Every since ORACLE corporation first commercialized the Relational Database Management System, the use of the RDBMS has grown to cover every part of the IT world. It is the standard method for data storage. Microsoft's MS SQL Server is one of the most popular RDBMS systems, but other options exist both for purchase and as open source freeware.

Choosing or Changing

When choosing the database software you intend to use, a few questions will clarify the need. Determine what application software needs to interact with the database and ensure the RDBMS will work with your desired solution, either when you are purchasing an application or building one. Second, take into account the expertise you have available -- if your technical staff are ORACLE programmers, then MS SQL may not be the best choice.

When contemplating changing RDBMS software, caution and careful estimating must be done. While SQL is the standard database programming language there are differences in implementation. How ORACLE handles dates vs. MS SQL is very problematic in a changeover, and a system heavily driven by dates can end up with a major code rewrite. MS SQL has structures such as "select top 5...." which do not work in any other SQL implementation.

ORACLE

ORACLE is the original commercial RDBMS. It runs on many more operating systems than MS SQL, making it a good choice if your software does not work on Windows or you need to scale to a larger application on Unix or the mainframe. ORACLE comes with many different programming tools along with specialized versions of the database such as ORACLE Spatial which is used for geographic coding and mapping.

MySQL

MySQL is open source software, which means there is no purchase cost for the basic version. Ongoing support can be an issue, though it is possible to purchase support from companies who specialize in it. In the end it may or may not be cheaper when this support is factored in. MySQL does offer an "enterprise" version at a price which includes product support and upgrades.

IBM DB2

IBM's DB2 database has been around almost as long as ORACLE. Like ORACLE, it runs on many more platforms than MS SQL. IBM can provide a complete solution of programming and software; in addition they also offer hardware. The advantage of such a complete solution is that there is never a concern which vendor needs to be approached with a problem, as the server, the operating system, the database and the application software are all provided by a single vendor.