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Sybase is great at replication and has had it for a long time. It can replicate data from non-Sybase databases too. I've used it in production. (Ironically, my company is moving to MS SQL Server to take advantage of better support from our hosting provider, but frankly, I'm not religious about it.)

Here's the product sheet, a white paper from Sybase, a quick intro, a slightly old quick reference guide, and a performance and tuning guide.

Note that Sybase isn't giving away the replication server for free though. So I'm not sure it'll solve your MySQL problem.

--LP

Sybase is great at replication and has had it for a long time. It can replicate data from non-Sybase databases too. I've used it in production. (Ironically, my company is moving to MS SQL Server to take advantage of better support from our hosting provider, but frankly, I'm not religious about it.)

Here's the product sheet, a white paper from Sybase, a quick intro, a slightly old quick reference guide, and a performance and tuning guide.

Note that Sybase isn't giving away the replication server for free though. So I'm not sure it'll solve your MySQL problem.

--LP

For anyone interested in Sybase ASE 11.0.3.3 for Linux, it's available for download at http://www.sybase.com/detail?id=1009516
A FreeBSD flavor is also available.

Also, I believe that Sybase ASE Express Edition for Linux is aimed more at potential MS SQL Server 2005 Express Edition users rather than PostgreSQL users.

• Python
• Perl
• JDBC

(For those that haven't caught on, Sybase is a competitor to such products as Oracle, DB2, PostgreSQL etc, and is not compareable to silly little toys such as MS Access)

Kx's database is column-based instead of row based. That makes it hugely efficient for some queries (which tradition row-based RDBMSs have trouble with) and incredibly bad at others (in which traditional RDBMSs shine). It's just a question of trade-offs.

Kx isn't the first column-based database, either. Sybase's IQ product (formerly IQ-Multiplex) has been out for years now, with the exact same tens-to-hundreds of times faster response rate for data warehouse type column searches, and the same relative slowness in transaction based updates.

I'm not really a DB geek, but it seems to me that a database that could do both row and column based tables would be an interesting development, and even more interesting would be having a table be able to be stored and accessed both as rows and as columns in different areas of the table would be more interesting still...

... ever consider Sybase's SQL Anywhere Studio? The suite costs $400 USD, and comes with a database engine (and other programs to help you create forms, etc.). Some alternate links here and here.

The Adaptive Server Anywhere RDBMS is rock-solid and fast, and runs under Linux. It integrates nicely with any ODBC-based (or JDBC-based) front-end application, and offers true SQL99 compliance. It also has Java support built into it, so you could actually run a web server from within the DB engine. I've been using it quite happily for a few years.

Just a thought.

... ever consider Sybase's SQL Anywhere Studio? The suite costs $400 USD, and comes with a database engine (and other programs to help you create forms, etc.). Some alternate links here and here.

The Adaptive Server Anywhere RDBMS is rock-solid and fast, and runs under Linux. It integrates nicely with any ODBC-based (or JDBC-based) front-end application, and offers true SQL99 compliance. It also has Java support built into it, so you could actually run a web server from within the DB engine. I've been using it quite happily for a few years.

Just a thought.

Maybe so. But the developers I've worked with were MIT comp-sci grads proud of their credentials. Greenspun's comments are dead-on, it would seem. There are too many other languages out there that perform well while making database access straightforward and efficient for both app and database.

I even have it on good authority that the client-server giant of the mid 90s, PowerBuilder, is making a comeback built upon the failure of Java applications to get delivered working and on-time.

Sybase also has a dedicated data warehouse server: ASIQ (Adaptive Server Intelligent Query). I have never used this product, so I cannot comment on it (Disclaimer: I used to work for Sybase).

Postgres is pretty good, but still (IMHO) not yet up to the level of a commercial RDBMS. If you want a full-featured free-as-in-beer datacenter grade database, use Sybase 11.0.3.3. It doesn't come with source, but come on now, how many MySQL zealots have ever even compiled from source, let alone modified something?

My God. The kludge that would not die! I thought we did away with memory models when we finally got rid of protected mode. But nooo. People still want to squeeze a few more bits out of their memory systems. Somebody call an exorcist!

Sybase also offers free (as in beer) releases of older versions of Adaptive Server Enterprise. ASE 11.9.2 is $0 for development use only, and ASE 11.0.3.3 is $0 for development or production. Since 11.9.2 is now end-of-lifed, you can't purchase a license even if you wanted to. This makes it's usability on production systems somewhat ambiguous.

