Oracle 10g vs PostgreSQL 8 vs MySQL 5 (peripheral features rating)

Mysql|oracle

This is my comparison's installing and getting started with Oracle 10g, PostgreSQL 8 and MySQL 5. This is what I consider the comparison of the ' art for three categories to db:commercial vs. Academe vs. Internet Model. This is a comparison from the view of a new user wanting to install a database to learn. I ' m trying to keep the viewpoint of a home or small business user.
Full disclosure:i am strongly biased towards Oracle and fully expected no real competition.

License:i won't get into a debate over open source and closed source. Oracle is a commercial database and requires licensing to use. MySQL and PostgreSQL are both open source projects. Oracle provides a free developers license is for your to ' test out ' and create prototypes.

Configuration:i am installing on the older machine with 256 megs of Ram and a Gig hard. The CPU is a 633 Mhz Celeron. The OS is Windows Professional. I want to install at the ' low ' of the ' spectrum to gauge ' ability for home user-type.

Os:i chose to perform this comparison under Windows, as I believe which that is still the most common platform that new PE Ople to the world of databases would use. By which, I mean people installing at home. For new corporate users, the odds are good that they won't have a choice of either OS or database so a comparison is PO Intless.

Versions:

PostgreSQL 8.0-postgresql 8.0 is a very new product. I chose 8.0 as it is the latest version and it natively supports Windows. This is the "the" is "the" the "does" actually support Windows without an emulator or third-party.

Mysql-mysql 5.0 is also a very new product. As a matter of a fact, the version I used, v5.0.4, is actually a beta version. I argued with myself about whether I should use the stable V4 or the beta V5. I chose V5 because V4 does not compete with PostgreSQL or Oracle. V4 does not have stored procedures, triggers, views, etc. Without those features, I would not consider it as a contender. The upside to this is that V5 does support those features.

Oracle 10g–this is the latest version of Oracle and were released last year. In my opinion, Oracle 10g is the gold standard of databases. Nevertheless, I also recognize that it's very expensive and requires quite a bit of knowledge to support in a production Environment.

Ranking Factors:

Documentation and Getting Started Support
Ease of installation
Ease of verifying successful Installation
Creation of Non-admin User
Time to Run Query
Resource Requirements
Ranking Values:i rank factor a score of 1 through, with being the best or highest.

Documentation and Getting Started Support

Postgresql-i found a lot of support for previous versions (under Linux, Cygwin, etc.), but almost no for 8.0 under Windows. The PostgreSQL documentation website, http://www.postgresql.org/docs/ , provides very-good, very complete docume Ntation. In my opinion, one of PostgreSQL's strengths in the past has been the documentation.

That Web site includes a very good installation document. However, post installation and Getting Started documentation is very limited. I hope that that would change in time.

I googled "PostgreSQL Getting Started" and got thousands, mostly version 7, of hits. PostgreSQL has some Usenet newsgroup support, but I noticed they not were active.

PostgreSQL Documentation Ranking:5

Mysql–because V5 is so new, there isn't very much documentation yet. There is a world's documentation for MySQL V3 and V4. Check Amazon or bn.com. MySQL seems to is the choice for a lot of smaller Internet and java-oriented companies.

Because V5 is beta, I'll not rank this factor according to the documentation available for. V4 has amazing documentation and I fully expect to v5 the have of the the time the same was software to released. I'll rank according to V4 documentation.

I googled "MySQL Getting Started" and got millions, mostly version 4, of hits. I could find no mysql-specific Usenet newsgroup support, but I noticed some postings to MYSQL support on the Comp.databas ES Group.

MySQL Documentation Ranking:8

Oracle–oracle, as a commercial product, has a large staff of full-time technical. Every feature is spelled out and many features receive their own books. The installation documentation provided by Oracle are superior and, where is lacking, it is made up by third party sit Es dedicated to Oracle. The documentation, as the documentation portal, is very mature.

In addition to installation guides for just about every OS, Oracle provides a "2 day DBA" guide. This document was indispensable for new users.

I googled "Oracle Getting Started", and received millions of hits. Oracle also has robust Usenet newsgroup support.

Oracle Documentation Ranking:10

Ease of installation

PostgreSQL

I Haven ' t previously used PostgreSQL outside of Cygwin (a Unix environment for Windows). I was surprised at the feel of the installation. It seemed very native and ran flawlessly. It was also a very quick install.

