Alternatives for SQL Anywhere

[Jeff Gibson 0]

I'm reaching out to get some opinions on "On Prem" database environments.

 

I've got over 30 years experience working in the Sybase SQL Anywhere database environment. SQL Anywhere was an extremely powerful database to use in small on prem applications. SAP takes over and, well, you know the rest. They forgot they bought a tools company.

 

I'm looking for a solid/scalable database that can scale from a single machine to cloud. And frankly, I'm thinking more for smaller subsets. I know that I can go MySQL. PostgreSQL. But I'm wanting to know what this community thinks. SQLA used a T-SQL dialect, so I'm wanting to steer that way.

 

Thoughts? Would love to be able to run this on mobile devices as well.

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and opinions. There are no wrong answers.  :) 

 

Jeff Gibson

Nashville, TN

[Pat Heuvel 1]

I'm advocating for PostgreSQL. Yes, you'll need to learn a new language to replace T-SQL (although you do have choices), but it's a very solid database with great features (including documentation) and a wealth of skills online to take any questions or concerns.

[MichaelT 7]

Allow me to redefine your question and give the answer. There is noch such thing as a multi user enabled Personal Oracle 8, the one with the traffic lights shipped in the 1990s. From a technical perspective the most close candidate would be the Mimer DB or SQL Server as well as Firebird or Interbase. No idea if Apollo, NexusDB or Elevate DB and such things remein as an applicable choices for you, but I doubt in  a first place. MaxDB/SAP DB from SAP would have been a pretty similar choice, just for the records and to a certain extent DB2 for the records as well.

 

I'm assuming that you are using Delphi as the development tool of choice, otherwise you wouldn't ask here.

 

I'd go for PostgreSQL, because PostgreSQL does away with many glitches of the Oracle PL/SQL Language and handling it's own history concerning programming. There exist already too many flavors of 8i style programming, 9i, 10i, 11i style and so on.  I think such a makeshift/provisional solution can last long. There is no need to mimic the stored procedure language while debugging.

 

I have chosen for Firebird or Maria DB but I personally don't put business logic into the DB anymore, even if I think it's not a bad practice at all and a pretty flexible approach still. In the end it's about having the information model constraints and extended business logic in one place and a consistent backup.

[Dorian C 0]

 

Using MS Sql Server 2012 free with dbGo (migrated from Ms Access), for more than 8 years with great success for small companies (for accounting and medical software). Not a single file corrupted!

Scale perfect from LocalDB - monousers (with automatic installer), to Express edition for remote, but no experience with cloud now. Simple to install and maintain.

Worked with success in the past also with Firebird, but they don't have automatic management of versions installed and instances for server like MS Sql Server.

In case of migration to .net, the support is exceptional with linq, entity framework, dapper.

Edited 1 hour ago by Dorian C

[Die Holländer 78]

1 hour ago, Dorian C said:

but no experience with cloud now. Simple to install and maintain.

I use Azure cloud with MSSQL (free edition), FireDac and works great. I pay about 5 Euro per month.

Very nice is it's Database Management Studio.

Edited 50 minutes ago by Die Holländer

[Lars Fosdal 1826]

9 minutes ago, Die Holländer said:

I use Azure cloud with MSSQL (free edition), FireDac and works great. I pay about 5 Euro per month.

Is there a limit on usage at that price? Can a DB there be accessed from multiple concurrent instances of your app?