Name + Variables, Global + Variables, Local o Variables, Session Persistent + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 3 G Transactional Control = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Asynchronous DML New + - Commit o Implicit Transaction Start o New Rollback DDL + + - Rollback Save points, sub-transactions + - TP Monitor Support X / A TP Monitor support o New IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Triggers = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Access new, old values from within trigger Access Remote Data from Trigger Enable / Disable Triggers + Multiple Same Type Triggers New + New Values May be o Set by Trigger May set new values o for triggering columns Recursive o New SQL 3 Syntax (12 types) + Trigger Activates... PL / SQL o Transact-SQL Trigger can fire: AFTER ROW + AFTER STATEMENT o AFTER TRANSACTION + + BEFORE ROW o + BEFORE STATEMENT o o Triggers can Cascade 32 levels 16 levels Triggers may call SP Under Transaction Mgt. local only When Verb + - IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2. Server Ports = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 DEC VMS DOS Windows 3.1 + IBM MVS + IBM VM + Macintosh + Microsoft DOS vs. 6.0 + Microsoft NT o Novell Net Ware o OS/2 o IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + + + + + + + planned + o Unix Ports = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 DEC Alpha + DEC Ultrix o HP / UX o IBM RS 6000 o NCR / AT&T o Pyramid SCO Sequent Sun OS Sun Solaris IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 + + + o o+ + + + + Educational Services = Yes Oracle SYBASE Oracle 7 SQL Server + = No vs. 7.2 vs. 10.02 Educational Centers 28 27 Reg. Scheduled Courses / year 6250 2366 Unique Courses / year 107 32 Size of Education Team 250 80 Class Training On-site Training Media-based Training Custom Training Interactive Distance Learning + IBM DB 2/6000 vs. 2.0 39 80 (DB 2) 64 (DB 2) 625 + RECENT INDUSTRY STUDIES AND QUOTES In addition to the evaluator's findings, two key industry studies have pointed to the clear superiority of the Oracle 7 RDBMS. The "Technology Audit, Oracle 7 Release 7.2" by the Butler Group, dated May 1995 and the "Profile, Oracle 7 Server Release 7.
2 Relational Database Management System" by the Aberdeen Group, dated June 1995 both give Oracle high marks for providing a comprehensive and robust information management solution.
In addition, the evaluator has included several quotes from a variety of sources which indicate weaknesses in the DB 2 and System 10 RDBMS solutions. Following are the above mentioned studies as well as several industry quotes. BUTLER GROUP - TECHNOLOGY AUDIT ORACLE 7 RELEASE 7.2 Summary Database technology has advanced to a stage similar to that of the motor industry: the sophistication of the underlying engine is such that it is no longer possible to make dramatic improvements to generate market leadership. The DBMS market leaders are now maintaining position by improvements in administer ability, security and enhanced productivity and performance. These refinements broaden the applicability of relational database technology to high-end, business-critical OLTP and also decision support applications such as data warehousing. Oracle 7 introduced a sophisticated server architecture, support for triggers, constraints and stored procedures, a new optimizer, new indexing mechanisms, enhanced distributed functionality and a repackaging of the product. Few in the industry would dispute that Oracle 7 was a major milestone in the product's history, and that it has given Oracle a firm technological foundation for the next five years. The re-engineering of Oracle in V 6 addressed many of the architectural issues which we highlighted in previous analyses. It included the incorporation of row level locking, and more sophisticated use of database data structures. Oracle 7 put Oracle in a very competitive position, and it should be remembered that the Oracle product set is very broad in its scope and capabilities. It includes tools for building business applications, graphics, text handling, CASE, reporting and network management. Oracle's latest release, 7.2, modestly labelled a maintenance release, has concentrated on extending the range of applicability of its dbms through enhanced support for systems management, application engineering, distributed security, and performance. The specifications were derived from customer requirements to support the broadest range of applications, including data warehousing, distributed database and OLTP. Alongside the maintenance improvements, Release 7.2 includes new features and algorithmic enhancements that dramatically improve scalability, productivity, and manageability. The concept of data warehousing has caught the imagination of vendors and users alike and has prompted a range of new requirements for database technology. Oracle has responded to the warehousing market by supporting increased ad how query optimization, as well as more traditional OLTP applications, through stronger performance. The performance enhancements in Oracle 7 were significant. The new server architecture provided a highly scale able environment which can handle very large transaction processing applications as well as small departmental systems. These major enhancements, along with changes in functionality, will assure Oracle's position as market leader in the RDBMS market. However, the Butler Group believe the extra support for Decision support and data warehousing will strengthen their position still further. Strength so Advanced functionality through triggers, constraints and stored procedure so Flexible, sophisticated parallel option so Several case studies demonstrating support for large databases (over 600 g bytes) and large user populations (several thousand concurrent users) o Sophisticated multi-threaded, multi-server architecture o Part of an extensive software tools product se to The most extensive platform supportWeaknesseso Limited support for complex data type so Support for competitive third party r dbms limited but improving o Strong competition on price and performance from new post relational vendors Market Position Oracle emerged in the early 1980's as one of the first commercially available relational database management systems which supported SQL.
It rapidly gained market share, and Oracle doubled its revenues year on year during the 1980's.