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I wonder about MS SQL Server too. Their code is a branch from Sybase's ASE server and Sybase released an urgent security alert advisory for all platforms in September 2000. They gave no details on what the problem was but said "Sybase views this as a mandatory correction that you should implement immediately." Database servers presumably have very big source trees (the stripped ASE executable for Solaris is 11MB) and it must be relatively simple to hide a backdoor in the source code that could lie undiscovered for years. Here's their security advisory from Sept 2000.

This is a real, high performance, commercial quaility database. Why bother playing with a MySQL toy when you can have the real thing?

• You can make your Palm application quite tamperproof by burning the app into flash ROM and disabling the software installation conduits.
• PalmOS is essentially a clone of MacOS anno 1990. People who programmed the Apple Mac back in the early nineties will understand the PalmOS very quickly.
• Sybase has a product named UltraLite (part of SQL Anywhere Studio), which is a very small embedded SQL server for PDAs. You can replicate to/from any ODBC-compliant master data source over several different protocols. UltraLite also supports WinCE and several other platforms. I've used UL on Palm for some months now and it does have some bugs, but it will probably be sufficiently robust by next summer.

This is nothing new--

Sybase and it's derivitive, Microsoft SQL, have always shipped with a default sys-admin password of blank, or nothing.
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Interested in the Colorado Lottery?

You seem like a pretty clueful DBA so I'll won't reiterate anything you can easily pick up by reading the documentation.

I'm in the middle of doing a feasibility study of migrating our flagship database (~30GB ASE 11.5) from big-iron AIX boxen to commodity x86 boxen running Linux / ASE 11.9.2

I have not found the dump/load incompatibility to be a major hassle. If you tune your Linux box for fast BCP the load shouldn't be too painful. As an alternative, you might try using DBArtisan from Embarcadero Technologies. It has a migration feature that makes moving data and schemas between servers very painless. It is well worth the price ($5000, IIRC) - it will pay for itself quickly in time savings alone

In my test setup, I was able to move our 30GB database from the AIX box to the Linux box in about 10 hours, which fits within our normal scheduled maintenance window. The AIX box is a 4-way RS/6000 box w/ 1 GB and all the storage allocated as virtual partitions on a RAID-5 array (I didn't set this up). The Linux box is a quad Xeon w/ 1 GB of RAM and 8 drives; I'm using raw partitions and doing my mirroring manually from within Sybase. DBArtisan runs on an Athalon 550 w/ 128MB under NT Workstation.

The AIX box is a little simpler to manage, because the old DBA had all the tables on the default segment. Even though it's more work, I prefer to hand-tune the database and place the big and/or active tables on their own segments & devices. Needless to say, you need to be comfortable using sp_placeobject & sp_partition to take this approach. I find that the extra effort setting up the server pays off in the long term in performance and reliability. Barring the difference in the physical storage strategy, I don't see any factor that makes ASE on Linux more difficult to administer than ASE on any other flavor of Unix. Actually, the OS-level administration is simpler in Linux than in AIX, IMHO.

Since you say this is going to be a data warehouse system, you REALLY want to use partitioning so you can take advantage of parallelism. Re-read chapters 13, 14, 15, and 17 of the Performance & Tuning Guide before you start, you'll be glad you did.

I don't know what your uptime requirements are, so I can't say if Linux is robust enough for you. If you need rock-solid 24x7 availibility, I'd say stick with big iron and commercial Unix. If you don't need to be bulletproof Linux should be fine. For us, the cost savings are worth the slightly higher risk. As I write this, our Linux test server has 63 days uptime and has survived several stress-tests with no problems, so reliability hasn't been an issue so far. Linux performance seems to be on par with the AIX box so far -- but the database is not the bottleneck in our system.


"The axiom 'An honest man has nothing to fear from the police'

See the ase-linux-list for more info on large db's and raw i/o. mailing list archive.

However, replication server is not supported. yet. I think this is going to be a showstopper for you, eh?

Again see the list for more info.

http://www.sybase.com/linux/

michael peppler's home page

SuperID

"Happy Sybase User"

Now that MySQL supports transactions, I would probably go with it over PostgresSQL.

Even though Sybase hasn't open-sourced their Sybase-SQL server and Adaptive Server Enterprise (and they probably never will), I prefer using Sybase over both PostgresSQL and MySQL. Sybase SQL server 11.0.3 on Linux is free for commercial use.

and no, I'm not affiliated, etc...I just like 'em
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Interested in the Colorado Lottery?

Given that the ArsDigita Community System is so heavily database-driven, I was wondering what tools you use for data modeling and schema management.

What is your opinion of modeling tools like Sybase's PowerDesigner and Platinum's ERwin? What kinds of tools do you think are necessary to facilitate the development of highly portable, vender independent database designs? Finally, what is your opinion of UML and to what extent does ArsDigita use it?

