gny@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Brian L Hanson) (07/11/90)
Here are the responses I received for the RDBMS survey. I received a few
responses about Sybase and Informix, one response about Ingres and one
suggestion about Unify.
Cheers,
Brian L. Hanson
gny@mentor.cc.purdue.edu
From: calvin@gotham.East.Sun.COM (Christopher Klein - Sun Consulting)
->DON'T use INGRES! I implore you. I just finished a 1 year project with
->Ingres 5.1 on Sun 3. The worst software I have ever worked with. Without
->a doubt. Technical support OK, only way they are still in business.
->Database distribution sucks. Administration tools? Come on, you gotta be
->kidden. Integrated programming environment? HA! This stuff was written
->by committee. The first thing that happened was that the interactive run
->mode wasn't working. You know, makes debugging easier. Well, we got a new
->release and the problem was fixed? by taking out the feature. The 4GL is
->like codeing with handcuff on (behind your back), the forms editor was
->designed to maximize keystrokes. I will say this much. "".
->
->Go with Sybase, especially if you want a state-of-the-art distributed
->system going up to 300 users. Sybase really did networking right, it is
->a breeze to work with. I just finished a 3 month project using only
->embedded SQL. What a breath of fresh air.
->
->Unfortunately, I don't think my opinion here will be valid for two
->reasons. One, my employer (Sun) has a special relationship with Sybase.
->We have a whole staff in Mountain View, CA. devoted to Sybase support
->for all operations. We have servers located around the country on a WAN,
->anybody can use them as long as the database and software you produce is
->open to the whole company. Actually, I had to ask only two questions of
->and they related to out setup, not really a technical Sybase problem.
->
->Secondly, I only used the performance monitoring tools, isql, and
->embedded-SQL. I never had a problem that I needed help. However, I
->am an experienced database programmer, take this into account.
->
->My gut reaction to SYBASE was just based on ease of use, programming
->paradigm, and quality of technical classes. I went to two, they were
->taught by consultants, not Sybase, but were assured that the materials
->were directly from Sybase. The classes were superb.
->
->Programming paradigm just refers to the API, that is, the way you access
->the database. It is very "C" like, very unlike other embedded systems
->I've used. Makes coding much easier. The creation of the SQL statements,
->which I believe to be the hardest to debug due to uncontemplated behaviour,
->are a snap to debug. The EXACT statement that your code produces can
->be piped directly into isql to see the results. If you have done database
->programming, you'll realize what a huge beenfit this is over many, if not
->all, other DB products.
->
->Again, I haven't used to forms system or reports.
->
->Good Luck...
->
->`Chris
->
->--
->Christopher Klein (212) 558-9196 | Cacaphony & Dispepsia |
->Sun Professional Services, NYC | - * - |
->calvin@hobbes.East.Sun.Com | Software Engineers |
*************************************************************************
From: Mike Segel <segel@tellab5.tellabs.com>
->You may want to contact Informix directly, but from personal
->experience, Informix will meet all of your needs. You could
->use their standard engine except for the disk mirroring.
->
->As well you could substitue WINGZ for Lotus123.
->
->I have heard some feedback about bugs in Online, but nothing
->worth mentioning. Just make sure you get you software license
->and support package set up before you start using it.
->
->-Mike Segel
*************************************************************************
From: unify!craig@ee.ecn.purdue.edu (Craig Isaacs)
->>We are evaluating the 3 RDBMS packages listed above and would like any
->>stories, praises or recommendations about these products. The database server
->>will be a Sun 4/490 with SunOS 4.1. Some of the applications will be used on
->>MS-DOS machines hanging off our ethernet. The data will also be used in SAS
->>and Lotus 123 for Sun.
->>
->> 6) How effective is the 4GL? Is it more than just a souped-up 3GL?
->> 6) Does it have consistent Look & Feel across multiple platforms?
->> i.e. Sun, PC's and character terminals?
->
->These are our strengths... In fact, you can have the same application
->with the look and feel of OPEN LOOK on a Sun and MS Windows on a PC.
->(The *same* application.)
->
->Have you considered ACCELL/SQL running on top of your selected RDBMS?
->
->Craig
->
->--
->Craig Isaacs *Unify Corporation* internet: craig@unify.UUCP
->voice: (916) 920-9092 ...!{csusac,pyramid}!unify!craig
->-------------------------------------------------------------------------
->"Rearview mirrors are for wimps." - Mark Tice, quote of the week
*************************************************************************
From: zonna@slovax.wa.com (Zonna M. Crayne)
->
-> At the company I work for we changed from Informix to Sybase. Most of us
-> who have done any programming on the system regret the move. It is
-> true that there are many flexabilities with the system but I recomend
-> that you review whethere or not you need all those capabilities because
-> there were many other problems that we incured from the change. We were
-> using it on a Sun server 4.1 with only 6 work stations.
