Oracle vs. SQL Server

Database Comparision

Table of Contents

1.Introduction

2.Operational Concerns

a.Scalability

b.Platform Availability

c.Networking & Internet Readiness

3.Vendor Related Issues

a.Licensing

b.Support and Maintenance

4.User Considerations

a.DBA Concerns

b.Programmability

5.Conclusion

Appendix A - System Requirements for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0

SQL Server 7.0 Introduction

SQL Server 7.0 is designed to scale from laptop databases and small business servers all the way up to terabyte-size databases.SQL Server 7.0 is designed to operate on Microsoft’s Windows 95, 98 and NT operating systems.However, the Windows 95 & 98 versions of SQL Server 7.0 only support desktop, laptop and small workgroup applications.SQL Server 7.0 for Windows NT Workstation has been developed for applications that involve a large numbers of users and transactions.

Microsoft SQL Server had 30% of the Windows NT database market in 1998, while Oracle had 46.1% of the Windows NT market, which was a 55% growth in 1998.This statistic must be understood in the context that it applies only to the Windows NT platform, since that is the only platform that both Microsoft and Oracle have in common.

Although, Microsoft has taken a big step forward in enterprise capability with the SQL Server 7.0, it seems like their product is more appropriate for departmental and small to mid-sized companies.“Rewritten for ease of use, Microsoft’s SQL Server 7.0 is far and away the best choice for smaller organizations or branch offices that need a full-featured relational database.Larger organizations will find SQL Server a better performer than ever before, although competing databases including Oracle 8 and DB2 continue to provide better programmability and scalability.”[ii]

In speaking with a few experienced database administrators and programmers, SQL Server really is not known as a competitor with the “big boys” of the relational database software market.The well-known database software products include Oracle, IBM’s DB2, Sybase and Informix.These companies remain leaders in database technology at the enterprise level.

Oracle 8i Introduction

Oracle 8i is a database product that is built upon a mature Oracle 8 product, but also brings increased capabilities to develop and integrate with Internet applications.Oracle’s databases have been developed and proven to handle the largest of enterprise databases.But Oracle also targets smaller, mid-tier companies who find it necessary to have 24 hours by 7 days availability due to increasing Internet business needs.Oracle’s 8i databases are available on a wide variety of platforms.Dell, IBM, Linux, Sun, Fujitsu and Unisys are a few of the 21 listed on Oracle’s web site.

Oracle’s products are definitely not the cheapest on the market. If an evaluation of the application necessitates a high need for reliability, scalability, security and performance then Oracle should be considered. Oracle is the world’s leading supplier of software for information management, holding 27% of the database market share across all platforms.Oracle is the undisputed database leader on UNIX platforms, commanding 60.9% of the market share according to Dataquest.[iii],[iv]

2.Operational Concerns

a. Scalability

Scalability in the context of database software is defined as the software’s ability to continue to perform at a similar level with a larger amount of data and a growing number of users and transactions.

Amount of Data

SQL Server 7.0 can grow up to 1,048,516 terra-bytes.Microsoft uses SMP (systems with 4 processors) technology to distribute databases. Other maximum sizes and numbers can be referenced in Appendix C, which outlines other technical specifications of SQL Server 7.0.

Oracle 8i is scalable up to hundreds of terabytes to manage very large databases (VLDB).Oracle takes advantage of distributed processing and storage capabilities through architectural features that use more than one processor to divide the processing for a set of related jobs.This distributed architecture is a good example of the expression “the sum of the parts is greater than the whole”, because as individual processors work on a subset of related tasks, performance of the whole system is improved.

Number of Simultaneous Users

Theoretically, there is no limit to the number of users that can access either the Oracle 8i or SQL Server 7.0 database servers at one time, given infinite processors and infinite speed.In practical terms, there is a limit, but it should not pose any real issues to be concerned with in terms of concurrent data.One consideration is that SQL Servers will require ODBC software to connect with clients that are not PC based.This will require some overhead, but should be pretty negligible. 