There are also developer versions available as free downloads (registration required) for ASE 12.5.1 and ASA 9.0 on all supported platforms.

Sybase also offers free (as in beer) releases of older versions of Adaptive Server Enterprise. ASE 11.9.2 is $0 for development use only, and ASE 11.0.3.3 is $0 for development or production. Since 11.9.2 is now end-of-lifed, you can't purchase a license even if you wanted to. This makes it's usability on production systems somewhat ambiguous.

There are also developer versions available as free downloads (registration required) for ASE 12.5.1 and ASA 9.0 on all supported platforms.

Sybase also offers free (as in beer) releases of older versions of Adaptive Server Enterprise. ASE 11.9.2 is $0 for development use only, and ASE 11.0.3.3 is $0 for development or production. Since 11.9.2 is now end-of-lifed, you can't purchase a license even if you wanted to. This makes it's usability on production systems somewhat ambiguous.

There are also developer versions available as free downloads (registration required) for ASE 12.5.1 and ASA 9.0 on all supported platforms.

WTF? Slashcode ate my link. Download page for ASE 11.0.3.3

Sybase bought Watcom years ago because they wanted Watcom SQL

There were industry rumours of Sybase dropping SQL Anywhere (formerly Watcom SQL, now Adaptive Server Anywhere) early on after the 1995 acquisition, but nothing beyond apparently.

The ASA engineering group (Waterloo Ontario) and ASE group (Dublin California) have worked together on joint projects, but the two products remain independently architected and developed. The main joint task forces seem to work(ed) on adding T-SQLisms to ASA and on the IQ product.

Adaptive Server Enterprise

Adaptive Server Anywhere (formerly Watcom SQL)

IQ

Ah....MySQL and Access, you must be talking about ASA. I suspect it unlikely that ASA become open source in the foreseeable future as it is one of the key products of iAnywhere.

ASA is a much more feature rich and powerful replacement for both above mentioned database-like repositories ;-).

For those who don't know, ASA runs on a multitude of platforms (Palm, CE, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HPUX, OS X, and that MS-Windows thingy). It has very mature synchronization and replication technologies. [Note: I may be somewhat biased on the subject ;-)].

Adaptive Server Enterprise

Adaptive Server Anywhere (formerly Watcom SQL)

IQ

Ah....MySQL and Access, you must be talking about ASA. I suspect it unlikely that ASA become open source in the foreseeable future as it is one of the key products of iAnywhere.

ASA is a much more feature rich and powerful replacement for both above mentioned database-like repositories ;-).

For those who don't know, ASA runs on a multitude of platforms (Palm, CE, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HPUX, OS X, and that MS-Windows thingy). It has very mature synchronization and replication technologies. [Note: I may be somewhat biased on the subject ;-)].

If you don't mind spending a couple of hundred dollars and don't have a competent DBA on staff, I tell people to use Sybase SQL Anywhere. SQL Anywhere is what MySQL and Postgres wish they were -- ultra-portable, ultra-scalable, and simple to administer. It's not free, but it's still dramatically cheaper than Oracle, DB2, or MS-SQL.

If you don't mind spending a couple of hundred dollars and don't have a competent DBA on staff, I tell people to use Sybase SQL Anywhere. SQL Anywhere is what MySQL and Postgres wish they were -- ultra-portable, ultra-scalable, and simple to administer. It's not free, but it's still dramatically cheaper than Oracle, DB2, or MS-SQL.

MS SQL is basically a revamped Sybase. So, on UNIX & Linux you could use Sybase ASE.

MySQL lacks several essential features which necessary to implement a proper client/server application -- stored procedures and transactions most of all. Stored procedures are essential for several reasons: security, performance, and efficiency. Stored procedures have better performance because they are pre-compiled; there's significantly less overhead to call an SP than there is to process an ad-hoc query. Stored procedures make programming more efficent because you can write a single, complex set of queries and re-use it across multiple clients.

Perhaps most importantly, stored procedures have several security advantages. If your database allows ad-hoc queries to run against it, it is vulnerable to an injection attack -- an attacker could potentially run any SQL query he wants against your database (EG: update Account set balance = 1000000 where AccountNumber = 123456). A stored procedure acts similarly to a setuid/setgid program in unix, in that it runs with it's owner's permission instead of the user's. This means that you can allow a user to modify a table in a single, very specific manner that they would otherwise not be allowed to touch. Good security is achieved by defense in depth, and stored procedures give you an additional layer of security.

