Choosing the right SQL program?

[slenish]

I am trying to build a large scale database and have been doing some reseach online to find out which is the better program to use, but so far I feel even more lost than when I started. Im trying to figure out would it be better to use MySQL, SQL server 2008, or Access, or Oracle, or Visual Studio 2008 or what ever else there is, in order to build a large scale data base???

It seems like there are to many to choose from and I thought I would ask people who have had maybe more experience with the different programs which they feel is better to go with. Also I need something where its going to be able to handle a lot of users, a lot of information, and I can design a nice graphical user interface for users to interact with and its not going to slow down.

[rski]

It depends if you have mony for that or not (you can choose between free databases: postgresql, mysql) or commercial one (mssql, oracle).
Can you estimate how large would be database, how many simultaneous connections, how many queries per minute, would it be OLAP or OLTP database?

[slenish]

@rski
hi Rski,

Well it would need to be a OLAP database. I have been doing more research on SQL server and although it does seem like what i need the price is just way to out there for the full version. I did read where you can get the developer addition and use it as the full addition...any truth to that?

To give you a little more info im trying to take about 20 databases and combine them in to one. Basically the database is for heavy information tracking and then printing a large amount of reports from all of this. I want to create a very dynamic user interface (or form) that can be very graphic heavy like a web page. There could be up to 50 users at a time either entering or extracting information. Not sure how many queries per min till I do some research on that. Biggest concern is really trying to speed up performance. Unless there is a way to just use Access and increase the amount of information it can store and how it can perform.

I have been trying to weigh all of my options. Another option i saw was using I think SQL developer on the backend of Access to increase performance.

I dont know i feel like I want to tear my hair out there are just to many options and not enough solutions.

Appreciate the help on all of this :D

[Studlyami]

I did read where you can get the developer addition and use it as the full addition...any truth to that?

You would probably be violating the license agreement of the developer addition, I would read all that information carefully. rski I think said it best, it depends on how much money you are wanting to spend. I would find your $ limit, then search out the programs that fit that range. As far as creating a GUI for the database I wouldn't worry to much about that at this point unless you are looking at doing 64 bit program.

[slenish]

You might be right on the violation of the licence agreement.

I did find out some other information, which is the central server we use is unix based, now can i use sql server or mysql along with that or would it be better to use something like PHP or Oracle?? Or is there another program that anyone would recommend.

Some how we are dropping Access databases on it and its working fine so I know there are ways to use others.

[gits]

you cannot use MS SQLServer on a UNIX machine (at least not directly) ... or would you install it on another Windows machine? ... mySql, postgres or Oracle would run fine on a UNIX machine. besides that it would be possible to connect to any database from a UNIX machine, of course ... if that is your question? ... so you might have an Apache and PHP installed on a UNIX-system and query a MS SQL Server on another Windows host ... currently i think your requirements are not clear enough to give a precise advice. While with a commercial DB-system like Oracle or MS SQL Server you might get some bundled and optimized tools to do the, i think relevant, OLAP things that you need ... but you need to pay for all that the one or other way. For the open source options, especially mySql, you would need to search a bit and use some tools that are out there ... and you might get nearly the same result then, but you would need to invest some time to create a bundle of needed things. So to say: If you want a 'out-of-the-box' solution and could pay for it ... then use a commercial product and don't forget the support you could get. In case you prefer a 'low-cost' but even sufficient solution then you should go for a custom bundle of open source tools that are out there. You should know what you really want ... with commercial solutions it is a bit more painless when you would need professional advice or support ... but it's commercial ... :) with open source your success often relies on experts that you would need to have available ... in case it wouldn't be yourself :) ... so basicly in such a case, even the open source alternatives are not free ... at least think about the time it would last to get all needed things up and running ... in case you wouldn't have enough expieriences with that.

But ... at least: all available, and quite well known systems are usable today ... even for mission critical things ... if you could identify the exact requirements ... then you might compare the features of the available solutions and then you could make a decision ... this could even lead to a decision that needs more money ... because choosing a DBMS is a quite basic decision ... and migrations are very painful if you need to revert that decision later on ... and migrations tend to be quite expensive ... don't forget that :)

kind regards

[Anadergbaps]

I have used Oracle, SQL Server, and MySQL..Without know the intimate technical details of all 3, I would highly recommend SQL Server and MySQL over Oracle.

Not because they are better, but because they are SO much cheaper. And since you are operating in a unix environment, that would sort of eliminate the SQLserver option.

IMO MySQL is a decent to good quality server program.

Currently where I work we use SQL Server and have hundreds of tables and views with several hundred gigabytes of info. We do not run many queries however, and we are also in the process of creating a Data Warehouse.

Hope this helps.