SQL - is it really that much better?

J

JOW

New Member
Hi,
We are running some industry-specific software and are now merging with
another office. We can get their software upgraded and buy the merge utility
from the manufacturer to integrate our data for about a thousand dollars.
They now have an upgraded product they market as being better for running
multiple locations/shared networks - but when I asked some questions I
found out the changes were transparent to the user - they were all about
updating the existing software to a SQL platform to make things more stable
and minimize the chance of corrupted files. The cost is high because of the
licensing and will end up being much more than the initial integration (over
$4000).
In your opinion, does SQL make that much of a difference. Are there other
(less expensive) options to consider?

Thanks for your insights!
 
It really depends.
Is your company small and what would you be using SQL for?
If your company is small and wont be using it much but if they are large and have lots money and stuff then you would probably want it.
What type of things would you want to be able to do with your server?
Calum
 
SQL- Is it that much better?

We have just over a dozen people in each office. Probably 5 or 6 on at each place at a time. We want to be able to be on a secure, shared, stable network. We want to see updates as they are done in either office. Looking at going with a T-1.
 
Im not really sure why you would want SQL if you were just creating a network within your office. SQL is mainly used in websites to store databases of information such as user details. Im not sure what you would use SQL for if it was just for a network. You could use it within your network to store information in databases but I don't really think it would be very useful.
 
i havent much experience with non-web databases . there is MYsql, if you can use it, do, cos its free.

i have much the same setup as calumn, except with fc5.
 
All of you are making absolutely no sense.

SQL is a language that allows you to query and modify data in a database. If you have a Microsoft SQL Server database (MS SQL 2000 or 2005) you can you MS SQL. If you have an Oracle database you can use PL/SQL, Oracle SQL or SQL Plus (which is a combination of the two).

MySQL is a relational database management system all on its own. It used as standard form of SQL to query and modify records. It is open source and usually used with UNIX and Linux servers that sometimes are used as web servers and PHP, which is a programming language that allows you to create dynamic web pages that can connect to a database like MySQL.


With ALL of that said, lets getting back to the original question….

JOW, most industry standards revolve around a back-end database storing data. Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server are the two most used. Because of extensive backup, replication and speed improvements both of these databases have the capacity to increase performance and stability of any software that is data driven.

I do not know what language your company's software is written in but chances are that it will easily be able to connect and query an Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server.

For a company of your size, I recommend Microsoft SQL Server. There is an MSDE package that is free (2 Gigabyte database limit - plus a few other limitations) and there is also a new Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express.

Both of these databases have management software that allows you to connect to the database server, create databases, tables, triggers, views, stored procedures and functions that can store and retrieve data with ease.
 
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