SQL Server 2012 and MySQL 5

SQL Server 2012 and MySQL 5 A Detailed Comparison of Approaches and Features SQL Server White Paper Published: April 2012 Applies to: SQL Server 2012 Introduction: The question whether to implement commercial vs. open source software is a debate that has been going on for years. Open source software such as MySQL is typically very low cost or no cost at all. However, even those who think that implementing open source software saves money agree that free does not mean no cost. While the upfront cost of the software and licenses might be low or no cost, the overall cost to implement and maintain the software can be quite substantial. Moreover, support and consulting fees can be higher than most organizations expect, which raises the overall Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). On the other side, commercial software such as Microsoft SQL Server 2012 achieves an overall superior performance because the development teams who work on the products invest hundreds of thousands of man hours of time and millions of dollars in research and development costs to ensure their products are able to support organizations business needs and run their most mission-critical applications. Microsoft also understands the need of organizations very well and satisfies those requirements by building features into multiple SQL Server releases. This paper compares the major features of both the latest version of SQL Server 2012 and MySQL 5 (including 5.5) in each product in five separate categories. It will help customers choose which database is most suitable for their database applications.

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Contents Executive Summary... 4 Product Editions... 5 SQL Server 2012... 5 MySQL 5... 5 Feature Comparison... 5 Engine... 6 Enterprise Features... 8 Security...10 Tools...10 Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence, and Big Data...12 Conclusion...13 References:...14 3

Executive Summary SQL Server 2012 has better features than MySQL in the categories of engine, enterprise, security, tools, data warehouse, business intelligence, and big data. Although customers can download MySQL for free, Oracle highly recommends customers to purchase expensive software support for all MySQL editions for production and that might increase the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) in implementing MySQL. Moreover, there are also well-known inherent issues of security that come with open source software development as it is typically done by members of the open source community, which is made up of volunteers, including (but not limited to): Introduction of bugs into software. For MySQL, many community developers contribute to the source code. Bugs can easily be introduced into the product if the skill level of developers is not known or cannot be guaranteed. However, commercial software companies like Microsoft ensure that developers have the appropriate skill level to contribute to their products. Most recently, MySQL (part of Oracle) has failed its high profile customer Zappos.com which uses MySQL Enterprise. The web site was hacked and becoming the largest data breach ever where 24 million account information was accessed by hackers. Response to security threats. Microsoft has teams of engineers who are responsible for doing nothing but responding to security threats and patch is made available almost immediately should a vulnerability be exposed. As the result, SQL Server has the least amount of security vulnerability among database products in the last 10 years according to NIST. On the other hands, MySQL has more security vulnerabilities in the last 10 years and Oracle continues to release many MySQL patches every quarter. Most recently, Oracle released 27 patches for MySQL in one day. In fact, MySQL public web site mysql.com has been targeted and was hacked multiple times in the past year alone where username and password were exposed in public web site. As database breaches become more catastrophic to businesses, MySQL is becoming more vulnerable and customers need to understand the risks when evaluating MySQL in production environment. While there are few positive aspects of MySQL 5, this paper shows that SQL Server 2012 is the clear choice for all aspects of businesses and all types of applications, including those that are the most mission-critical that requires highest performance, scale, high availability, security, manageability, as well as ability to make better business decisions based on data. 4

Product Editions SQL Server 2012 Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is a cloud-ready information platform that will help organizations unlock breakthrough insights across the organization and quickly build solutions to extend data across on-premises and public cloud, backed by mission critical confidence. Small, mid-sized, and enterprise customers can all benefit from SQL Server 2012. Regardless of budget or business requirements, there is an appropriate edition of SQL Server 2012. One of the major advantages of having multiple editions is that they are all produced using the same database engine: Enterprise for mission critical applications and large scale data warehousing Business Intelligence, a new product edition, providing premium corporate and self-service BI Standard for basic database, reporting and analytics capabilities Express Edition scaled-down free edition that can be freely downloaded as well as freely distributed by Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) MySQL 5 MySQL 5 (including the latest 5.5) is available in multiple editions which contain all the core features (except Cluster edition) described later in this paper: Community, for free download version under GPL license v2 that is fully controlled by Oracle but does accept patches from the community. Enterprise, a commercial version that combines MySQL database, enterprise backup, enterprise monitor, and workbench standard edition. Cluster, a specialized but feature-limited engine for real-time transactional database designed for high throughput condition such as Telco. Oracle charges support for commercial edition of MySQL. On the high-end, MySQL does not contain many of the enterprise-level features required to run highly available, mission-critical applications, such as AlwaysOn, clustering, and online operations. The major features supported in MySQL are outlined in the next section. Feature Comparison Because of the large number of features in both SQL Server 2012 and MySQL 5, the comparison of each is broken into the following categories: engine, enterprise, security, tools, data warehouse, business intelligence, and big data. 5