"The axiom 'An honest man has nothing to fear from the police'

Oracle plays a central role in your current toolkit. Have you considered switching to an an open-source database?

There is no open-source replacement for a true enterprise-level RDBMS. MySQL and PostgresSQL are as close as you can get; neither is a viable alternative to Oracle, Sybase, or DB2 (or even MS SQL Server). Given the complexity of modern database software, and the highly specialized knowledge needed to write it, I don't see the open-source community coming up with an enterprise-class RDBMS any time soon. Phil explains his choice of Oracle on his web site.

That being said, Oracle is a very expensive piece of software, and is a tempremental beast to configure and support. Oracle 8i for Linux can be downloaded for free (free registration required), but AFIK you have to pay for a licence if you use it in a production enviornment. Also, it is a practical impossiblity to run an Oracle installation without a full-time, knowledgable DBA. The high expense of the software and the salary of a DBA makes Oracle infeasable for small businesses or those on a limited budget. Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 11.0.3 for Linux is gratis for both production and development; ASE 11.9.2 is gratis for development but requires a paid licence for production deployment. ASE 12.0 hasn't been ported to Linux (yet). ASE, while easier to administer than Oracle (IMHO), still requires a knowledgable DBA. Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere (ASA) (the database engine behind SQL Anywhere Studio) requires far less knowlege to administer, making it far more suitable for small operations. Free evaluation versions of SQL Anywhere Studio are available for Linux, Unix, and Windows.
"The axiom 'An honest man has nothing to fear from the police'

Oracle plays a central role in your current toolkit. Have you considered switching to an an open-source database?

There is no open-source replacement for a true enterprise-level RDBMS. MySQL and PostgresSQL are as close as you can get; neither is a viable alternative to Oracle, Sybase, or DB2 (or even MS SQL Server). Given the complexity of modern database software, and the highly specialized knowledge needed to write it, I don't see the open-source community coming up with an enterprise-class RDBMS any time soon. Phil explains his choice of Oracle on his web site.

That being said, Oracle is a very expensive piece of software, and is a tempremental beast to configure and support. Oracle 8i for Linux can be downloaded for free (free registration required), but AFIK you have to pay for a licence if you use it in a production enviornment. Also, it is a practical impossiblity to run an Oracle installation without a full-time, knowledgable DBA. The high expense of the software and the salary of a DBA makes Oracle infeasable for small businesses or those on a limited budget. Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 11.0.3 for Linux is gratis for both production and development; ASE 11.9.2 is gratis for development but requires a paid licence for production deployment. ASE 12.0 hasn't been ported to Linux (yet). ASE, while easier to administer than Oracle (IMHO), still requires a knowledgable DBA. Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere (ASA) (the database engine behind SQL Anywhere Studio) requires far less knowlege to administer, making it far more suitable for small operations. Free evaluation versions of SQL Anywhere Studio are available for Linux, Unix, and Windows.
"The axiom 'An honest man has nothing to fear from the police'

Oracle plays a central role in your current toolkit. Have you considered switching to an an open-source database?

There is no open-source replacement for a true enterprise-level RDBMS. MySQL and PostgresSQL are as close as you can get; neither is a viable alternative to Oracle, Sybase, or DB2 (or even MS SQL Server). Given the complexity of modern database software, and the highly specialized knowledge needed to write it, I don't see the open-source community coming up with an enterprise-class RDBMS any time soon. Phil explains his choice of Oracle on his web site.

That being said, Oracle is a very expensive piece of software, and is a tempremental beast to configure and support. Oracle 8i for Linux can be downloaded for free (free registration required), but AFIK you have to pay for a licence if you use it in a production enviornment. Also, it is a practical impossiblity to run an Oracle installation without a full-time, knowledgable DBA. The high expense of the software and the salary of a DBA makes Oracle infeasable for small businesses or those on a limited budget. Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 11.0.3 for Linux is gratis for both production and development; ASE 11.9.2 is gratis for development but requires a paid licence for production deployment. ASE 12.0 hasn't been ported to Linux (yet). ASE, while easier to administer than Oracle (IMHO), still requires a knowledgable DBA. Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere (ASA) (the database engine behind SQL Anywhere Studio) requires far less knowlege to administer, making it far more suitable for small operations. Free evaluation versions of SQL Anywhere Studio are available for Linux, Unix, and Windows.
"The axiom 'An honest man has nothing to fear from the police'

Oracle plays a central role in your current toolkit. Have you considered switching to an an open-source database?

There is no open-source replacement for a true enterprise-level RDBMS. MySQL and PostgresSQL are as close as you can get; neither is a viable alternative to Oracle, Sybase, or DB2 (or even MS SQL Server). Given the complexity of modern database software, and the highly specialized knowledge needed to write it, I don't see the open-source community coming up with an enterprise-class RDBMS any time soon. Phil explains his choice of Oracle on his web site.

