[lug] SQL Server

[George Sexton]

I have a customer using SQL Server 6.5 and to be honest we haven't had much
problem since SP 4 came out. It just sits there and goes. The biggest issues
I have with it are:

1)	No JDBC Driver
2)	No Java in the Database
3)	Only runs on NT

#1 is a killer if you think your company has Java in it's future. In
particular, I do a lot of Server Side Java web development. Not having a
JDBC driver locks you out of the data. You can buy a JDBC driver for MANY
thousands of dollars from some sources.

#2 sucks because your SQL Server side programming environment is
Transact-SQL. Transact SQL is a homely, early 90's SQL Scripting language.
It's very hard to do anything very complex. I think the implementations that
Oracle and Sybase are doing with Java support built into the database is the
way to go.

#3 can make the server hard to manage. OTOH, I successfully manage my
client's SQL server over the internet using RAS and PPTP.

As far as VB goes, from the server side you should tell those programmers to
read the MSKB articles on using VB ActiveX objects in IIS. There is kind of
a threading issue. Say the server has 20 worker threads and you store an
apartment model VB object on the session object in IIS. The result is that
the IIS Session (User) must run on that thread even though that thread may
be busy and 19 other threads are free. Microsoft's own recommendation is
that you not store VB ActiveX objects on Sessions. The implication is that
Microsoft recommends that you not use VB ActiveX objects from within IIS.

I had a problem using Visual J++ w/ IIS. Using Visual J++ and ADO caused a
massive memory leak that caused my app to crater after two hours in
production. Essentially, if you are going to use IIS at all you better plan
on a lot of time to do load testing to make sure your app will run in a
production environment. Incidentally, it took MS 15 days to come up with a
work-around for the issue.

George Sexton
MH Software, Inc.
Voice: 303 438 9585
Fax: 303 469 9679
URL: http://www.mhsoftware.com

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-admin at lug.boulder.co.us [mailto:lug-admin at lug.boulder.co.us]On
Behalf Of Kyle Moore
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 1999 11:32 AM
To: BLUG
Subject: [lug] SQL Server


I'm looking for ammo.

We are just starting to use the web in a big way and there is a move to
use SQL Server on NT. One of our companies was using SQL Server when we
bought them and some of our programmers are in love with Microsoft and
VB so the default database just sort of happened. I was wondering if
anyone has seen a page on the web somewhere that would give reasons
other choices would be better. The biggest drawback to SQL Server in my
opinion is that it only runs on NT. At least the people that want to use
ColdFusion aren't locking us into NT.

The database that our corporate data sits on is Universe. I know, nobody
has ever heard of it. It is actually a great database...legacy style but
can handle some heavy stuff. Thank god all of this is on UNIX. We also
use MySQL for a few small web apps I have written for internal use and
our web-based Helpdesk runs on it too.

I would just like to prevent us becoming too locked into products that
only run on one platform. I prefer solutions to run on any platform we
have. I know SQL pretty well but don't know enough about SQL Server to
be able to confidently point out shotcomings.

Thanks.

--

----
Kyle Moore
UNIX Systems Administrator
Webmaster
---------------------------------------
Trust Company of America / Gemisys
7103 South Revere Parkway
Englewood, CO 80112
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Email: kmoore at trustamerica.com
Voice: 303-705-6212
Pager: 303-656-1131
Fax: 303-705-6171
Web Site: http://www.trustamerica.com
---------------------------------------

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