For each of the features presented in this paper, the following visual keys are used to indicate the extent to which each feature is supported by SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition and MySQL 5 Enterprise Edition: Engine - Feature is fully supported - Feature is partially supported - Feature is not supported The engine in a database system is the core technology that processes data. The engine handles all inserts, updates, deletes, and selects from the database, as well as optimization, indexing, and all other base-level processing supported by a database technology. The comparison of engine features is shown in Table 1. Automatic Tuning Cascading Referential Integrity Indexed Views Multiple Instances Multiple Languages Rules Stored Procedures Transactions Triggers Automatic tuning optimizes the database for best performance. This eliminates administrative burden on DBAs. Automatically updates or deletes data in nested tables that participate in foreign key relationships. Indexed views provide optimal performance of database views. Multiple instances refers to the ability for a single server to host more than one instance of the database server. Ability to display messages in languages other than English. Also controls the sorting of dates, times, and currency, and strings. Enables you to control the valid values that can be stored in a column in a table. Enables you to encapsulate complex SQL statements into a single procedure that can be called from applications or within other SQL statements. Ability to treat a set of SQL statements as a single unit of work, thereby allowing exactly all or none of the statements to complete. Automatically notifies, or fires, when defined events occur in a database, such 6

User-defined Functions User-defined Data Types Views UPSERT logic Sequence object Parallel Query Distributed Federated Query Database Links Native XML Support and XML processing Available at no cost Crossplatform support Multiple row data storage strategy Service Broker as the changing of data in a table. Method of providing programmatic means to complex functionality inline with SQL statements. Ability to create a data type that is not available out of the box, that corresponds to business requirements. Method of abstracting and filtering specific columns or rows in an underlying table, but still looks like a table to SQL queries. SQL Server supports UPSERT operation (combination of update and insert into a single clause) using MERGE statement. SQL Server has object containing sequence of numeric values generated in an ascending or descending order at a defined interval and can be configured to restart (cycle) when exhausted. SQL Server provides parallel queries to optimize query execution and index operations. SQL Server supports distributed queries access data from multiple heterogeneous data sources. SQL Server can access tables from heterogeneous data sources. SQL Server stores XML data as a native type, which allows indexing and querying using industry-standard technologies, like XQuery. The Express Edition of SQL Server is available at no cost. MySQL runs on Unix and Linux, as well as Windows. SQL Server runs only on Windows. Data is stored in a way that ensures good performance in high-transaction environments. SQL Server Service Broker is used for Asynchronous communications with other 7

Full-Text Searching Index Organized Table Filtered Indexes Persisted Computed Column FileTable Hierarchical Data Type XEvents CLR Integration Integrated Database Mail applications. Ability to catalog the data that comprises a text column so that it can be easily queried. SQL Server uses clustered indexes (index-organized tables) on the primary key per default. Filtered Indexes that provide highperformance lookups of subsets of data in SQL Server. Computed column in SQL Server is computed from an expression that can use other columns in the same table. Brings support for the Windows file namespace and compatibility with Windows applications to the file data stored in SQL Server. Makes it easier to store and query hierarchical data in SQL Server General event-handling system for SQL Server and Windows Server. CLR hosted in Microsoft SQL Server (called CLR integration)allows authoring of stored procedures, triggers, user-defined functions, user-defined types, and userdefined aggregates in managed code. Allowing sending of bulk emails from SQL Server databases. Table 1: Comparison of Engine Features. Enterprise Features Enterprise Features refers to more advanced capabilities that are needed in a medium or large enterprise. These features are not typically used in a small business. SQL Server 2012 clearly excels in its enterprise features. The comparison of enterprise features is shown in Table 2. 64-Bit Support Distributed MySQL & SQL Server support 64-bit. Method to efficiently access federated 8

Partitioned Views Failover Clustering AlwaysOn Log Shipping Replication Multi-device support Advanced Compression Online Backups SAN Support Complex Event Processing Data Quality Master Data Management Hot Add Memory & CPU Online Schema Change Resource Governor databases. Both MySQL and SQL Server supports Windows Clustering SQL Server supports synchronous and asynchronous multiple active secondary servers. Applies the transactions in the transaction log to another server for high availability. MySQL & SQL Server support replication. Both MySQL and SQL Server can run in embedded scenarios. Help compress the data inside a database to help reduce the size of the database and improve performance of I/O intensive workloads in SQL Server. Backups can be performed without taking the database offline. While a SAN can be used with both products, SQL Server has built-in support for a Storage Area Network. SQL Server StreamInsight provides complex event processing capabilities. SQL Server Data Qualities Services enables correction, enrichment, standardization, and de-duplication of data using knowledge-driven method. SQL Server Master Data Services provides solution for master data management. SQL Server allows adding CPU and Memory while it is running. SQL Server allows changing database schema while it is running. SQL Server provides lower and upper limits of resource management for performance consistencies 9

