Comparative Study of IBM DB2 and Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Sneha Soni
Department of Information Technology Sagar Institute of Research and Technology, Bhopal

Abstract: Microsoft and IBM both are the leading companies in the world. Both are offering latest
database software in the database arena. Microsoft SQL 2005 and IBM DB2 are the standard software developed by Microsoft and IBM for database management. These softwares are used around the world by different industries, organization and small start-up to large enterprise. Microsoft SQL 2005 and IBM DB2 Both provide rich technologies offering for a wide range of complex, multifaceted environment for developing database applications on different platform. Along with the uses and each software have some limitations over each other. This paper contains a comparative study between Microsoft SQL 2005 and IBM DB2 in different aspects. Keywords: SQL Sever 2005 and IBM DB2

1. Introduction
DB2 database is not a new concept. It was started in by IBM Company. Microsoft SQL Server was developed by Microsoft which follows ISO and ANSI Standards. The development of SQL is governed by standard. DB2 database is actually made up of a collection of objects, DB2 has both logical and physical storage model to handle data, and DB2 uses containers, which is physical storage devices. Table indexes and long field (sometimes called binary large object or blobs) is object that is created within a DB2 database. DB2 and SQL server 2005 can be compare on the basis of so many aspects DB2 uses index to enforced uniqueness in a table and improve performance when retrieving information. In SQL, you dont need indexes to run your SQL statements. DB2 support three kinds of tables spaces system managed space database managed space (SMS), Automatic storage with DMS. SMS table spaces require very little maintenance. However SMS table spaces offer fewer optimization. Options and may not perform as well as DMS Table spaces. In DB 2 CREATE DATBASE command will give you a database that you can use for development and testing, DB2 Automatically catalogs databases when they are created. It catalogs an entity for the database when they are created. It catalogs an entry for the database in the local database directory and another entry in the system database directory. DB2 has multiple directories that are used to access database. DB 2 and Microsoft SQL 2005 both are industry leading database. DB2 comes with different editions these are DB2 Everyplace , DB2 Personal Edition , DB2 Express C, DB2 Express Edition, DB2 Workgroup Edition , DB2 Enterprise Edition , DB2 clients , DB2 Extenders , DB2 Net Search Extender , DB2 Spatial Extender , DB2 Geodetic Extender , DB2 Connect. SQL has been deemed the standard language in relational database communication originally approved in 1986 based on IBMs implementation. SQL has been a command language for communication with the oracle 9i server from any tool or application. When an SQL statement is entered, it is stored in a part of memory called SQL Buffer and remains there until a new SQL statement in entered SQL Server 2005 (codenamed Yukon), released in October 2005, is the successor to SQL Server 2000. It included native support for managing XML data, in addition to relational data. For this purpose, it defined an xml data type that could be used either as a data type in database columns or as literals in queries. XML data being stored is verified against the schema. XML is converted to an internal binary data type before being stored in the database. Specialized indexing methods were made available for XML data. XML data is queried using XQuery. SQL Server 2005 added some extensions to the T-SQL language to allow embedding XQuery queries in T-SQL. In addition, it also defines a new extension to XQuery, called XML DML that allows query-based
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modifications to XML data. SQL Server 2005 also allows a database server to be exposed over web services using TDS packets encapsulated within SOAP (protocol) requests. When the data is accessed over web services, results are returned as XML. For relational data, T-SQL has been augmented with error handling features and support for recursive queries. SQL Server 2005 has also been enhanced with new indexing algorithms and better error recovery systems. Data pages are check summed for better error resiliency, and optimistic concurrency support has been added for better performance. Permissions and access control have been made more granular and the query processor handles concurrent execution of queries in a more efficient way. Partitions on tables and indexes are supported natively, so scaling out a database onto a cluster is easier. SQL CLR was introduced with SQL Server 2005 to let it integrate with the .NET Frameworks Server 2005 introduced "MARS" (Multiple Active Results Sets), a method of allowing usage of database connections for multiple purposes

