Rhodes University Department of Computer Science

Transcription

1 Rhodes University Department of Computer Science Computer Science Honours Project proposal 2005 A Comparative Investigation and Evaluation of Oracle 9i and SQL Server 2000 with respect to Integrity and SQL Language standards. By: Paul Tarwireyi g05t5139@campus.ru.ac.za Supervisor: John Ebden Date: 14 March Problem Statement. The last decade has been clearly a turbulent and trying time for DBMS software in the market due to database wars as these products were competing against each other. Consequently Database Administrators (DBAs) found themselves in a predicament of not knowing which DBMS to use, when, how and why use it? Oracle and SQL Server are major rivals in the commercial databases arena and hence the scope of this project. Usually the choice between SQL Server and Oracle has more to do with office politics, and with what the DBAs, managers, and their friends are familiar with. However there are several criteria which can be used to objectively evaluate these databases and these include integrity and the conformity to ANSI SQL standards among others. 1.1 Aim The objective of this project is to make a comparative investigation and evaluation Oracle and SQL Server with respect to integrity and ANSI SQL This evaluation will establish the strengths and weakness of each database. Proving which DBMS is the best has been always just like a religious debate, thus this project does not aim to prove which DBMS is superior, but to establish which can be best implemented depending on the need, as these DBMSs have their respective advantages. I hope that this project will lead to serious investigations and discussions rather than wars between the different DBMS s loyalists. 1 of 6

2 2 Resources (literature) Review. Due to the nature of the project, the main source of information for this project will be the Internet. A wide variety of resources are available on the internet but I will mainly focus on the technical documents for these databases and their related concepts. The following are the sources I managed to gather so far and I hope to come up with more sources or make changes as I progress. 2.1 Books Coronel C & Rob P. 2002, Database systems design, implementation and management 5 th Ed, Course Technology, USA Knowledge of databases is imperative as a starting point, and this book provides a good introduction to databases, thus forming a strong foundation. It explains the design, implementation and management of databases and also devotes a chapter to data integrity which will be useful when investigating the problem. 2.2 Online resources This is a source for many oracle resources which ranges from tutorials to documentation. It also acts as a source of some of SQL Server s weakness, although the biasness factor has to be considered. This is a source for SQL Server resources. There are a variety of database resources including the SQL Server 2000 Resource Kit, tutorials and documentation. It also act as source of some of oracle s weakness although the biasness factor has to be considered This website has a variety of articles and magazines highlighting different SQL Server technical issues. 2 of 6

3 This site has a lot of databases comparisons. The databases compared range from open source to the commercial, even SQL Server and Oracle were also compared but on criteria like performance, cost, platforms hardware requirements and so on. This site has technical papers, tips and scripts for both oracle and SQL Server, thus useful to my understanding of the two products. This site gives an overview of the SQL standards 2003, which are the new SQL standards. This site contains a lot discussions or forums on comparing oracle and SQL Server. This will be useful as it is a valuable source of the strengths and weaknesses of the two DBMSs html All these are database forums and groups, where there are discussions on the various matters affecting the DBAs worldwide. This site contains a technical white paper comparing oracle 10g and SQL Server of 6

4 This is a vast pool of tutorials for different software. Thus there are tutorials for both SQL Server and Oracle. This site also contains frequently asked questions (FAQ) associated these DBMSs. This site contains oracle SQL, PL/SQL tutorials and online Oracle training. This will be very helpful for my learning of Oracle. It also contains a lot of miscellaneous Oracle tips. 3 Hardware and Software Availability. Two Pentium 4 machines have been made available by the department for this project. Oracle 9i and SQL Server 2000 have already been installed on these machines, ora1 and ss1 respectively. Both machines are running Windows 2003 server. 4 The project timeline/milestones This is just an initial timeline that will help me focus on major goals during the course of the project. This project will however be researched and developed using an iterative approach, where analysis and investigation will be continuously taking place. First term Event Proposed dates: a. Reading and literature survey to gain background 1/03-09/03 information and understanding of the field. b. Write formal research proposal. Due 14/03 c. Getting to know SQL 2000 Server that is to create and 1 week manipulate the database and its underlying operations. d. Getting to know T-SQL 1 day e. Getting to know Oracle 9i, that is to create and manipulate 1 week the database and its underlying operations. 4 of 6

5 f. Getting to know PL/SQL 1 day g. Knowing what Integrity means and what are the issues and 1 day how it can be lost. Second and third term h. Knowing SQL language standards and what are the issues 1 day i. Prepare project proposal presentation Due 06/04 onwards j. Search for or create dummy databases 2 weeks k. Investigating whether the problems in (g and h) occur in Throughout SQL or Oracle Second and third term l. Investigating whether both DBMSs comply with (h) Second term m. Prepare literature survey, abstract and plan of the project Due 30/05 n. What (if anything) can be done to fix the problems third term identified in (g and h ) if they occur in the two DBMSs o. Prepare project presentation Due 25/07 p. Prepare poster Due 22/08 Fourth Term q. Prepare draft paper Due 19/09 r. Prepare final paper Due 26/09 s. Prepare drafts of write up Due 03/10 t. Prepare final oral presentation Due 31/10 u. Final project hand in Due 07/11 5 Deliverables At the end of the project, it is hoped to produce a report detailing weaknesses and strengths in SQL Server and Oracle database systems, and also making recommendations about the optimal use of these products for different categories or types of users. 5 of 6

6 6 Possible Extensions Developing software which will test DBMSs for integrity. Evaluating the recoverability, backup, maintainability. Evaluating the latest versions: SQL Server 2005 and Oracle 10g/11g. Developing tutorials on how to use these databases responsibly. 6 of 6