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Conference ulysse::rdb_vms_competition

Title:DEC Rdb against the World
Moderator:HERON::GODFRIND
Created:Fri Jun 12 1987
Last Modified:Thu Feb 23 1995
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1348
Total number of notes:5438

370.0. "ACMS and ORACLE: are compatibles ?" by TRNOIS::QUAGLIA () Wed Jun 21 1989 21:46

    Hello,
    
    I've to do a presentation to a customer about OLTP for DEC. The customer,
    ex IBM, wants migrate his CICS application on DEC-Sw   but 
    he doesn't know what is ACMS. Further, he has bought ORACLE because,
    he says, this DBMS is closer to DB2 than RDB with respect SQL.
    
    First question: it is true ?
    Second question: without considering problems with cluster, network,
                     can I build a TP-application with ACMS+ORACLE ?
	                      
    Thanks              from LQ
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
370.1No and Yes, kind ofQUILL::BOOTHWhat am I?...An Oracle?Thu Jun 22 1989 00:2612
    First, is Oracle closer to DB2 SQL than is Rdb. That depends on the
    criteria used. From what I have seen, VAX SQL is closer to DB2 than
    Oracle SQL. Oracle's heavy use of both proprietary extensions and
    syntax make it quite unlike DB2's SQL. Further, if it were so similar,
    why would Oracle need the "blcak box" conversion software, SQL*Connect,
    to talk to DB2?
    
    Secondly, can you use ACMS/Oracle to do OLTP. If performance and time
    to market are not considerations, such a product mix will execute on a
    VMS system.
    
    ---- Michael Booth
370.2If they say it, it must be true (:-) !!!SNO78C::BELAKHOVOh, my god, it's full of stars.Thu Jun 22 1989 05:499
    re .0
    
    I fully agree with Michael's comment in .1, however, I have noticed
    that ORACLE claim to be able to run DB2 SQL code without modification,
    i.e. they claim that ORACLE SQL is a superset of DB2 SQL.
    
    Any comments on this?
    
    Michael
370.3It's another MythBROKE::BOOTHWhat am I?...An Oracle?Thu Jun 22 1989 19:127
    Oracle runs on DB2 with the black box converter in place. What would be
    good parallel is that Focus can also run on DB2, as can Nomad and
    Ideal. None of these products is a great promoter of SQL, yet all can
    run on DB2. What makes Oracle with SQL conversion software any
    different than Focus with conversion software?
    
    ---- Michael Booth
370.4DB2: FOCUS or SQL*CONNECTTRNAF1::QUAGLIAThu Jun 22 1989 21:2413
    
    Hi Michael,  you are surprising in these matter ...
    
    could you explain me better how can I use FOCUS to get data from DB2?
    
    and 
    
         in the previous replay note (370.2) BELAKhOV states that 
    	 "ORACLE claim to be able to run DB2-SQL code without
         modification".     If this is true is a obvious advantage for
         the customer. 
    
     Again thanks    from LQ
370.5And AgainQUILL::BOOTHWhat am I?...An Oracle?Thu Jun 22 1989 23:147
    Focus can interact with DB2 as many IBM-based products can.
    
    As far as Oracle DB2 SQL working on Oracle, sure it will work...if it
    first gets translated to Oracle SQL. One would expect that such
    conversion would further slow the process.
    
    ---- Michael Booth
370.6Yes, but...DLOACT::NARDIPhil Nardi, TP Consultant, 483-4474Fri Jun 23 1989 02:2637
    
    Yes, Oracle can run under ACMS, but for various reasons, there are only
    a handful of known ACMS/Oracle installations in the world.  The two 
    products work but just don't seem to "mesh" together cleanly.
    
    Contact Gail Ferreira (MVPS::) for reference sites.
    
    A customer may have standardized on Oracle years before Rdb V3 came
    out.  Now they realize that SQL*FORMS is not real efficient for many
    interactive users and perhaps want the efficiencies of ACMS/DECforms.
    
    Issues you'll have to point out to any prospective ACMS/Oracle
    customer are:
    
    	o  Oracle is not integrated with Digital's CASE tools 
    
    	o  Oracle precompilers cannot extract definitions from VAX CDD
    	   so developers have to maintain some definitions in at least
    	   3 separate places:
    		-  ACMS must have the record definitions in the CDD
    		-  Oracle has its own dictionary definitions
    		-  Oracle 3GL programs must have separate copy of
    			record definitions
    	o  ACMS cannot cancel a long Oracle procedure
    		-  Oracle runs in Supervisor mode which blocks
    			VMS interrupts
    	o  When your customer has performance problems (and with Oracle, 
    		they certainly will), Oracle will always point the
    		finger at ACMS
    	o  ACMS task syntax for Rdb START_TRANSACTION and COMMIT/ROLLBACK
    		of course cannot be used with Oracle
    	o  Digital consultants will not be trained to support Oracle,
    		so any database issues have to be handled by the customer.
    	        This can only prolong any problem resolution.
    
    Good luck
    
370.7We still should be close to db2CLYPPR::CAMERONWed Jul 19 1989 15:5220
The key influence on the VAX SQL project for each version was (in order):

	VAX SQL  V1.0
		db2
		ansi draft
		dsri

	VAX SQL V1.1
		db2 and ansi
		dsri

	VAX SQL V2.0
		ansi
		dsri
		db2
		
The early versions of VAX SQL would at least parse all db2 syntax. This is 
not the case anymore. DB2 is no longer the standard, ANSI is.  I think that 
there is still an appendix in the documentation that states db2 differences.