2. Application of DB2 and Microsoft SQL Sever 2005

DB2 us used around the world, is translated into over a dozen languages and server a broad range of industries, including the financial, retail and telecommunication sections. It is used in various organizations from small startup companies to large enterprises. DB2 is often implemented as part of a Mission-Critical System in which high availability and consistency fast performance are essential to meeting the organization business goals. It was used in 2000 Sydney Olympics where DB2 provided data on athlete ranking and other statistics for live web site reports and television broadcasts. DB2 provide a rich technology offering for a wide range of application type. It is often used in online transaction processing (OLTP) application, which focuses on the daily translation of a business, as in the case of processing a credit card purchase in a retail store. DB2 ranked number 1 in the market share. DB2 is also used by data warehouse application. DB2 is also used by those application which heterogeneous database. DB2 covers various business intelligence applications such as OLAP, data mining and data warehousing. DB2 is used in the following areas also such as Financial/ accounting, supply chain/ distribution / inventory application. DB2 also play role in procurement and billing purpose. it also support web servers and intranet application, DB 2 database also provide support for CRM and sales force automation . DB2 also support e-commerce and ERP application .it also prove its presence in Retail POS application. Lets talk something about Microsoft SQL Sever 2005

3. IBM DB2 versus Microsoft SQL Server 2005

In this section DB2 and SQL server 2005 are compared on the basis of the following points these points are: Comparison Criteria Platform Supported Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Microsoft SQL server supports only a single platform called windows on the other hand. IBM DB2 DB2 support cross platform. It runs on various platform such as windows, Linux, AIX, SunSolaris, HP-Ux , os/400, Z/OS, DB2 can also support handheld systems like pocket C, Palm and symbian DB 2 allows customers to choose the development environment that
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Platform Development

SQL Server supports Microsoft .net framework which is

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architecture only for windows environment,

the

is right for them including J2EE, C++, .Net Visual Basic, ADO. RDO, Python, PHP, Rexx or a web service environment. DB2 can take advantage of AIX platform scalability and support up to 32 nodes for cluster failure;

Scalability

Microsoft SQL server 2005 has support for only four node failures.

Security

No system is absolutely secure, but IBM has a long history of designing systems for mission critical application. SQL server was a distant third. Scalability and data warehouse benchmarks:. Overall DB2 ranked number 1 in market share. DB2 has achieved the worlds first 10 terabytes TPCH benchmark a benchmark result with wide SQL server will not be able to compute because of its inability to handle larger database DB2 version 8.0 has many graphical management tools and wizards as Microsoft has. IBM is the standard leader covering web service or otherwise. Better query optimization Especially compared to SQL server 2005 query optimization algorithm. DB2 is unique in providing multidimensional clustering at physical storage level. This allows DB2 to store data and cluster it in many dimensions at the same time. It Supports

Market leadership

Graphical Management tools and wizards

It also has graphical management tools and wizards. Microsoft supports mainly its own standards for windows environments SQL server 2005 provides very limited query optimization.

Standards and open systems:

Query optimization

Business intelligence and data warehouses

it also provide options for BI and data warehouse

Distributed query:

SQL servers distributed query does not fully support relational capabilities or object relational capabilities from a linked server. Integration through XML

Manageability

SQL Server is easier to manage and more productive than DB2. The SQL Server environment simplifies management and maintenance, reducing the need for highly specialized IT support. SQL Server offers more sophisticated and integrated tools for installation, configuration,

It manageability difficult.

is

slightly

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and software updates than IBM DB2. Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) SQL Server 2005 provides few capabilities for managing OLTP workloads: advance versions of SQL server provide more options for OLTP. DB2 provide some Add-on tools for handling OLTP Processing such as DB2 Change Management Expert , Data Archive Expert , DB2 High Performance Unload, DB2 Performance Expert , DB2 Recovery Expert , DB2 Table Editor , DB2 Test Database Generator , DB2 Web Query Tool

