SQL Server versus Informix

#1 10-25-2000, 12:22 PM

Hi all,

Anyone here ever used the Informix database and can give me some differences between Informix and SQL.

One of our users is thinking about purchasing a COTS product that only supports an Informix database. I need to convince the user to evaluate other rival applications that can support SQL and need some arguments in favor of not going with Informix.

Any ideas appreciated,
Faustina

#2 10-25-2000, 12:43 PM

Informix as a company is in bad shape. The support we get is terrible, and when upgrading sometimes there own stuff has not been regression tested.

I think SQL server beats the pants off them in the GUI interface, ease of use, the cost, and the support that exists from Microsoft and hundreds of other MS related webites like Swynk.

Good luck with your implementation with whatever DB you decide.....Craig

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Faustina at 10/25/00 12:22:53 PM

Hi all,

Anyone here ever used the Informix database and can give me some differences between Informix and SQL.

One of our users is thinking about purchasing a COTS product that only supports an Informix database. I need to convince the user to evaluate other rival applications that can support SQL and need some arguments in favor of not going with Informix.

Any ideas appreciated,
Faustina

#3 10-25-2000, 12:51 PM

Craig,

Thanks for the response.

Faustina

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Craig at 10/25/00 12:43:16 PM

Informix as a company is in bad shape. The support we get is terrible, and when upgrading sometimes there own stuff has not been regression tested.

I think SQL server beats the pants off them in the GUI interface, ease of use, the cost, and the support that exists from Microsoft and hundreds of other MS related webites like Swynk.

Good luck with your implementation with whatever DB you decide.....Craig

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Faustina at 10/25/00 12:22:53 PM

Hi all,

Anyone here ever used the Informix database and can give me some differences between Informix and SQL.

One of our users is thinking about purchasing a COTS product that only supports an Informix database. I need to convince the user to evaluate other rival applications that can support SQL and need some arguments in favor of not going with Informix.

Any ideas appreciated,
Faustina

#4 10-25-2000, 01:13 PM

I support Informix on Unix and SQL on NT. If you're looking to run Informix on NT, I can't be of much help. As for SQL vs Informix on Unix, SQL's got Informix beat from an interface perspective but Informix allows you to tune the engine and queries far better. Also, from a scalability perspective, Informix/Unix blows away SQL Server(6.5 and 7.0)/NT 4.0. We'll see about SQL 2000 and Windows 2000.

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Faustina at 10/25/00 12:22:53 PM

Hi all,

Anyone here ever used the Informix database and can give me some differences between Informix and SQL.

One of our users is thinking about purchasing a COTS product that only supports an Informix database. I need to convince the user to evaluate other rival applications that can support SQL and need some arguments in favor of not going with Informix.

Any ideas appreciated,
Faustina

#5 10-25-2000, 01:22 PM

Eric,

Thanks for your input.

Much appreciated,
Faustina

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Eric Ceccotti at 10/25/00 1:13:47 PM

I support Informix on Unix and SQL on NT. If you're looking to run Informix on NT, I can't be of much help. As for SQL vs Informix on Unix, SQL's got Informix beat from an interface perspective but Informix allows you to tune the engine and queries far better. Also, from a scalability perspective, Informix/Unix blows away SQL Server(6.5 and 7.0)/NT 4.0. We'll see about SQL 2000 and Windows 2000.

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Faustina at 10/25/00 12:22:53 PM

Hi all,

Anyone here ever used the Informix database and can give me some differences between Informix and SQL.

One of our users is thinking about purchasing a COTS product that only supports an Informix database. I need to convince the user to evaluate other rival applications that can support SQL and need some arguments in favor of not going with Informix.

Any ideas appreciated,
Faustina

#6 10-25-2000, 01:23 PM

Informix claims these numbers, but when you look at the cost for that benefit (and the poor support issue), I do not believe Informix will survive. Everyone has always argued that they have the best engine, but they advertise parallel operations and then release stuff that does not work and try to fix it later.

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Eric Ceccotti at 10/25/00 1:13:47 PM

I support Informix on Unix and SQL on NT. If you're looking to run Informix on NT, I can't be of much help. As for SQL vs Informix on Unix, SQL's got Informix beat from an interface perspective but Informix allows you to tune the engine and queries far better. Also, from a scalability perspective, Informix/Unix blows away SQL Server(6.5 and 7.0)/NT 4.0. We'll see about SQL 2000 and Windows 2000.

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Faustina at 10/25/00 12:22:53 PM

Hi all,

Anyone here ever used the Informix database and can give me some differences between Informix and SQL.

One of our users is thinking about purchasing a COTS product that only supports an Informix database. I need to convince the user to evaluate other rival applications that can support SQL and need some arguments in favor of not going with Informix.

Any ideas appreciated,
Faustina

#7 10-26-2000, 08:55 AM

Many, many thanks to Craig, Eric, and Gary for your thoughtful and insightful responses. Keep up the great job!

Faustina

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Gary Andrews at 10/25/00 4:01:15 PM

My experience, recently, has been with SQL Server 7.0 SP1 running in an NT server environment.
I have never used Informix, therefore my opinion should be considered biased.

The GUI interface is good. The support for running jobs is very good.
There is no cascade delete or update support (but these features are supported in SQL Server 2000).
There is no T-SQL debugger (again this feature is reported to be in SQL Server 2000).
Reportedly, SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition, supports upto 32 processors (smp), database sizes
into the terabytes. Each processor can support several GB of memory.
Its my understanding that the Query optimization in SQL Server 7 could be better (do not know if this has been addressed
in SQL Server 2000, don't know if this is an issue for other vendor products). You can trace queries, be shown
the query plan. Special database counters are made available to the NT performance monitor so you can see
what's going on as well as you can get some run time statistics directly from SQL Server. There are various wizards
to help with all kinds of tasks (i.e. like scripting). You can create indexes on views. And the list goes on.

Now let's get down to earth.

What is your environment like (Unix, NT, etc.)

Will the COTS package chosen drive requirements for:

a. Additional DBAs (you may want to look out into the future a ways).
b. Additional OS environments which will require trained people support (Unix techs, NT techs, etc.)
c. Will near term future requirements need web access to your data (i.e. what are the implications of this).
d. Will your data need to be shared with other RDBMSes? If so, how easy is this?
e. How easy is it to come by the DBA resources you will need?
f. Ditto for the environment people resources.
g. Similar to (c), do you need to support e-business and what is this impact?
h. Are there any new training requirements (non-user).
i. Remember the costs are much more than just procuring a package.
j. I would not rule out the rapidity with which change comes today and take into consideration of how this
may drive some requirements.

Best Wishes!!

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Faustina at 10/25/00 12:22:53 PM

Hi all,

Anyone here ever used the Informix database and can give me some differences between Informix and SQL.

One of our users is thinking about purchasing a COTS product that only supports an Informix database. I need to convince the user to evaluate other rival applications that can support SQL and need some arguments in favor of not going with Informix.

Any ideas appreciated,
Faustina