If cost is a concern, then there are alternatives to Oracle: Postgres is signifiantly closer to being a real database than MySQL; and there are zero-cost licenses available from several of the commerial database vendors. Most notably, Sybase 11.0.3.3 for Linux is available at no cost for any purpose. While a little dated compared to more recent releases, it is still far more mature than any open-source database. Open-source advocacy (zealotry) should never get in the way of making sound engineering decisions.

Whether there's going to be a lot of XML around in repositories to search. XML these days is more used in interchange rather than archival applications.

I've used Sybase Power Designer (an older version) before. It's not too bad and a lot cheaper then erwin. Works with lots of database servers, and prints purty wall-sized pictures assuming you've got a plotter or don't mind pasting together a bunch of sheets. Also generates SQL for building/altering databases -- typical stuff.

The only thing to look out for is which 'version' you get -- this is one of those products where you pay extra for specific features, so you'll pay anywhere from $800 or so to over $3000 or more depending on what you get and what other products they bundle in.
Good luck!

Sybase has produced a suite of tools called PowerDesigner DataArchitect for quite a long time. (I remember using an older version when I worked at Sybase many years ago.)

For example,
sybase eshop

I was just thinking that trademark issues may arise from the products being so similarly named (and have somewhat similar goals).

(My guess is also that Sybase's product has been around for a longer period of time.)

Sybase? Sybase actually has a pretty sweet logo, though their colors suck.

-If

Online replication is generally considered by professional DBAs a fools errand.

Not if you use a capable replication solution (see rep server and open switch).

When I went to replace my aging PIII500 I considered getting another dualie, but really for what I do (email, gaming, Word, IM, etc.) I couldn't justify having two CPUs so I just got a fast Athlon (1.3GHz). Most games are not SMP-capable (nor are games really SMP-efficient given what they do) so the other CPU would essentially sit idle. As I said before CPUs are so fast now that they achieve pseudo-multitasking quite well (esp. given the new Hyper-Threading technology) so unless I had a need I canâ(TM)t justify spending the extra cost for a âcoolnessâ(TM) factor.

I guess if I had the time Iâ(TM)d like to set up a Sybase ASE instance (weâ(TM)ve got a couple medium-sided ~30GB databases that Iâ(TM)d like to mine so as to not hit the pr0d servers) so a dualie AMD with lots of RAM running RedHat would be cool to set up, although it would have to have a pretty big business case if I was to actually spend my money on it.

Oddly enough, Sybase bought Powersoft a few years later so that they could use Powerbuilder to compete against Oracle's front-end tools. This meant Sybase ended up with Watcom's assets, even though they were not particularly interested in them.

And to continue the story...

1. Sybase bought Powersoft in 1995.
2. The "Watcom" group, still based in Waterloo Ontario, became the Mobile And Embedded (MEC) division of Sybase.
3. In 2000, Sybase spun the MEC division off as its own company: iAnywhere Solutions Inc.

iAnywhere makes the very powerful, popular (and developer friendly!) SQL Anywhere Studio as well as other products.

See more:

• Sybase Milestones
• iAnywhere Solutions History and Milestones

Sybase ASE is already on OS X.

Because they didn't realize they could run Linux + Sybase

I've had a lot less problems with Sybase than I have had with MySQL. Not to mention the fact you get experience with a real enterprise database.

If you're looking for a nice RDBMS for Netware, iAnywhere Solutions has SQL Anywhere, which is available for a number of platforms including Netware. I'm not exactly sure how it stacks up against PostgreSQL, but I've had a lot of success using it in the past (on Linux and Windows, admittedly).

Not that I work for iAnywhere Solutions or anything. *cough*

-j

Is Sybase SQL Anywhere. It offers scalable, bidirectional synchronization of information between your handheld and your Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and IBM DB2 RDBMS's. I would even think it might poke your MySQL/PostgreSQL DB via ODBC or some other method.

A whitepaper is here: http://www.sybase.com/detail/1,6904,1016232,00.htm l

Is Sybase SQL Anywhere. It offers scalable, bidirectional synchronization of information between your handheld and your Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and IBM DB2 RDBMS's. I would even think it might poke your MySQL/PostgreSQL DB via ODBC or some other method.

