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Oracle and PostgreSQL Debate

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the warring-dbas dept.

Mark Brunelli writes DBAs are talking about the merits of the open source PostgreSQL database management system (DBMS) as compared to Oracle - and their opinions truly run the gamut. DBAs responding to the interview said they liked the low cost and ease of use of the open source database, while others said that Oracle's rich feature cannot be ignored. Still others talked about how well the two systems play together. According to one DBA, a gateway product from Oracle would be a welcome offering."

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  1. DBA Comparisions - Oracle vs. PostgreSQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If they want something that plays nice with Oracle, they should take a look at http://www.enterprisedb.com/ .

    One of the goals of the company is aimed specifically at making life easier for Oracle people on PostgreSQL.

    Company I work for runs both PostgreSQL and Oracle. Years ago we were a PostgreSQL only shop. Along comes a Sr. Developer who touts Oracle to management, and they listened to him.

    Now we have 2 Sr. Oracle DBAs, 1 Jr., and 2 PL/SQL programmers.

    Oh yeah, we don't have any PostgreSQL DBAs. But we have just as many PostgreSQL servers.

    Now we are moving some of our applications back to PostgreSQL, which of course scares the Oracle DBAs.

    Our servers are heavy-hit. Thousands of queries per-second on both systems. PostgreSQL can keep up with Oracle, and Oracle can keep up with PostgreSQL.

    One thing I've noticed about the market that is both good and bad for PostgreSQL - You can put out an Ad for an Oracle DBA and get hundreds of responces. Put one up for PostgreSQL and you get almost none. Almost a year we've had an Ad out for a PostgreSQL, there just arn't any.

    And I don't think its because there arn't any full-time DBAs. The reality is PostgreSQL just doesn't need the same amount of staff that an equal amount of Oracle databases need. The good side, it just works and requires so little maintenence. The bad side? Its hard to sell to companies when they can't have someone full-time on it.

    I'm curious with other companies experiences. How many full-time DBAs do you have for Oracle? How many for PostgreSQL?