This is great information written by Dave Kearns who has a regular e-mail news letter
NetWare 6.1 is supposed to ship with the open source MySQL database - but so far beta versions are short of this. But while you're waiting, Novell Developer Services has made another server-based, open source database available.
The latest Novell Developer Kit (NDK) contains a beta version of PostgreSQL for NetWare, which is also available from http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/postgresnw/ (without the rest of the developer kit).
Novell has flirted with a number of databases over the years. Most familiar is Btrieve/NetWare SQL/SQL 2000i originally from Softcraft, which was acquired by Novell and finally spun off to Pervasive Software (many of the same people who were principals of Softcraft guided the development of Btrieve at Novell). There was also Oracle for NetWare (twice - one with NetWare 3 which was later reincarnated in NetWare 5) and the supposedly forthcoming MySQL (http://www.mysql.com/).
Tim Perdue, at PHPBuilder (he helped found SourceForge) has posted a comparative review of MySQL and PostgreSQL databases
(http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/tim20000705.php3).
Tim's conclusion (but read the whole article) is that MySQL gives better performance but it is also more prone to random failure. The choice comes down to "slow & steady" (PostgreSQL) vs. "quick and quirky" (MySQL). If you Google on the two words
(mysql postgresql) you'll also turn up comparisons in French and Spanish - and probably a few other languages. Just in case English isn't your primary.
Since it's beta releases we're talking about, you'll want to run this up in the lab first - do not install on a production machine.
To install and run PostgreSQL, you need the following:
* NetWare 6.0 with SP2 or later.
* LibC (Libraries for C).
* zlib compression library Version 1.1.4.
* toolbox.nlm.
To find out more about PostgreSQL, head over to http://www.ca.postgresql.org and read the FAQs. Be sure to drop into the User's Lounge, also, where you can find out more than you ever wanted to know about the system.
MySQL may well be a better database system in the long run (I'm not saying it is, though) but right now what's available to you is PostgreSQL and it's a very good tool with good support and plenty of programmers and consultants available. If your
database needs are currently not very large and you've been forced to consider Microsoft's SQL Server, PostgreSQL gives you a very adequate substitute.
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This is great information written by Dave Kearns who has a regular e-mail news letter
NetWare 6.1 is supposed to ship with the open source MySQL database - but so far beta versions are short of this. But while you're waiting, Novell Developer Services has made another server-based, open source database available.
The latest Novell Developer Kit (NDK) contains a beta version of PostgreSQL for NetWare, which is also available from http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/postgresnw/ (without the rest of the developer kit).
The NDK is downloadable from http://developer.novell.com/
(although you will need to register).
Novell has flirted with a number of databases over the years. Most familiar is Btrieve/NetWare SQL/SQL 2000i originally from Softcraft, which was acquired by Novell and finally spun off to Pervasive Software (many of the same people who were principals of Softcraft guided the development of Btrieve at Novell). There was also Oracle for NetWare (twice - one with NetWare 3 which was later reincarnated in NetWare 5) and the supposedly forthcoming MySQL (http://www.mysql.com/).
Tim Perdue, at PHPBuilder (he helped found SourceForge) has posted a comparative review of MySQL and PostgreSQL databases
(http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/tim20000705.php3).
Tim's conclusion (but read the whole article) is that MySQL gives better performance but it is also more prone to random failure. The choice comes down to "slow & steady" (PostgreSQL) vs. "quick and quirky" (MySQL). If you Google on the two words
(mysql postgresql) you'll also turn up comparisons in French and Spanish - and probably a few other languages. Just in case English isn't your primary.
Since it's beta releases we're talking about, you'll want to run this up in the lab first - do not install on a production machine.
To install and run PostgreSQL, you need the following:
* NetWare 6.0 with SP2 or later.
* LibC (Libraries for C).
* zlib compression library Version 1.1.4.
* toolbox.nlm.
To find out more about PostgreSQL, head over to
http://www.ca.postgresql.org and read the FAQs. Be sure to drop into the User's Lounge, also, where you can find out more than you ever wanted to know about the system.
MySQL may well be a better database system in the long run (I'm not saying it is, though) but right now what's available to you is PostgreSQL and it's a very good tool with good support and plenty of programmers and consultants available. If your
database needs are currently not very large and you've been forced to consider Microsoft's SQL Server, PostgreSQL gives you a very adequate substitute.