In a “Score Card” published by ZDNet[v], which is fully documented in Appendix D, the following ratings were published.These ratings really demonstrate the equality of SQL Server and Oracle for these performance criteria.

 

	PC Microsoft SQL Server 7.0	Oracle8i Standard Edition
Server Engine	Excellent	Good
Support for multiple CPUs	Excellent	Fair
Join and index selection	Excellent	Excellent
Degree of concurrency	Good	Excellent
Database Design	Good	Excellent
Distributed transactions	Excellent	Excellent

These issues of are fundamental topics when performance is being discussed.

b.Platform Availability

As discussed in the Introduction, SQL Server 7.0 is designed to operate on Microsoft’s Windows 95, 98 and NT 4.0 operating systems.However, the Windows 95 & 98 versions of SQL Server 7.0 will only support desktop, laptop and small workgroup applications and requires an Intel platform.

SQL Server 7.0 for Windows NT Workstation has been developed for applications that involve a large numbers of users and transactions and is limited to Intel or Alpha platforms.

This limitation could cause hurdles for large corporations in terms of performance that can be expected.Brian McCarthy, CEO of Insurance Holdings said “Microsoft said we’d need an all-Microsoft application if we wanted full scalability, but who’s going to rebuild the whole system?”[vi]

It’s especially important to note that although other platforms can be used for clients to access the SQL Server 7.0, a third party ODBC software must be used.ODBC is an interface that allows for data to be accessed in relational databases, independent of the database vendor.

Oracle 8i is supported by a large number of hardware manufacturers, as well as several operating systems.There are currently 21 hardware vendors listed on Oracle’s website, with at least 6 operating systems, counting UNIX as one although the flavors may vary by manufacturer.Reference Appendix F for details on some of the platforms and operating systems that Oracle runs on.Further details can be found on specific platforms at Oracle’s dedicated website:www.platforms.oracle.com.

Networking & Internet Readiness

The need for a database to be Internet ready is quickly becoming a necessity in today’s rapidly growing web based world. At every turn in the software industry, the topic of e-business and e-commerce is a top issue for companies wanting to compete in the future. Therefore, the need for database software to support and enhance Internet application development is a must.

SQL Server 7.0 still lags behind in its ability to support multimedia data support and in programmability, which are necessary for many Internet applications. Third party software will have to be used to store special images, sound, video or geographic data support. SQL Server 7.0 doesn’t support Java, which is an industry standard for developing network applications.

Oracle 8i is the best product for companies wanting to move their database applications to the Web. Oracle leads the market in handling of multimedia objects. Multimedia support is particularly relevant when building Web-based applications like online stores that include multimedia items such as pictures or video clips of items for sale. Oracle uses a product call JServer, which brings Java and relational databases together. It allows for controlling the database through Java and supports the creation of JavaBeans. JavaBeans are the basic building blocks for Java-based Internet applications, and are (or will be) supported by just about every high-end Internet application server on the market.

In the ZDNet Scorecard (Appendix D), SQL Server 7.0 and Oracle 8i were rated as follows, in respect to their internet readiness features:

 
 

	Microsoft SQL Server 7.0	Oracle8i Standard Edition
Multimedia Data Handling	Poor	Excellent
Web connectivity	Poor	Excellent
Support for sound, media, video, images	Poor	Excellent
Full text search	Good	Excellent

3. Vendor Related Issues

a.Licensing

SQL Server

Pricing structures of software can be complex.Microsoft recognizes this and even offers “A Guide to BackOffice Pricing and Licensing” to help readers understand some of the subtleties and complexities before “cutting a check”. SQL Server can be purchased by itself in either of the above-mentioned versions, as an upgrade to certain other database products or as a part of Microsoft BackOffice.A license for the server is distinct from the licenses for the CAL (client access license), but every server is accompanied with a certain number of CALS.Although the number of CALS may vary by application, there would always be a need for at least one CAL or the database could not be accessed to retrieve data.