PostgreSQL installed the quickest. According to the documentation, you can install PostgreSQL without administrative. As this is the ' PostgreSQL to support Windows (without Cygwin) and I wanted to test the Services support. PostgreSQL installed as a service and came up without problems after rebooting.

PostgreSQL installation Ranking:10

Mysql

I ran a Web site in the past, mainly to my own amusement, and used MySQL as the database. The technology stack I used was java/apache/mysql. I was fully expecting MySQL to win the installation competition based on experience. However, MySQL install to fail during installation. I performed a little cleanup and then re-ran the install. It failed again. I cleaned up again, rebooted and re-ran the installation. This time it installed. I ' m not sure what caused the error. It was very cryptic but it is the same both times it failed. I was able to bulldoze past, though. Remember, this is a beta release.

MySQL also installed as a service and on reboot came up with no errors. The install, when it ran correctly, ran quickly.

MySQL installation Ranking:5

Oracle

Oracle again proved that it is a very mature product. Of the three, Oracle is the ' only one ' can ' installed without admin rights. It would be nice for the this to being an option.

It did, however, install easily. I received no errors. Oracle was the "install to" me towards the "next step" at the end of the install. This is a sure fire the to support new users and requires almost no effort. All databases should provide this kind of support.

Where Oracle really took a hit is in the amount of time it took to install. This is a real issue for home users. There were a couple of spots where I thought the machine might be hung as I received no feedback to an extended of Time.

Oracle installation Ranking:7

Ease of verifying successful Installation

To verify the success of the install is a little different, but all three provide data access tools. I followed the instructions in the provided documentation and is able to access the server in all three instances.

Verification Ranking for all 3:10

Creation of Non-admin User:

Postgresql:postgresql uses the standard CREATE USER syntax and I is able to perform this task easily. The documentation walks the user through this task (which are required for security reasons).

PostgreSQL Create User Ranking:10

Mysql:in V5, MySQL also uses the CREATE USER syntax. Prior releases did not. Due to the fact of that the documentation are not yet complete; It is not completely obvious this CREATE USER is available. For a new user, this can is confusing.

MySQL Create User Ranking:7

Oracle:oracle uses the standard CREATE USER syntax and I is able to perform this task easily. The documentation walks the user through this task. Oracle Create User Ranking:10

Time to Run Query

All three the database documentation sets provide a tutorial for getting connected and running.

All three A-ranking:10

Resource Requirements:

Postgresql–i is amazed at PostgreSQL ' s minimal need to resources. I performed some tests like opening web browsers and Ms-word while connecting remotely and could no impact Y test machine.

I couldn ' t find the minimum hardware specs, but 256Meg on a old machine seems for more than enough.

PostgreSQL Resource Ranking:10

Mysql–mysql ' s minimal need for the ". This is one of its biggest selling points and always has been. I performed the same test I preformed for PostgreSQL and MySQL performed as.

Oddly enough, I couldn ' t find the minimum hardware specs for MySQL either, but 256Meg on a old machine seems to is more T Han enough.

MySQL Resource Ranking:10

Oracle-oracle uses the most memory, and Oracle 10g uses even more than previous. It really would run better on a 512M machine, and I would recommend 1gig.

On the test box, it takes forever (OK, many long minutes) for Oracle to even start up. When I opened Word, I started getting swapping and stalling. With multiple remote connections, the database came to a standstill. Oracle would install and run in 256 megs, but I don ' t recommend it.

Oracle Resource Ranking:3

So how do does each stack up? Here are the final rankings:

Postgresql:55

Mysql:50

Oracle:50

So, this is the install and the ranking. The is isn't at all what my expectations were. I am great that all three rated so. I am not expecting, or that Oracle and MySQL would tie. I was definitely not expecting PostgreSQL to come in a.

However, installation is only a small piece of using a database. There is language support, administration, additional usability, security and features Third-party. In the near future, I'll write up a comparison of these components.

	Oracle 10g	MySQL 5.0	PostgreSQL 8.0
Documentation and Learning Support	10	8	5
Ease of installation	7	5	10
Easy to verify successful installation	10	10	10
Create non-admin rights user	10	7	10
Time to perform the first query	10	10	10
Resource occupancy	3	10	10

Although PostgreSQL documents only 5 points, but I think PostgreSQL official document is also very full, just because it is not popular, so I have little information, I believe there will be more.