IDS Forum

Re: Informix vs MySQL

Posted By: Jeroen Keppens
Date: Wednesday, 7 May 2008, at 10:48 a.m.

In Response To: Informix vs MySQL (WALTER LOWICH)

Hi,

I think it all depends on what you want to do...

I come from a MySQL environment and I've been making my first steps in
Informix. I can give you quite some background on the MySQL part, but
I'm absolutely no expert in informix yet... just so you know.

If you want a system which is easy to manage, has a huge community
(good for questions), lots of tutorials, good documentation, good
books, is easy for the developers, etc... go for MySQL. MySQL is quite
stable, but we were running in quite some problems when the DB reached
a certain size. Optimization of tables etc fixed the problem
temporarily, but we saw we were pushing at the limits of a single
server solution (Cluster would have been the next step). If you don't
have a big budget, go for mysql too. ;)

Is your system going to cater huge amounts of data (Terrabytes), you
want a robust system or you want an IBM supported DB... go for
Informix. Be sure to follow courses because it lacks in good, recent
books. Documentation and tutorials are scarce compared to mysql and
you have a small community (most on the iiug list I guess lol).

One of the major advantages of Informix over MySQL is it's replication
functionality. It's a lot more advanced than the MySQL replication. ut
it will also cost you money depending on what you wan.

From development point of view, we have noticed that MySQL has made
some leaps forward in the last versions and has a lot more options
than informix in the standard version. Informix can be extended by
datablades, but it tends to be costly. I know our developers have been
cracking there brains to get queries that worked on MySQL to work on
Informix. It just doesn't compare... MySQL is too loose and informix
is quite strict. I get developers complaining because their queries
don't work and all I can say is, "well, that's how it should behave..."

Examples:
* in a group by statement in mysql you can have fields in the select
part which are not in the group by clause or used in an aggregate
function
* functions such as MD5, IF, etc... are not available in the standard
informix version

If your developers/dba are used to working with mysql, either stick
with it or give them a good course in informix. If you're using Java,
you should have no problems with JDBC. If you're using PHP,
goodluck... it will work eventually.

Oh btw, just gonna give you this catchpharse to conclude "nobody ever
got fired for choosing IBM" ;-)

With kind regards,

Jeroen

On 07 May 2008, at 16:05, WALTER LOWICH wrote:

> Some of our developers compared Informix 10 using JDBC 3.10 to MySQL
> for a
> simple one update, two insert stored procedure and found MySQL to be
> faster.
> In order to prevent an hysterical stampetde to MySQL, could anyone
> provide me
> with some bullet points on why Informix is a better product. In
> particular,
> what are the shortcomings of MySQL in comparison to Informix.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Walter Lowich
>
>
> *******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>

Messages In This Thread

• Informix vs MySQL
  WALTER LOWICH -- Wednesday, 7 May 2008, at 10:05 a.m.
  • Re: Informix vs MySQL
    Jeroen Keppens -- Wednesday, 7 May 2008, at 10:48 a.m.
  • AW: Informix vs MySQL
    Andreas.KUTSCHE@spar.at -- Wednesday, 7 May 2008, at 10:50 a.m.
  • Re: Informix vs MySQL
    Adam Tauno Williams -- Wednesday, 7 May 2008, at 11:44 a.m.
    • Re: Informix vs MySQL
      Obnoxio The Clown -- Wednesday, 7 May 2008, at 12:30 p.m.
  • Informix vs MySQL
    Art Kagel -- Wednesday, 7 May 2008, at 12:49 p.m.

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