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VIRTUALISATION Not all databases are created equal
VIRTUALISATION Not all databases are created equal | Not all databases are created equal |
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| by David M Williams | |
| Monday, 11 May 2009 | |
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Yet there are an awful lot of companies out there who fail to use a solid database platform or who have marketers that can't articulate what their database is (and don’t understand why I care.) There are even software execs who delude themself their "just another database" is something far more than it is. When I'm looking at software it's not just a matter of a business evaluating its functionality. Obviously, function is important. You don’t want a financial package that can’t raise purchase orders, for example. However, there are also many technical considerations any company beyond a certain size will be looking at too. Just four I keep in mind are how well the package slots into an enterprise architecture, how easily we can extract ad-hoc data on demand, how well it scales and how well it operates over a wide area network - if at all. Often times these four matters come down to the database technology used. Let's be frank, a lot of software houses are really letting themselves down here. Sometimes it's a matter of skimping on costs. You see this when the software stores its data on a file share. That's a low cost development solution which accordingly yields low quality returns. Software that saves to a file share is a never-ending source of problems. You have to map a drive letter which sounds insignificant but keep in mind these are a finite resource. You will have problems with drives failing to map from time to time, as happens for varying reasons, and which result in help desk trouble tickets, application unavailability and more. Additionally, a file share is going to give dismal performance over a WAN. As soon as you want to run the app in two different offices your users will complain it’s too slow. You may get forced into terminal services whether that suits your plan or not. Sometimes the app won't even perform satisfactorily on the local area network! This isn’t my only gripe. What about databases from non-database companies? |
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