A whitepaper is here: http://www.sybase.com/detail/1,6904,1016232,00.htm l

• "Info Sharing" to Gov agencies
• "External Searches" by Gov agencies
• "Automatic Notification" to "FinCEN, FBI, OFAC"

• Automating access and updates to the OFAC SDN, FinCEN, and other lists of suspected terrorists and those engaged in illicit activities,
• Automating screening of transactions against suspect lists, as the transactions occur,
• Screening of the Customer Information Files (CIFs--both umbrella and application specific) and company employees against suspect lists,
• Automating the investigation process through to clearing a suspect by adding them to the excluded list or SAR reporting with historical documentation of the investigation process,
• Automating user notification of suspected matches via email, pager, wireless, or other methods
• Facilitating electronic interactions with FinCEN, other regulators, enforcement agencies, and financial institutions,
• Facilitating the implementation and maintenance of internal lists for tracking the activity of customers based on specific requirements of an institution

• "Info Sharing" to Gov agencies
• "External Searches" by Gov agencies
• "Automatic Notification" to "FinCEN, FBI, OFAC"

• Automating access and updates to the OFAC SDN, FinCEN, and other lists of suspected terrorists and those engaged in illicit activities,
• Automating screening of transactions against suspect lists, as the transactions occur,
• Screening of the Customer Information Files (CIFs--both umbrella and application specific) and company employees against suspect lists,
• Automating the investigation process through to clearing a suspect by adding them to the excluded list or SAR reporting with historical documentation of the investigation process,
• Automating user notification of suspected matches via email, pager, wireless, or other methods
• Facilitating electronic interactions with FinCEN, other regulators, enforcement agencies, and financial institutions,
• Facilitating the implementation and maintenance of internal lists for tracking the activity of customers based on specific requirements of an institution

Note that there is a free version of Sybase for linux. See linux.sybase.com for details.

For the fine burgers of California to switch to a real database.

Sybase SQL Anywhere, formerly Watcom SQL. Blows Access completely to smithereens

Honesitly, I have never seen this product before. I've checked out the specs, and it appears that it does not offer a front end like access. (the ability to create data entry forms and reports in the database itself.)

Creating forms in Access is a nice way to knock up a quick, simple, but effective data driven 'application' without having to resort to a real programming language. I have created dozens of such solutions for people, on access 97 and access 2k.

Anyway, that aside, I will download an eval copy because I do like to sound of some of the replication features.

As a single user back end database, it might very way blow Access out of the water for it's "data store", but then again, microsoft offers MSDE for free, which would blow SQL anywhere out of the water.

In addition to the links above, most of the big database systems have active Linux ports. Any Oracle, Sybase, Informix or DB2, InterSystems, Poet, or Versant customer is a potential Linux customer.

Peoplesoft seems pretty platform agnostic.

Sybase also offers the developer version of EAServer on two platforms.

I notice both these companies are focusing heavily on J2EE, is this a move away from IIS as an 'API'? This would seem to be a motivator for the .NET platform, are they going to have versions of their application servers available for .NET as it rolls out of beta? Or is Microsoft trying to stake a claim in some of that territory itself?

Ok, I admit I was a little trollish.

Still, the only thing they've done so far is make a end-of-life product (since June 30, 1999) available for download. That's nothing exceptional, Borland for example does the same thing with their old compilers.

BTW, there are several ports of gcc to DOS (DJGPP) and Windows (Cygwin, MinGW).

Adobe's a member of the BSA.

The BSA has an interesting statement on the DMCA here. This is a response to a Library of Congress rule available here.

Members of the BSA include Adobe, Apple Computer, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, CNC Software/Mastercam, Compaq, Corel Corporation, IBM, Intel, Intuit, Lotus Development, Macromedia, Microsoft, Network Associates, Novell, Sybase, Symantec, and Walker Digital; i.e. most of /.'s favourite hate companies, plus some extras.

These are the guys to line up against. They've been around since the '80s. I suspect that Adobe's lawyers are all BSA stooges. Certainly Adobe's PR department doesn't seem to be toeing the BSA line.

http://www.sybase.com/ase_125eval

Alas, you don't say exactly what it is you intend to do with this database nor what issues/capabilities are most important to you.

Not to be nitpicky, but you mention providing marketable skills & performance isn't the issue. If Java is a slow performer, wouldn't it tend to hurt students more learning a language that is slow, and klunky? Last I checked, there were plenty of jobs available for C & C++ programmers. I have a feeling that Java may be a fad, and C/C++ will be around and fall back in favor unless Java really takes off.

