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Oracle supports Microsoft

May 16, 2008

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in conversations around the topic of “Oracle vs. Microsoft”. I’ve heard both sides of the story ranging from “SQL Server for mission critical operations…are you crazy!” to “Oracle costs me my first born child…year after year!”. While these discussions are often entertaining, the line delineating the two database giants is blurring by each subsequent release.

In my years consulting for LÛCRUM, I have worked for numerous clients that have had installations of both Oracle and Microsoft running in their environments. With recent statistics estimating that Oracle controls >50% of the database market and Microsoft controlling >50% of the server operating system market, are you surprised? SQL Server only runs on Microsoft. Oracle offers more operating system versatility. While you’ll see UNIX and Linux installations, Oracle’s ability to run on Microsoft remains strong and they are improving their functionality with respect to Microsoft development. Where might an Oracle database deployed on a Microsoft server make most sense? In the small and mid-sized business market (SMB). In the SMB market, Oracle has competitively priced versions such as Oracle Database Standard Edition and Standard Edition One.

So what advantages does running Oracle on Microsoft have to offer? First, Oracle has tight integration with Active Directory and Windows Security Framework. Items such as single sign-on and security via database role and Active Directory group fall into this category. Next, Oracle offers 32-bit and 64-bit versions. In the 32-bit version, Oracle is able to utilize up to 3GB (out of a 4GB O.S. maximum) of system memory for database use. Finally, Oracle has also been working on enhancing its ability to integrate with the Windows development suite, specifically Visual Studio 2008. Oracle supports .NET in 3 ways. The Oracle Data Provider for .NET leverages ADO.NET API and allows .NET applications to access Oracle data. These APIs should be familiar to most Microsoft developers. In addition, through an add-in (free for that matter), developers can work with Oracle services via Visual Studio 2005 (and 2008 as previously mentioned). Through the development suite, developers have access to various wizards to perform various database tasks (i.e. DDL), a procedure editor (for PL/SQL procedures, packages, and functions), a Debugger for runtime error interaction, and integrated help for items such as Oracle error reference, SQL, and PL/SQL user manuals. Lastly, Oracle has integrated .NET extensions directly inside the database. This allows developers to created stored procedures and functions using C# or VB.NET within Visual Studio. This code can then be deployed to the database and referenced wherever a stored procedure or function is permitted.

Oracle has shown it is advantageous to offer solutions that fit neatly into an operating system that controls the majority of the server market, even if that vendor also happens to be a major competitor in the database market. Offer a product that is extensible and easy to use with development GUIs is sure to give you a seat at the table when it comes to choosing a solution for your organization. That is precisely why Oracle supports Microsoft (most of the time <grin>).

Dave

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Written by Dave Cordas · Filed Under Information Technology | 2 Comments 

New Models in Warehousing and PaaS

February 29, 2008

Is a column-oriented database the optimal format for a warehouse? Database pioneer Michael Stonebraker thinks so. InformationWeek reports Stonebraker’s assessment that a column-oriented database improves warehouse performance 50x, and the larger the warehouse, the greater the gain. Why? Warehouses typically store transactional data. Where a row of data stores many pieces of one transaction, the typical row-based DBMS would retrieve all rows then aggregate the selected column, a column-based DBMS would not require the same overhead of row processing. Because column information is generally of similar format, columns could also gain compression and storage efficiencies. Interesting thoughts. How viable is a column-based platform? I’m not sure, but Vertica has secured $23.5MM in venture funding to find out.

At the same time Sybase has funded column-based research since the mid-1990’s. An also-ran in the database world, Sybase saw revenues up 70% last year “because the column approach yields better query performance,” says Sybase Engineering VP, Richard Pledereder.

Column-oriented DBMSs require rethinking the data and indexes because the transaction is not the central idea. Instead, the data architect must think in terms of collections of similar records, and subject based indexes rather than transactional element indexes.

One company, Sonian Networks, archives e-mail for other businesses housing data in Vertica’s data warehouse on Amazon.com’s Simple Storage Service. Which segues into the platform as a service model. Sonian expects its warehouse to grow from a few terabytes to a petabyte sometime in 2009. And to deliver, Sonian relies on infrastructure hosted elsewhere. Sonian develops the warehouse platform and releases to a hosted environment. Their clients never miss a beat and always have the most up-to-date platform. Which reminds me of the Salesforce.com platform-as-a-service model.

If you haven’t heard, Salesforce.com, Oracle, and Google have partnered to bring PaaS to an application near you. In this model you can develop business solutions on the Salesforce.com APEX platform that targets every end-user device without having to develop custom code for each device and, drumroll here, without having to manage the infrastructure behind the applications. Right now companies must manage the intricacies of their infrastructure along with devoted staff to ensure users can perform their business functions. With PaaS, your company can continue to narrow it’s strategic and tactical focus to the services and business solutions that matter, and can offload the infrastructure responsibilities to partners who effectively do this. Okay, we’ve heard that before. Yes, except that Salesforce.com signed up 100,000 customers soon after its announcement. With a goal of disrupting the Microsoft model of software delivery, we’ll see where this goes.

- Andy

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Written by AndyErickson · Filed Under Information Technology | Leave a Comment