Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 19:16:17 -0500 From: "Doug Poland" <doug@polands.org> To: "Mike Meyer" <mwm@mired.org> Cc: <questions@freebsd.org>, <freebsd-database@freebsd.org> Subject: RE: FreeBSD v Linux Message-ID: <NDBBKMNOJKJGAEKJNLIAAECJENAA.doug@polands.org> In-Reply-To: <14838.4762.613284.404127@guru.mired.org>
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Thank you for a more authoritative opinion. I did, after all, qualify my remarks with > > This is pure speculation on my part, but, here goes... > I do hope we get native ports of Oracle, Informix, Sybase. I say this because I don't believe you will actually get support from the vendors if you're running BSD (I'm speculating again). If they don't support it, then the consulting world won't recommend and build systems on BSD. To use myself as an example, I'm a database programmer, not a Unix admin. I use FreeBSD because I like it and it gives me an opportunity to run an OS and applications that would otherwise cost thousands of $$$ to buy from proprietary vendors. Then these vendors have hardware requirements beyond my means to acquire. So I wanted to set up a modest Apache, PHP, Sybase server. I'm the first to admit that I'm no expert in BSD, and I would never have been able to get those three working by myself. In the end, even with the generous help from others, I was unable to get PHP to communicate with Sybase. Now if I was able to buy a BSD version of Sybase, I could have used their libraries instead of FreeTDS and I would at least have someone at Sybase that could help me. I've followed others efforts to get Oracle/Sybase/Informix running on FreeBSD. I'm curious to know if anyone actually is running these servers in a production role. I know two Oracle consulting firms and they always recommend Unix and almost always recommend Linux. There's no way they're going to put a paying client on an unsupported platform. The risk is to high and there is no benefit. To the client and the consulting firm, it's just a box that runs Oracle. BSD will never be that box if Oracle won't support it. Regards, Doug > -----Original Message----- > From: Mike Meyer [mailto:mwm@mired.org] > Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 17:52 > To: Doug Poland > Cc: questions@freebsd.org > Subject: RE: FreeBSD v Linux > > > Doug Poland writes: > > Background: > > I was a Sun/Solaris user in the early '90's when > > the big RDBMS/GIS/CAD vendors were all running on > > the various Unix's (before intel Unix). Supporting > > all these flavors for them was a nightmare and when > > NT became a viable platform, they started jumping > > ship. The vendors want fewer platforms to support, > > not more. > > Background: I was a Sun/Solaris/AIX/Ultrix/<others> sysadmin at one of > the big RDBMS vendors back then (and freelanced for a second, but we > don't talk about that). > > The vendors don't want fewer platforms to support, they want > *profitable* platforms to support. They didn't "jump ship" to NT; they > did an NT port because customers *wanted* it. NT sales pretty quickly > passed Unix (combined) sales, but didn't catch up with VMS sales. > > Neither one was willing to take on a port without some real indication > that there would be lots of customers, or a single customer with > enough money to front the development and support costs (that did > happen every once and a while - a hardware vendor wanting a port for > their platform, for instance). > > > Oracle is probably the exception here as they've > > always used their multi-platform user base as a > > selling advantage. That said, the user-base of > > Linux has grown to a point where Oracle decided > > it was profitable or they felt they had to be > > on that platform. > > Oracle, Informix and Ingres (whatever CA is calling it these days) > were all distributing Linux versions at one point or another. I don't > remember if Sybase made the list, but it wouldn't surprise me. > > > IF the BSD world could get a major RDBMS vendor > > to release a native BSD port, it would be a > > tremendous boost for the BSD world. However, > > we, as the database BSD world, must convince > > them that it's in they're best interest to > > port to BSD. This means being ready and able > > to pay for the software and support. > > jkh is publicly stating that he recommends that vendors support > FreeBSD by testing their Linux port against FreeBSD's Linux emulation > mode. That sort of kills that as a project. Personally, I think that > FreeBSD's Linux emulation makes a good litmus test for "Do I have an > distribution dependencies in my application", and encourage vendors to > use it as such. > > > So if you're interested in Oracle for BSD, > > contact them and tell them you're ready to > > pay for the product on BSD and maybe, someday, > > when enough of us have done that, we'll see > > it. > > > > > > Regards, > > Doug > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > > > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of James Wilde > > > Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 04:00 > > > To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > > > Subject: RE: FreeBSD v Linux > > > > > > > > > I've been following this thread and I've checked the Oracle > and FreeBSD > > > sites. And I've discovered that Oracle is not released in a > > > FreeBSD version > > > but is released in a Linux version which - apparently - runs even > > > better on > > > FreeBSD with Linux emulation. Unfortunately that's not a > > > combination likely > > > to have an immediate appeal to people concerned with operational > > > reliability. And since they use the Oracle DBMS, TPTB at my > new job have > > > opted for Sun Solaris. > > > > > > However, they have made an exception. Since I said I was > > > familiar (!) with > > > FreeBSD they have suggested that, since they are now getting too > > > big to use > > > hosts for name resolution, my first project when I start with > them next > > > month will be to set up a name server running on FreeBSD. > > > > > > So my question is does anyone know whether/when Oracle plans a FreeBSD > > > version? > > > > > > mvh/regards > > > > > > James > > > > > > > > > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > > > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > > > > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-database" in the body of the message
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