What database to use?

[Filipe]

I've been using Access databases for very small projects and MS SQL databases for large projects. I didn't really know much about MySQL until I began to move to PHP. How does MySQL compare to MS SQL, Access, etc. Is there a breakdown anywhere of the major databases out there?

[txbakers]

mySql is free, is well supported, and is generally great.

I'm getting ready to switch everything over from Access.

There is also a GUI front end to mySQL available for free.

[Lisa]

Take a look at this MySQL breakdown vs Access [mysql.com]

I would choose MySQL in a heartbeat. I have used MySQL, MS-SQL, Access, and Oracle.

My company made the decision to move from MySQL to Oracle back in 1999. We found lots of new features. However, we have since moved back to MySQL because it requires less management and costs NOTHING! We were looking for a database that could be access from any platform. Oracle has no support on FreeBSD so we had to can it. And actually MySQL is faster. The trade off of some functionality for speed is very enjoyable!

[Filipe]

I know I don't like Access. My main concern was which of the three biggest names to go with:

MySQL
MS SQL
Oracle

Oracle is one of the biggest distributors of database software to corporations, I understand (it's founder was almost arrested in my home-city for flying his jet at night). The CTO at a company I'm currently working at keeps touting MS SQL as the fastest corporate solution. Does anyone have a comparison of these vs. My SQL?

[DaveN]

I would Have to agree with Lisa I use Both MySQl and MS-SQl.

With My-sql I Also Use Mysql Frontend [mysqlfront.de]

You just can't beat the Price of My-Sql there are some security issues with My-SQl like passwords been stored in .INI in plain text format.

DaveN

[backus]

You can't compare MySQL, Interbase, Access, etc, with Oracle, SQL Server, and Informix. They are in a completely different league. You can do things on the three big dbs that would make your eyes pop out. At the moment, nothing compares to SQL Server.

Check out www.TPC.org for the benchmarks.

[lorax]

According to MySQL (time is seconds):

Reading 2,000,000 rows by key

mysql On NT: 367 - On Linux 249
mysql_odbc On NT: 464
db2_odbc On NT: 1206
informix_odbc On NT: 121126
ms-sql_odbc On NT: 1634
oracle_odbc On NT: 20800
solid_odbc On NT: 877
sybase_odbc On NT: 17614

Inserting (350768) rows:

mysql On NT: 381 - On Linux: 206
mysql_odbc On NT: 619
db2_odbc On NT: 3460
informix_odbc On NT: 2692
ms-sql_odbc On NT: 4012
oracle_odbc On NT: 11291
solid_odbc On NT: 1801
sybase_odbc On NT: 4802

My vote is for MySQL - unless - you need to do full transactional processing and expect your database to be VERY busy. Then you may want to look into to either a MySQL clone (like Nusphere's Gemini product) or another alternative.