To compare prices the details of the system architecture must be well understood.Some of those details include the number of servers required to support the database, how many processors a server will have, the number of users needing to access the database, whether the system will be serving an Internet or intranet application.

Based on an application where 250 or more users (CALs) will be accessing one database server, the cost of SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Version is listed as $28,999 on Microsoft web site.To get an understanding of the price differences between the Enterprise version and the Standard version, SQL Server 7.0 Standard Version and Five CALs would cost $3,999, while the Enterprise version with Five CALs lists at $7999.An upgrade of the SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise version for a customer who is also upgrading the clients accessing the database costs $3969, while a customer who is buying licenses for new clients along with the server license costs $7099.

The benefits of the Enterprise Edition over the Standard Edition cited in the Microsoft publications get blurred in the marketing jargon.The Enterprise version is used for increased system scalability and reliability by providing support for SMP (systems with multiple processors) and extended memory

These prices are negotiable and the price varies in terms of how customer acquires the SQL Server.For example, if a customer purchases software that runs on SQL Server or purchases it from an independent software vendor then the pricing would obviously be different.

Oracle 8i

A named user is defined as “an individual who is authorized by his/her company to use the Oracle Software programs, regardless of whether the individual is actively using these programs at any given time.”[vii]

A concurrent device is defined as “an input device accessing the program on the designated system at any given point in time. The number of "Concurrent Devices" you are licensed for is the maximum number of input devices accessing the programs on the Designated System at any given point in time. If multiplexing hardware or software (e.g., a TP Monitor or a Web server product) is used, this number must be measured at the multiplexing front-end.”vii

A power unit is defined as one MHz of power in any Intel compatible or RISC processor in any computer of the Designated Systems on the Order Confirmation page on which the Oracle software programs are installed and operating. (Intel refers to Intel Solaris, Linux, and Windows NT; RISC refers to Sun SPARC Solaris, HP-UX, and IBM/AIX. A "Processor" license shall be for the actual number of processors installed in the licensed computer and running the Oracle program(s), regardless of the number of processors which the computer is capable of running.)”vii

A named user licensing unit costs $600, a concurrent device costs $1495 and a power unit costs $200 for the Oracle 8i Enterprise Edition.These prices are 5 times more than what Oracle charges for the Standard Edition.

The Enterprise Editions includes these advanced features on top of the Standard Edition:large-database partitioning (which helps you keep monster gigabyte-size databases under control), flexible security features, and speed features such as bitmapped indexes, summary tables, and parallelism.

Two other modules that Oracle offers for enhanced web integration and multi-media handling are Oracle JServer Standard Edition and WebDB, which if necessary add to the total cost of the Oracle solution.They are also priced based on the licensing unit discussed above.

b.Support and Maintenance

Availability of qualified database administrators (DBA) and programmers is one issue that cannot be overlooked in considering which database will be best for the given organization and application.Due to the relationship between supply, demand and cost, the shortage of Oracle DBAs and programmers can mean only mean one thing.They are hard to find and when one is available, they command a very high salary.

The nature of Oracle is that it can be more difficult to program and administer, so it requires specially trained personnel.SQL Server, on the other hand, is an easier product to learn and administer so the number of available programmers is higher and less expensive to staff a database project. 

No cost information could be obtained on the annual maintenance fees to remain current on the licensing agreements with either Oracle or SQL Server.

4. User Considerations

a. Database Administrator (DBA) Concerns

Recovery & Backup

In every database system, the possibility of a system or hardware failure always exists. Should a failure occur and affect the database, the database must be recovered. The goals after a failure are to ensure that the effects of all committed transactions are reflected in the recovered database and to return to normal operations as quickly as possible while insulating users from problems caused by the failure. Databases can fail due power outages, operating system crashes, disk failure or operator error.