Java lets you do some cool stuff, and it lets you do some really klunky stuff, but it isn't designed for performance. Any industry that is CPU bound (Simulation, number crunching, gaming, local applications, etc.) needs to be coded to run fast. Industries that are network bound (ISP's, ASP's, Portals, etc.) don't really care about how much the CPU is choking because the network is the bottleneck. I have a feeling, once the network is no longer the bottleneck, Java either better get fast quick, or it's going to be going back to C/C++ for speed.

1. Java's not slow and klunky. I don't know when the last time you looked at Java was (it must have been years ago), but it is fast and getting faster. There are some optimization tricks you can do to code at runtime that can't work with a static compiler.
2. C++ lets you do some really klunky stuff, too - more, I would argue. There's no cure for incompetent programming.
3. Java isn't just taking off, it's already taken off. The base of Java developers and companies using Java for enterprise-critical applications is growing in direct proportion to C++'s falloff rate. Java isn't a fad, it's the language of the future. You can bury your head in the sand all you want, but that's the way it is. I'm sure lots of COBOL programmers thought C was just a fad, too.
4. Java's making huge inroads in graphics performance and I/O speed, which is where it's always been slowest, especially in the upcoming Merlin release (J2SE 1.4). I won't pretend that you could write Quake III in Java yet, but you could probably write Quake I. Computation speed has never really been the problem. After all, even Fortran has great number-crunching capability, but nobody would use it for serious enterprise-type applications.
5. Java's great strengths are binary portability, syntactic simplicity, and standard, supported APIs for everything under the sun. C++ doesn't even have an ABI standard that everyone plays with yet, let alone standard networking, graphics, and GUI libraries. Any industry that doesn't want portable, maintainable, extensible code is better off out of business.

Obligatory flamebait disclaimer: I don't think C and C++ are going away, or that Java is the One True Language. However, it is ridiculous to assert that Java is slow, poorly adopted, or unsuited to real-world applications in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Very serious companies like Oracle, Sybase, IBM, Macromedia/Allaire, Borland and of course Sun, are banking lots of money on Java's success, recognizing that it's a mature, robust, stable, fast language for very serious development.

You can't Sybase's off of a free version of their commercial database.

Free for commerical use version of Sybase 11.0.3 it is available at http://linux.sybase.com. Note that the other version are pay but their prices are reasonable (not like Oracle).

Free JDBC for 11.0.3 is here: http://www.sybase.com/products/eaimiddleware/jconn ectforjdbc

You can't Sybase's off of a free version of their commercial database.

Free for commerical use version of Sybase 11.0.3 it is available at http://linux.sybase.com. Note that the other version are pay but their prices are reasonable (not like Oracle).

Free JDBC for 11.0.3 is here: http://www.sybase.com/products/eaimiddleware/jconn ectforjdbc

From this page on Sybase.com:

"
Adaptive Server Enterprise for Linux version 11.0.3.3 download

Adaptive Server Enterprise for Linux version 11.0.3.3 continues to be offered as a free, unsupported release for development as well as deployment. Adaptive Server Enterprise for Linux version 11.0.3.3 is available from the Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise for Linux version 11.0.3.3 download web page.
"

Sure, it's not very recent (latest version is 12.0, but there's a 12.5 beta available for testing), but as I said, it's free as in beer.

About ODBC support, sorry but I have no idea.

From this page on Sybase.com:

"
Adaptive Server Enterprise for Linux version 11.0.3.3 download

Adaptive Server Enterprise for Linux version 11.0.3.3 continues to be offered as a free, unsupported release for development as well as deployment. Adaptive Server Enterprise for Linux version 11.0.3.3 is available from the Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise for Linux version 11.0.3.3 download web page.
"

Sure, it's not very recent (latest version is 12.0, but there's a 12.5 beta available for testing), but as I said, it's free as in beer.

About ODBC support, sorry but I have no idea.

That there's another database out there, which is free (as in beer) for both development and deployment on Linux, and it's named Sybase.

I've heard that MS-SQLserver is a rip-off of Sybase, but I can't of course confirm this. They are so similar though, that you can use Sybase's client libraries (which are somewhat a brain-fart IMO, but they work somehow) to access MS-SQLserver's data...

Sybase is somewhat a big monolith if compared to the baredness and nimbleness of MySQL. But it will do the job nicely, I'm sure..