4. Advantage of DB2 and SQL Server 2005

DB2 is unique in providing multidimensional clustering at physical storage level. it allow DB2to store data and cluster in many dimension at same time. DB2 not only provide significant improvement in query performance but also significant reduction in data maintenance. A key feature of DB2 is its cross-platform nature. It also runs on IBM computers including UNIX servers from sun and Hewlett Packard as well as on IBM computer such as RISC system/6000 IBM AIX, linux, sun solaries,HP-UX,windows NT and windows 2000. DB2 provides security mechanism i.e. authentication .authentication and privileges along with these mechanism.DB2 also enables, Kerberos and data encryption. DB2 support better distributed query.DB2 provide better federated database support. DB2 support integration through XML. DB2 support better query optimization algorithm especially for distributed heterogeneous database.DB2 provides many features that improve manageability. Such as design advisor, control center. Control centre and design advisor that helps database administrators make intelligent database design decisions. DB2 has an automatic object maintenance features that automatically perform database maintenance function based on a policy. It makes the database easier to manage because we do not need to configure information on each individual object in the databaseDB2 support storage optimization features and also provide performance optimization features DB2 also provide some Add-on tools such as DB2 provide DB2 Change Management Expert , Data Archive Expert , DB2 High Performance Unload, DB2 Performance Expert , DB2 Recovery Expert , DB2 Table Editor , DB2 Test Database Generator , DB2 Web Query Tool DB2 supports XQuery DB2 treats XQuery as a first-class language, allowing users to write XQuery expressions directly rather than requiring that users embed or wrap Queries in SQL statements. On the other hand SQL Server 2005 also has advantages, these are SQL Server 2005 is cheaper to buy than DB2 Database. , SQL Server 2005 holds the top TPC-C performance and price/performance results. SQL Server 2005 is generally accepted as easier to install, use and manage.

5. Case and Migration Studies

Customers Select SQL Server over DB2: Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, the first casino in Atlantic City, enhances operational efficiency with SQL Server and saves U.S. $400,000.State of Alaska Dept of Revenue selects SQL Server over DB2 to build 7 Terabyte Data Warehouse for State of Alaska. National Savings Bank of Serbia (NSBS) chooses SQL Server over DB2 to deploy complex bank Business Intelligence solution. Citi Group runs Lava market montage solution on SQL Server, with more than 200,000 updates per second. Xerox uses SQL Server to manage 7 million transactions per day with 99.999% uptime. American Power Conversion migrated from to SQL Server Enterprise Edition---resulting in 100% faster response times; and savings of US $800,000.VHA migrated from Mainframe/DB2 to SQL Serverincreasing its PeopleSoft efficiency by 25%, decreasing replication time by 89%, and significantly reducing TCO.
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Countrywide Home Loans chose SQL Server over IBM DB2 to provide better performance and higher availability. Microsoft IT uses SQL Server to drive 27TB Global Forensic Security tool. Nasdaq, the world leading technology stock trade, real-time booking system, handles 5,000 transactions per second with SQL Server.Unisys UPSS system, a 23 TB SQL Server installation won Top 10 for data warehouse peak workloads. Scandinavian Airlines: Scandinavian Airlines moves Data Warehouse to SQL Server, improves access to business data and reduces costs by 50 percent. The Progressive Group: The Progressive Group gains business agility by migrating to SQL Server.Bovespa: Brazilian stock exchange migrates to SQL Server to handle 110,000 trades daily worth $1.5B. Danske Supermarket with 100 stores, moves analytical database from DB2 to SQL Server

6. Conclusion
It is a myth that SQL Server 2005 is better than DB2 or vice versa. Both products can be used to build stable and efficient database Applications. The stability and effectiveness of applications and databases depend on the experience of the database developers and database administrator than from the database's provider. It is very difficult to make a performance comparison between SQL Server 2005 and DB2. The performance of databases also depends on the satisfaction of codds twelve rule. Everyone can use both of these Database products according to the need. References
[1] Rick Sobiesiak,Robert J. Jones,Scott M. Lewis DB2 Universal Database: A Case Study of a Successful User-Centered Design Program, International Journal Of Human-Computer Interaction, 14(3&4), 279306 Copyright 2002, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. [2] Michiko Itoi Blomgren Are SQL Server, DB2, and Oracle really relational? Handelshgskolan VID GTEBORGS UNIVERSITET Institutionen fr informatik 2003-05-27 [3] www.ibm.com/DB2 [4] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DB2 [5] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_SQL_Server

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