That being said, Oracle is a very expensive piece of software, and is a tempremental beast to configure and support. Oracle 8i for Linux can be downloaded for free (free registration required), but AFIK you have to pay for a licence if you use it in a production enviornment. Also, it is a practical impossiblity to run an Oracle installation without a full-time, knowledgable DBA. The high expense of the software and the salary of a DBA makes Oracle infeasable for small businesses or those on a limited budget. Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 11.0.3 for Linux is gratis for both production and development; ASE 11.9.2 is gratis for development but requires a paid licence for production deployment. ASE 12.0 hasn't been ported to Linux (yet). ASE, while easier to administer than Oracle (IMHO), still requires a knowledgable DBA. Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere (ASA) (the database engine behind SQL Anywhere Studio) requires far less knowlege to administer, making it far more suitable for small operations. Free evaluation versions of SQL Anywhere Studio are available for Linux, Unix, and Windows.
"The axiom 'An honest man has nothing to fear from the police'

Oracle plays a central role in your current toolkit. Have you considered switching to an an open-source database?

There is no open-source replacement for a true enterprise-level RDBMS. MySQL and PostgresSQL are as close as you can get; neither is a viable alternative to Oracle, Sybase, or DB2 (or even MS SQL Server). Given the complexity of modern database software, and the highly specialized knowledge needed to write it, I don't see the open-source community coming up with an enterprise-class RDBMS any time soon. Phil explains his choice of Oracle on his web site.

That being said, Oracle is a very expensive piece of software, and is a tempremental beast to configure and support. Oracle 8i for Linux can be downloaded for free (free registration required), but AFIK you have to pay for a licence if you use it in a production enviornment. Also, it is a practical impossiblity to run an Oracle installation without a full-time, knowledgable DBA. The high expense of the software and the salary of a DBA makes Oracle infeasable for small businesses or those on a limited budget. Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 11.0.3 for Linux is gratis for both production and development; ASE 11.9.2 is gratis for development but requires a paid licence for production deployment. ASE 12.0 hasn't been ported to Linux (yet). ASE, while easier to administer than Oracle (IMHO), still requires a knowledgable DBA. Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere (ASA) (the database engine behind SQL Anywhere Studio) requires far less knowlege to administer, making it far more suitable for small operations. Free evaluation versions of SQL Anywhere Studio are available for Linux, Unix, and Windows.
"The axiom 'An honest man has nothing to fear from the police'

Oracle plays a central role in your current toolkit. Have you considered switching to an an open-source database?

There is no open-source replacement for a true enterprise-level RDBMS. MySQL and PostgresSQL are as close as you can get; neither is a viable alternative to Oracle, Sybase, or DB2 (or even MS SQL Server). Given the complexity of modern database software, and the highly specialized knowledge needed to write it, I don't see the open-source community coming up with an enterprise-class RDBMS any time soon. Phil explains his choice of Oracle on his web site.

That being said, Oracle is a very expensive piece of software, and is a tempremental beast to configure and support. Oracle 8i for Linux can be downloaded for free (free registration required), but AFIK you have to pay for a licence if you use it in a production enviornment. Also, it is a practical impossiblity to run an Oracle installation without a full-time, knowledgable DBA. The high expense of the software and the salary of a DBA makes Oracle infeasable for small businesses or those on a limited budget. Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 11.0.3 for Linux is gratis for both production and development; ASE 11.9.2 is gratis for development but requires a paid licence for production deployment. ASE 12.0 hasn't been ported to Linux (yet). ASE, while easier to administer than Oracle (IMHO), still requires a knowledgable DBA. Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere (ASA) (the database engine behind SQL Anywhere Studio) requires far less knowlege to administer, making it far more suitable for small operations. Free evaluation versions of SQL Anywhere Studio are available for Linux, Unix, and Windows.
"The axiom 'An honest man has nothing to fear from the police'

I can't even count the number of times we stared at the mysqladmin processlist and saw one of our tables constantly locked (stopping all reads and writes) before we came up with this solution.

The standard practice is to get EA Server with EA Studio which includes the Sybase suite of development tools:
PowerBuilder 7.0 (app dev like VB): win, sun
PowerJ 3.5 (Java dev) : win, sun
PowerSite (HTML/JavaScript/ASP dev):win, sun

Unfortunately, the main components are currently only available on NT and Solaris. AIX and HPUX are on the way.
You do have the option of using Apache for the web server and, through CGI using powerdynamo and jaguar on another machine, but that almost defeats the purpose. You could go all Solaris though.

I have to say that overall, I do like the package, it makes for rapid website development and, since Jaguar is Corba compliant, I can re-use all my business logic within local client desktop applications when I want the added speed and functionality.

