Database concepts and applications

Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, DB2, and Oracle are four of the most important and widely used database management systems (DBMS) in use in today's information technology field. This paper compares the four DBMS in terms of ten major factors: 1) price, 2) platform compatibility, 3) support services, 4) support for ERP and CRM high-end systems, 5) open or proprietary, 6) Ease of integrating information with other databases 7) support for data requirements for mobile and embedded devices, 8) reputation, 9) stability and backup, 10) recommended users.

All in all, this analysis shows that SQL and other open-source databases are excellent for providing support for medium-load business applications and Websites. In contrast, proprietary databases like DB2 and Oracle seem to be much better suited to heavy-load business applications (Biggs). Despite this assertion, Microsoft's SQL Server 7.0 marked its aggressive and largely highly effective move towards heavier applications in government, finance, and transportation (Joch).

Table 1: A comparison of Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, DB2, and Oracle database management services (DBMS).

Microsoft Access

Microsoft SQL Server

Oracle

Price

Microsoft Access 2003, $229.98 (OfficeMax)

SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition $4,999 U.S.. Enterprise Edition (EE) $19,999 U.S. (Microsoft)

IBM DB2 version 8.1 Workgroup Edition $7,500 U.S..

Enterprise Edition $25,000 U.S. (Microsoft)

The Oracle 10g Standard Edition One costs $4,995 U.S..

Oracle 10g Standard Edition, $15,000 U.S. per processor.

Oracle 9i Enterprise Edition, $40,000 U.S. per CPU (Darrow)

Platform Compatibility

"The same version of MS Access will not run on Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows NT (Access 97 will not run on Windows 3.x or Macintosh)" (Gofilemaker).

MySQL runs on Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, and other platforms.

Further, My SQL can run on midrange and mainframe systems if Linux or Unix partitions are used on the system (Biggs).

IBM's DB2 Universal Database version 6.1 is available for Windows; IBM's OS/390, AS/400, AIX and OS/2; SCO UnixWare; HP-UX; Solaris; and the Red Hat Linux 6.1 distribution (Ziechick)

Not bound to Microsoft Windows (Joch). Runs on Windows, UNIX and Linux (Wrox Press).

Support Services

Good

MySQL has comprehensive round the clock support from MySQL AB (Biggs). Discounted training programs are available for Microsoft's SQL Server 7.0.

Good

Good

Geared toward ERP and CRM high-end systems

Access: No

SQL: No (Biggs)

DB2: Yes (Biggs)

Oracle: Yes (Biggs)

Proprietary enterprise databases or open source database

Access: Open source (Biggs)

SQL: Open source (Biggs)

DB2: Proprietary (Biggs)

Oracle: Proprietary (Biggs)

Ease of integrating information with other databases

Relatively low (Biggs)

Relatively low (Biggs)

Superior to SQL (Biggs)

Superior to SQL (Biggs)

Support for data requirements for mobile and embedded devices

No (Biggs)

Yes (Biggs)

Yes (Biggs)

Reputation

Access: overshadows SQL

SQL: reputation as a "slow, hard-to-scale also-ran," with a poor reputation for reliability and stability (Joch).