Before migrating from an open source RDBMS, do your homework
You saw the allure of the open source RDBMS,
or relational database management system. Some time ago you implemented a MySQL
database to support, say, a Web application that provides registration, subscription and e-commerce services. The database
is reliable and more than adequate for most of your business needs. The best part is you have
access to the source code and the product is free.
Now you’re evaluating your future growth and projected business requirements and you're
wondering whether you should migrate
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This was first published in October 2011
your data to a more robust commercial system like
SQL Server or Oracle.
But commercial products don’t come cheap, unless you go for the free, paired-down version that
many of the major players now offer. For instance, you can download SQL
Server Express, Oracle
Database XE or DB2 Express-C without paying a cent. They might not be open source, but you
can’t beat the price. The free versions of the commercial products are not nearly as robust or
feature-rich as the ones that cost money, but they have features not available in the open source
products. At the same time, the free commercial products can’t compete with their open source
counterparts in some areas. Before considering a switch, here are a few important questions.
What environmental logistics should you take into account? Often the circumstances that
define your database’s environment dictate what changes you can make to your system. For instance,
SQL Server runs only in a Windows environment; however, you might be restricted to Linux computers. But let’s
say you want to integrate your database security with Windows integrated security. Given that MySQL
doesn’t support the Windows model, a switch to SQL Server might be your best solution.
There are many such factors to think about. The free commercial products place limitations on
memory, database size and CPU usage. For instance, Oracle Database XE and SQL Server Express limit
the database size to 4 GB. There are other factors as well, like support for an application
programming interface, scalability
requirements or availability needs.
What features should your RDBMS support? When determining whether to abandon your open
source RDBMS for a commercial one, first get familiar with the features that differentiate the
various database systems. At their core, most RDBMSs have a lot in common, whether they’re open
source products or free versions of commercial ones. They adhere to the American National Standards
Institute’s SQL standards, support ACID (atomicity, consistency,
isolation, durability) transactions, provide security, include stored procedures and triggers,
support replication and partitioning, provide indexes and do a whole lot more.
Not all products are created equal, however. SQL Server Express, for example, includes a lot of
functionality not available in MySQL, like SQL
Server Management Studio, Configuration Manager, Reporting
Services, online backup and auto-tuning. MySQL, on the other hand, supports different types of
storage engines, offers more partitioning options and is easier to install. And certainly with a
product like MySQL, you can’t ignore that it runs on any operating system, the source code is open
and the database size is limited only by the file-size limits of the host operating system. The key
is to figure out which products support which feature and determine which of those features you
can’t live without.
What do you want to implement down the road? This might be the most important question in
determining whether to migrate to a commercial product. What the free commercial products offer
that the open source systems do not is a smooth migration path to the more robust versions of those
products. For example, your organization might want to start performing extensive business
intelligence analysis in the next year. For that you want to have a system in place that handles
the necessary extract,
transform and load (ETL) operations, supports an ever-growing data warehouse, provides online
analytical processing and offers extensive reporting capabilities.
No doubt you could piece together many of these capabilities with various open source products.
For instance, ETL products such as Pentaho Data Integration and Talend Open Studio are powerful
open source tools you can use to move data. However, a product like SQL Server, which includes not
only the database engine, but also its own Analysis Services, Reporting Services and Integration
Services, provides a scalable solution that could make long-range planning and subsequent
implementations a seamless process. So SQL Server Express might be the way to go.
Where do you go from here? There are no simple answers when considering a migration from
an open source RDBMS. Each system has its benefits and drawbacks, and a free product doesn’t
necessarily mean it’s cheap. You must take into account the hours necessary to plan and implement
various components, learn about and find support for those components and integrate different
strategies and systems. In some cases, the solution might be clear-cut. If you’re a Microsoft shop
using all Microsoft tools and running .NET
applications, SQL Server might be the optimum solution. But if you’re running Linux servers and
supporting PHP applications, you might find that an open
source product such as PostgreSQL is more than adequate for your current requirements. Yet
even in these scenarios, it’s not that easy. You must take into account product limitations and
features as well as your future needs. Only then can you make a qualified decision.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Sheldon is a technical consultant and the author of numerous books, articles and training
materials related to Microsoft Windows, various relational database management systems, and
business intelligence design and implementation. Find more information at http://rhsheldon.com.
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