Let me start off by saying that designing N-tier applications is very difficult; it's a new art and there are not a lot of hard and fast rules. There are many different approaches to take, and not all are appropriate for every circumstance -- a great deal depends on the specific usage characteristics of your system.

With that in mind, your first step to take is to move your database server and web server to seperate boxes. Just doing this gives you a huge performance boost. Also, it's nearly impossible to properly tune the performance of an enterprise-class database server unless it's on a dedicated box. The most important thing on your db server is to have lots of RAM - ideally, you want your entire database to be cached; if it's too big, then you at least want to have the most frequently accessed tables & indexes cached.

Secondly, use only stored procedures to access the database. Stored procedures can give you a huge performance gain over ad-hoc SQL statements. Also, forcing all db access to go thru stored procs makes it much easier to secure your database and to do performance profiling.

I'm not familiar with MySQL, so I can't really say if it's up to the task or not. Both Sybase and Oracle have versions of their enterprise db servers available for Linux. Sybase 11.5 for Linux is gratis for both production and development; 11.9.2 is gratis for development, but needs to be licensed for a production system. I don't know off the top of my head what Oracle's licensing policy is. Of the two, I personally prefer Sybase - I think it's easier to administer, and has a more elegant architecture.

Lastly, you need to take a close look at what kinds of transactions are running most often, and optimize your indexing strategy for those transactions. Take a close look at the locking behavior and see if you are getting a lot of locking contention -- this can be a real performance killer.

On the web server side, I don't see anything wrong with using Java servlets / JSP's over any other competing technique. Typically, the bottleneck in this kind of system is physical I/O, not CPU; so the slight performance gain you would get from using native code vs Java would not help you, particuarly if you're using a current JVM with a good JIT compiler. If you are maxxing out the CPU utilization on the web server, you might want to consider moving some of the logic from your servlets into stored procedures, balancing the load better between the db and web servers.

I wouldn't start looking at clustering options until I was sure I was getting all the performace I could get out of my existing web & db servers.

"The axiom 'An honest man has nothing to fear from the police'

Sybase dropped development of their Watcom compiler last year. :-( They are still supporting it till June 2000 though.

http://techinfo.sybase.c om/css/techinfo.nsf/DocID/ID=20510

Now if only they would release the source for it...

Their inline pragma asm was the cleanest way to inline and achieve maximum efficiency.

Cheers

Look into ODBC. I know, it has been tainted by microsoft -- but seriously, it is intended as a standard for communicating with databases. It requires a driver to connect to a database, and then the driver handles all conversions into the native SQL dialect. Code written to access an ODBC driver will work in Sybase/M$ SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Informix, Access -- you name it, providing you have a driver to integrate with the database.

As for the Database decision, you may want to take a look at the linux port of Sybase SQL Server ASE 11.0.3. I am more comfortable with the TransactSQL than I am with the MySQL dialect (specifically I found setting up users and permissions to be much easier). The downside (as pointed out to me by a friend) is that Sybase does not dynamically allocate space for the database. This means that you will have to manually increase the size of the database as it grows. This can be a major headache, or a minor irritation depending on your knowledge of SQL.

As a side note: Sybase's SQL Server can be linked with an Access database (what's this mean? you can set up a table in Access that references a table in the Sybase database. This is good for data entry / modification -- but you cannot modify the columns or the underlying database from Access). To do this, download the M$ SQL Server 7 driver from the M$ site (M$ SQL Server and Sybase SQL Server were the same until 6, then they both diverged -- but are still almost identical -- so you can use the free M$ driver to connect with the Sybase database). Then, make sure that your Sybase database is running on port 1433 (default for M$ SQL Server). Then open your Access database, select File->Get External Data->Link Tables. From here you aught to be set, follow the directions to connect to an ODBC datasource (if the MySQL database was set up with an ODBC driver you could use this database instead -- I only tried it with Sybase though). I was able to link tables from a Sybase database running at home, to an Access database at work. Fun Stuff!

Crusoe->Debian->Dreamcast->Cinnabon->Corbis

Don't forget Sybase too.

not so sure about that...when you go to download the linux version of either 11.0.3 or 11.9.2, you are directed to this licence which says you can only have a maximum of 3 users and cant redistribute it among other thigns.

particularly relavant is this line:
5. SUPPORT. These download Programs are provided on an "as is" basis and are unsupported. This Agreement does not entitle you to any maintenance or other services or any updates or new versions of the Programs.


--Siva

Keyboard not found.

that I don't see mentioned much yet... DB2 and Sybase. For a functional example of Sybase in serious action check out Distributed.net's Statistics.
DISCLAIMER: I work for IBM, but not on Linux or DB2.

Actually, I think it looks a lot more like the logo for Sybase than anything else. Compare again with the Debian logo if you need.