Table 2: Comparison of Enterprise Features. Security Security is at the forefront of everyone s mind. SQL Server 2012 has better built-in advanced security features. The comparison of security features is shown in Table 3. Active Directory Support Role-Based SSL Encryption Stored Procedure Security Table Security View Security Kerberos authentication is supported with both products for Active Directory support. Users can be grouped into roles they assume in the database. Then, permissions can be assigned to those roles. Encryption of TCP/IP connections to the database for added security. Ability to apply security permissions to stored procedures. Ability to apply security permissions to tables. Ability to apply security permissions to views. Auditing Transparent Data Encryption Centralized Key Management SQL Server has built in comprehensive auditing capabilities SQL Server supports real-time I/O encryption and decryption of the data and log files. SQL Server allows storing encryption keys in hardware security modules devices. Table 3: Comparison of Security Features. Tools Tools in a database system allow it to be managed in an easy and efficient manner. SQL Server has much more built-in database tools and excels in its ability to manage one or more SQL Servers. The comparison of tools features is shown in Table 4. 10

Centralized Administration Integrated SQL Debugger Profiler Graphical Query Tool Database Tuning Advisor Distributed Replay Graphical Wizards Graphical Activity Monitor Central Management Servers SQL Server Utility Manage servers using Policy Maintenance Plan Wizard Administration of one or more servers is performed in single, centralized place. Debugger is integrated into the development environment. Tool for measuring and monitoring performance and server health. Graphical (GUI) tools for querying the database. SQL Server uses current workloads to determine how to best tune a database. Tool to replay captured trace and simulate mission-critical workload against an upgraded test environment to help assess the impact of hardware and operating system upgrades. SQL Server has many wizards to guide through administrative tasks. MySQL has a few dialog boxes, which are referred to as Wizards. MySQL does not have native GUI monitoring tool for performance and needs Enterprise Monitor (separate product). MySQL does not have the capability to execute SQL statements at the same time against server groups Manage SQL Server environment as a whole with summary and detailed data in terms of underutilization and overutilization policies for a variety of key parameters such as CPU, file spaces. Policy-Based Management allows managing one or more instances of SQL Server based on extensive policies. SQL Server maintenance plan wizard create a workflow of the tasks required to make sure database is optimized, regularly backed up, and free of consistencies. 11

Dedicated Administrator Connection Data-tier Application Table 4: Comparison of Tools Features. Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence, and Big Data SQL Server provides ways to let administrator troubleshoot very busy databases. SQL Server can package database applications (schema, objects, and data) into a single unit of deployment Data warehouse, Business Intelligence, and Big Data is simply the ability to make better business decisions based on data. Users are often trying to spot trends in data. However, trends might exist that the business analyst doesn t know to look for. The ability to load data from multiple, disparate data sources, process that data, and analyze it is an enormous strength of SQL Server. Microsoft has made very large investments in R&D in this area and provides many more of these features in SQL Server 2012 than does MySQL 5. The comparison of is shown in Table 5. Bitmap Index Joins Common Table Expressions xvelocity inmemory column store index Change Data Capture Data Warehouse Alliance Data Warehouse Reference Architectures SQL Server speed up data warehouse queries using bitmap joins. SQL Server can create temporary result set that is defined within the execution scope that can be self-referencing and can be referenced multiple times in the same query. SQL Server in-memory column store index delivers 10x-100x faster performance for Data Warehousing queries. SQL Server provides way to capture insert, update, and delete activities applied to tables. SQL Server and MySQL have an alliance of Data Warehousing vendors. SQL Server has multiple data warehouse reference architectures from multiple hardware vendors. MySQL has specific 3rd party engines for data warehouse. 12

Data Warehouse Appliances Integration Services, also known as Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL). High Speed Drivers Analysis Services (OLAP) Data Mining Text Mining English Query Reporting Services PowerPivot Big Data Support SQL Server has multiple data warehouse appliances from multiple hardware vendors. SQL Server has extensive and robust ETL capabilities. SQL Server supports high performance Oracle and Teradata destinations Ability to build OLAP, ROLAP, and MOLAP database cubes. SQL Server supports algorithms for mining structured data. SQL Server supports algorithms for mining unstructured text data. SQL Server English query is the ability to query the database using English syntax instead of SQL syntax. SQL Server has a graphical reporting solution for different types of users. SQL Server provides deep Integration into Microsoft Excel to query and view data in OLAP and OLTP databases. SQL Server is shipping with Hadoop adapters for Big Data processing Table 5: Comparison of Data Warehouse, Business Intelligence, and Big Data Features. Conclusion SQL Server 2012 excels in numerous ways compares to MySQL 5. SQL Server 2012 contain many more features than MySQL 5 in the categories of engine, enterprise, security, tools, data warehouse, business intelligence, and big data. Therefore, SQL Server is the clear choice for all aspects of businesses and all types of applications, including those that are the most missioncritical. 13

References: SQL Server Web Site http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/default.aspx MySQL Web Site http://www.mysql.com/ Did this paper help you? Please give us your feedback. Tell us on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), how would you rate this paper and why have you given it this rating? For example: Are you rating it high due to having good examples, excellent screen shots, clear writing, or another reason? Are you rating it low due to poor examples, fuzzy screen shots, or unclear writing? This feedback will help us improve the quality of white papers we release. Send feedback. 14