Both SQL Server 7.0 and Oracle make commitments on a two-phase commit approach, which allows for users to control a logical set of SQL statements so they all either succeed or fail as a unit. This two-phase mechanism guarantees that no matter what type of system or network failure might occur, a distributed transaction either commits on all involved nodes or rolls back on all involved nodes to maintain data consistency across the global distributed database.

Monitoring & Tuning Capabilities

SQL Server 7.0 is an exceptionally easy product to administer and is more forgiving than previous SQL Server versions.SQL Server 7.0 has an auto-tuning feature that allows for memory to be self-managed and there are several new wizards that simply advanced tasks such as creating databases, scheduling backups, importing and exporting data and configuring replication.This should make the training of database administrators much easier.

Oracle 8i databases can be administered and controlled very tightly, but it is a complex and requires trained database administrators to do so proficiently.“Oracle8i tools are Java-based and can even be run from a Web browser. They provide all the essentials for designing and setting up a database, including some advanced features like letting you selectively delegate authority to users of its Enterprise Manager administration console. This is a handy tool for branch office deployment.Like previous releases of Enterprise Manager, though, this one is a version behind the database, and it doesn't know a thing about new Oracle8i features such as Java stored procedures.”[viii]

b.Programmability

There are languages supported within the database software for programming and controlling the database.For example, since PL/SQL can be stored in the database, network traffic between applications and the database is reduced, thereby increasing application and system performance.

SQL Server 7.0 comes with an internal programming language called Transact-SQL, which has received a poor rating in several reviews.“While everyone else in the SQL database market is moving (or has already moved) to a modern programming language like Java, SQL Server customers are still stuck in the programming Dark Ages—no object orient development, no big class libraries to use, and no code interoperability with anything else.”[ix]The programming can be done, but it will require a lot more work.

Oracle gets an excellent rating for it’s internal language offerings, which include Java and PL/SQL.

5.Conclusion

In comparing these two database products, it became apparent they each hold a different place and purpose in the market.They don’t compete in the same niche.Microsoft SQL Server, a client-server database, continues to make strides toward the enterprise database market, but is still most appropriate for a departmental or small to mid-sized company whose database doesn’t have such high scalability, reliability and availability needs.SQL Server’s greatest weakness is the Windows NT platform, which it operates on, is not mature enough to provide the kind of availability that enterprise worthy systems require.“In the small-business market, the differentiating factors are ease of database administration, Web connectivity, the speed and features of the database server engine, branch-office and mobile support, and the ability to warehouse data efficiently. SQL Server 7.0 shines in all of these areas except Web connectivity. Its administration tools include many wizards and self-tuning settings that make it the only database we reviewed that might not require a specially trained administrator.”[x]

Oracle, also a client-server database, operates on the high end of the database market and is also reaching out to start ups, small to medium sized businesses who have a need for a complete, integrated platform for critical applications for the internet. Oracle is harder to administer is an expensive choice, unless the application being developed requires its Java or multimedia features.Another selling point to Oracle is that is it sold on a multitude of platforms, in comparison to SQL Server 7.0, which may be appealing to some customers who are seeking a more mature platform.

Appendix A

System Requirements for Microsoft SQL Server 7.0*

Client Access Licenses required

Server

·PC with a Pentium (166 MHz or higher) or Alpha processor 

·Microsoft Windows NT Server operating system version 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 4 or later (Service Pack 4 included) 

·Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 with Service Pack 1 or later (both included) 

·32 MB of RAM 

·Hard-disk space required: 

·65–180 MB for Server; approximately 170 MB for typical installation 

·35–50 MB for OLAP services; approximately 50 MB for typical installation 

·24–36 MB for English Query; approximately 36 MB for typical installation 

·CD-ROM drive 

·VGA or higher-resolution monitor; Super VGA recommended 

·Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device

Note SQL Server 7.0 can utilize up to four processors. Additional processor support is available with SQL Server 7.0 Enterprise Edition. 