-> This bigest complaint that people have around here was the support that
-> we purchased from Sybase. On one particular problem I was working late
-> about 4:30 (I usually work 6-3am. Note that we are on the same time
-> as Calf becasue I am in Wash.) when I called in a problem. They gave the
-> problem to someone who worked nights that was comming in in an hour or
-> so. Well on that problem the only person that I could talk to was this
-> person who worked nights. I had a bit of troulbe getting that problem
-> resolved because of the time. On another situation we had been working
-> on a problem (quite a while because some times it was easier to try and
-> figure it out ourselves than to call the support line.) When we finally
-> did call them they said that the problem we were experiencing was a known
-> bug and they would send us the fix. My question was why not inform the
-> customer of known bugs or send the fixes out as they are released instead
-> of the customer having to reinvent the wheel.
->
-> I usually got a different rep that handeled each problem. There were
-> some who were not very helpful and who were not very good with people.
-> I am sure there are a veriety of people that work there and eveyone
-> has a bad day but too many people were having bad days for me.
-> Sorry for being so long. To sum things up We were not very spleased
-> with the system and the support. That out weighed any of the good
-> things that the software includes.
->
-
-Q: How long to get a response to technical question?
-
-> one or two days.
-> It was much more difficult to learn Sybase than informix and I
-> had less reason to call for support when I was using informix.
-> You should keep in mind that I did not have the oportunity to
-> attend training on either system, just reading the manual. The
-> other person may have attended some of the training classes from
-> Sybase which may have made a difference. My company sent one
-> person to one of the intro classes (1 week) and it didn't seem
-> to be enouph. She had almost as much trouble as I did just going
-> through the tutorial in the manuals. I hope you have good luch
-> with which ever system you decide on.
->
->
->Zonna
*************************************************************************
From: brianc@daedalus.ucsf.EDU (Brian Colfer)
->
->In article <11716@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> you write:
->>
->>We are evaluating the 3 RDBMS packages listed above and would like any
->>stories, praises or recommendations about these products. The database server
->>will be a Sun 4/490 with SunOS 4.1. Some of the applications will be used on
->>MS-DOS machines hanging off our ethernet. The data will also be used in SAS
->>and Lotus 123 for Sun.
->>
->>Coniderations:
->> Number of users: 30-50 initially; to 300 in 2 years
->> Good technical support
->> Good database distribution
->> Good administration tools
->> Good integrated programming environment
->>
->My site:
-> - Sun 3/280
-> - 16 MB RAM
-> - 2 SMD disks with one Xylogics 451 controller
-> - 32 ports
-> - SunOS 4.1
-> - Informix 4.0 Standard Engine
-> - Informix 4GL 4.0
-> - Informix SQL 4.0
-> - Lotus 1-2-3 for Sun
-> - No SAS ... Statit & BLSS
->
->>Specific Questions:
->> 1) Any database problems related with SunOS 4.1?
->
->None.
->
->> 2) Any Sun users not happy with these products?
->
->I am very happy with Informix... it is a rich database product with
->integrates very well with my UNIX development environment.
->
->> 3) Problems with loss of data due to server problems?
->
->Do not use distributed model... Serial and TCP/IP links.
->
->> 4) Any problems with Informix disk mirroring?
->
->Don't have the Online product.
->
->> 5) Any problems interfacing with SAS or Lotus 123?
->
->I don't know of anyone who has developed a Datalens for Informix-SE.
->ASCII files of course will upload just fine.
->
->> 6) How effective is the 4GL? Is it more than just a souped-up 3GL?
->
->4GL is a marketing word name ... the development environment is very
->rich and powerfull. I think that database applications are
->necessarily procedural applications. A database application must be
->able to sequentially transform data from a raw state to something that
->meets the requirments of the application.
->
->> 6) Does it have consistent Look & Feel across multiple platforms?
->> i.e. Sun, PC's and character terminals?
->
->Right now I believe it is all character based as opposed to a SunView
->Xwindows etc.
->>
->>Please send mail to me directly. I will post a summary if requested.
->>
->>Brian L. Hanson
->>gny@mentor.cc.purdue.edu
->
->Informix is also much cheaper than the others ...
->
->--
->Brian Colfer | UC San Francisco |------------------------|
-> | Dept. of Lab. Medicine | System Administrator, |
->brianc@labmed.ucsf.edu | S.F. CA, 94143-0134 USA | Programer/Analyst |
->BRIANC@UCSFCCA.BITNET | PH. (415) 476-2325 |------------------------|