[aclug-L] Re: Database question

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jonathan Hall <jonhall@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

> I will be writing some database applications in Perl to keep track of some
> various customer information for the ISP I run.  (Account balances, payment
> history, time used online, addresses, etc, etc)

This "narrows" your choice to DBI-supported ones.  Of which there are
many.  www.symbolstone.org

> I'm thinking that an SQL database is the way to go.  I'm hoping someone can
> explain some of the advantages and disadvantages of some various SQL
> databases (or other types of databases, too).

Yes.

> My familiarity right now is really limited to mysql and posgresql.  My
> understanding thus far is that mysql is a bit more efficient, but not really
> "free" (It can be used for free, but cannot be redistributed with other
> software, right?).  Then posgresql is more featurefull, but also less
> scalable.

MySQL release is not Free.  MySQL "old" is Free.  Ala
GhostScript. mSQL is not free at all, is slower, and provides even
less SQL implementation.

MySQL does not provide a full SQL implementation and is missing some
details that are very important for data integrity in man cases, such
as transactions/locking.  PostgreSQL does provide a full SQL
implementation.  MySQL is faster than PostgreSQL.  However, this
difference can be lessened significantly by using some more advanced
PostgreSQL features (alhtough MySQL will still be a bit faster).

PostgreSQL is able to scale with no apparent problems.  Most SQL
databases are fairly good at that.  The trickier part is making sure
your code can.

> Are these understandings accurate?  What other factors do I need to take
> into consideration before deciding which database to do my programming with? 
> And are there other SQL implimentations or even non-SQL databases I should
> consider?

I have found PostgreSQL to be reliable, stable, and a good platform to 
work with.  I actually prefer it to Oracle in some respects.

For your situation, you may not need a SQL database if the data set is 
small.  However, for future planning, at least keep SQL in mind.

-- 
John Goerzen   Linux, Unix consulting & programming   jgoerzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx |
Developer, Debian GNU/Linux (Free powerful OS upgrade)       www.debian.org |
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