Comparison Of Rdbms

IMPLEMENTATION OF AN OPEN SYSTEMS APPLICATION ENVIRONMENT

RDBMS COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW

The Defense Finance and Accounting Services Financial Systems Organization (DFAS) plans to establish a standard development and operational environment for DFAS applications running on workstations, network servers, and mid-tier platforms. To accomplish this, the Government has commissioned a study to 1) evaluate currently used development environments and industry standards and 2) perform an analysis of these alternative development environment; identifying the most effective solutions for DFAS.

A key component of this planned Open Systems Application Environment (OSAE) is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) that will allow portability and salability across multiple platforms. This report provides a comparative analysis of three leading RDBMSs including Oracle, DB2, and SYBASE System 10. In addition, it contains recommendations for RDBMS standardization within DFAS.

OPEN SYSTEMS APPLICATION ENVIRONMENT REQUIREMENTS

In it's quest to achieve an open systems application environment, the Defense Finance and Accounting Services Financial Systems Organization has defined a set of requirements that the selected development environment must meet. In particular, the development environment must meet industry standards as well as DFAS specific requirements. Following is a listing of key industry standards and DFAS defined requirements.

KEY INDUSTRY STANDARDS

Data access language standards are key in the RDBMS industry. The American National Institute (ANSI) has adopted SQL as the standard language for relational database management systems as defined in document ANSI X3.135-189 "Database Language SQL with Integrity Enhancement" or ANSI SQL89. In addition, the International Standards Organization (ISO) in the document ISO 9075-1989 "Database Language SQL with Integrity Enhancement" and the United States Federal Government in the Federal Information Processing Standard Publication (FIPS PUB) 127 have also adopted SQL as the standard RDBMS access language. ANSI has also adopted a standard for Embedded SQL as defined in the document ANSI X3.168-189 "Database Language Embedded SQL".

The current SQL standard, ANSI SQL-92 is defined in FIPS PUB 127-2, ANSI X3.135-1992, and ISO 9075:1992.

DFAS DEFINED RDBMS REQUIREMENTS

Following is an overview of DFAS requirements for the RDBMS component of the Open Systems Application Environment.

* The selected database must have full ANSI SQL Compliance

* The RDBMS must be easily transported to the Oracle RDBMS which is currently in use on the DFAS mid-tier systems.

* The RDBMS must provide salability from the workstation, Netware server, mid-tier, to the mainframe platforms.

OVERVIEW OF FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

After careful review of the Government's requirements, in conjunction with a thorough evaluation of three RDBMSs, it is the evaluator's recommendation that DFAS standardize on the Oracle RDBMS. Key factors affecting the recommendation include Oracle's industry proven open and scalable architecture and it's superior ability to integrate into the current DFAS environment.

The other two RDBMSs that were evaluated are IBM's DB2 and SYBASE's System 10. Though these RDBMS provided several capabilities that can meet the Government's needs, Oracle provided a far more comprehensive and superior solution.

Below is an brief overview of the three RDBMSs reviewed, followed by a comparative analysis.

RDBMS OVERVIEWS

ORACLE7 RDBMS

The Oracle7 Server is a relational database management system that enables true enterprise data management from the desktop to the data center. Oracle7's scalable, reliable, integrated server architecture dynamically adapts to exploit uniprocessor and parallel hardware, to deliver unprecedented performance, salability, and availability providing unmatched price performance. Flexible, integrated, manageable distributed database facilities facilitate the deployment of practical distributed solutions that meet specific business needs. Oracle7 includes all the facilities necessary to construct enterprise-class applications, assure end-to-end user and data security, and comprehensively manage the Oracle environment.

For high-performance transaction processing, Oracle7 employs an integrated, multithreaded, multiserver architecture to handle thousands of simultaneous user requests. Through its adaptable parallel architecture, Oracle ensures optimal performance, salability, and availability facilitating organizational growth and data access predictability.

The sophisticated data concurrency control model of the Oracle7 Server ensures the powerful support for a multitude of processing requirements including, but not limited to On-line Transaction Processing and Decision Support, thus meeting specific and varied application requirements.

Distributed database query and transaction processing requirements are also supported with the Oracle7 Server. Developers and users can treat a physically distributed database as a single logical database though the transparent distributed capabilities of the Oracle7 Server, enabling the enterprise flexibility in the placement of its data. In addition, Oracle7 allows organizations to transparently replicate commonly used data to multiple nodes offering further flexibility in the placement and use of the enterprise's critical information. Oracle7's Open Gateway architecture ensures the smooth transition from legacy systems by enabling transparent data access during the migration process.

Oracle7 also enables the enforcement of complex business rules through the storage of powerful PL/SQL procedures and triggers right in the Oracle7 Server. Stored procedures and triggers increase application reliability and reduce development costs by allowing common procedures to be developed and maintained in a central location.

Additional features of the Oracle7 Server include extensive National Language Support (NLS) of 8- and