Sql question

[taylor34]

Hey--

A while back I asked a question about learning SQL and redesigning a database. Well I've finally got to see what they're using right now, and it's a SQL product outside the mainstream (i.e. not oracle, microsoft, mysql, etc). So in other words I can pretty much use whatever product I want to redo their database/views/etc, because they're not that attached to the previous product. For a beginner into this area, what's a good product to use? I downloaded the trial version of microsoft sql server 2005--it seems ok but it's really bloated and confusing to use at first. Took me a while just to figure out how to create a database. Any recommendations? Thanks

Taylor34

 

[MrChad]

What's your budget? How much data are you storing in this database? What kind of load do you need to support? What type(s) of application(s) will be connecting to the database?

EDIT: And your thread title is a bit misleading. This is a DBMS (database management system) question, not a SQL question.

 

[sourceninja]

exactly, without detailed specs on the application, usersbase, hardware, data, etc it is impossible to recomend anything.

 

[Rage187]

sql server 2005 is fine and dandy

 

[taylor34]

10 users
transaction based
fairly light load

Right now they're using an out of date sql server and app. So what I need to do is transition their database over to another product and redo the app, or redo the database and app. As you can see, I'm not very familiar with database stuff. I'm not sure if the database will pull over or not, I have no experience in this. The way I thought it might work is:

a) pull over their sql compatible database over to a new server (like sql server 2005)
b) rewrite their existing app in sql using a tool or IDE

If I'm way off base on what I'm thinking I need to do, please tell me. I may be mis-interpretting how this all works together. Thanks

Taylor34

 

[sourceninja]

It doesn't sound like you have the skills needed to perform a migration of this level. But if it was me, I would use mysql for small projects and oracle or posgresql for big ones. I perfer free databases so I'm partial to mysql and postgres because they do not require windows to run.

Why do you need to replace this application? Does it not meet their needs? Do they just want to change for the sake of changing? Do they want more flexiblity?

Depending on their needs their may be free prepackaged software out there (especially if this is a CMS). These choices can point you in the right direction for a database. But for a project of this size I would probably go with mysql. It can handle transactions, has good growth and is standard enough that you can write your app to be backend agnostic and switch databases as your needs grow.

 

[taylor34]

Are mysql and sql server 2005 compatible? Not necessarily views and stuff, just the main database information. I.E. can I port the customer info from one database (mysql) to another (server 2005) if I had to?

The reason for the update is that their app was written a while ago by some guy in his spare time. He lost interest, so they've got no support and they'd like to make some changes. However, they've got no source code at all to work with, which means a rebuild. I know it sounds like I'm in over my head (which maybe I am), but I am a software engineer so I have the qualifications to do stuff like this (just no experience in this case). I've taught myself opengl and visual basic (and written apps in visual basic) in the past, so it I figured that this would along the same similar lines. Thanks for your help.

Taylor34

 

[sourceninja]

Data is data, you can port it anywhere you want, databases are just database. Now if the application you write can handle a different database backend, well that is really up to how you write it. If you know how to write a good abastract sql object or you use one. (I use PEAR DB objects when I write in php) then 95% of the time you can change backends without any problems. I'm not familair with windows programing so I can't tell ya if there are good tools for this.

 

[taylor34]

That's good to know about the data. They're using strickly windows, so whatever I use has to be windows compatible.