Desktop
Identical to Server requirements with the following exceptions: 

·Each installation of SQL Server Desktop requires a per-seat client access license for SQL Server 7.0; SQL Server Desktop will only interact with SQL Server in per-seat mode 

·65–180 MB available hard-disk space; approximately 170 MB for typical installation
Note The Desktop version of SQL Server 7.0 can utilize up to two processors. 

Networking Support Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT built-in network software (additional network software is not required unless you are using Banyan VINES or AppleTalk ADSP; Novell NetWare client support is provided by NWLink) 

Clients Supported Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT Workstation, UNIX,** Apple Macintosh,** and OS/2** 

*Actual requirements will vary based on your system configuration and the features you choose to install. 

**Requires ODBC client software from a third-party vendor.

Maximum Sizes and Numbers of SQL Server 7.0

 

Object	SQL Server 7.0
Batch size	128 *Network Packet Size
Bytes per character or binary column	8000
Bytes per text, ntext, or image column	2GB-2
Bytes per GROUP BY, ORDER BY	8060
Bytes per index	900
Bytes per foreign key	900
Bytes per primary key	900
Bytes per row	8060
Bytes in source text of a stored procedure	Batch size
Clustered indexes or constraints per table	1
Columns in GROUP BY, ORDER BY	Limited only by number of bytes
Columns or expressions in a GROUP BY WITH CUBE or WITH ROLLUP statement	10
Columns per index	16
Columns per foreign key	16
Columns per primary key	16
Columns per base table	1024
Columns per SELECT statement	4096
Columns per INSERT statement	1024
Connections per client	Max. value of configured connections
Database size	1,048,516 TB
Files per database	32,767
File size (data)	32 TB
Object	SQL Server 7.0
File size (log)	4 TB
FOREIGN KEY constraints per table	63
Foreign key table references per table	63
Identifier length (in characters)	128
Index key size (bytes)	900
Locks per connection	Max. value of locks configured
Nested subqueries	64
Nested trigger levels	32
Nonclustered indexes or constraints per table	250
Objects in a database *	2,147,483,647
Parameters per stored procedure	1024
PRIMARY KEY constraints per table	1
Rows per table	Limited by available storage
SQL string length	128 *TDS packet size
Tables per database	Limited by number of objects in a database
Tables per SELECT statement	256
Triggers per table	Limited by number of objects in a database
UNIQUE constraints per table	250 nonclustered and 1 clustered

* Database objects include all tables, views, stored procedures, extended stored procedures, triggers, rules, defaults, and constraints.

Scorecard of Microsoft’s SQL Server & Oracle’s 8i

 
 

	PC Microsoft SQL Server 7.0	Oracle8i Standard Edition
Server Administration	Excellent	Good
Graphical tools	Excellent	Good
Ease of maintenance	Excellent	Good
Server Engine	Excellent	Excellent
Support for multiple CPUs	Excellent	Good
Join and index selection	Excellent	Excellent
Degree of concurrency	Good	Excellent
Multimedia Data Handling	Poor	Excellent
Web connectivity	Poor	Excellent
Support for sound, media, video, images	Poor	Excellent
Full text search	Good	Excellent
Interoperability	Good	Fair
Links with other databases	Good	Poor
Single log-on	Good	Good
Operating-system support	Fair	Good
Programmability	Fair	Excellent
Stored procedures and triggers	Good	Excellent
Internal programming language	Poor	Excellent
Database Design	Good	Excellent
SQL language support	Excellent	Excellent
Object-oriented design	Poor	Excellent
Branch Office Support	Excellent	Excellent
Replication	Excellent	Excellent
Distributed transactions	Excellent	Excellent
Remote administration	Good	Excellent
Data Warehousing and Reporting	Excellent	Excellent
Loading tools	Excellent	Excellent

Appendix D

Summary of Features of Microsoft’s SQL Server & Oracle’s 8i

Appendix E

Oracle 8 and Oracle 8i Standard Edition Platform Availability