SQL Server and Oracle, which one is better in terms of scalability? [closed]

Answer 1

I've worked as a DBA on Oracle (although some years back) and I use MSSQL extensively now, although not as a formal DBA. My advice would be that in the vast majority of cases both will meet everything you can throw at them and your performance issues will be much more dependent upon database design and deployment than the underlying characteristics of the products, which in both cases are absolutely and utterly solid (MSSQL is the best product that MS makes in many peoples opinion so don't let the usual perception of MS blind you on that).

Myself I would tend towards MSSQL unless your system is going to be very large and truly enterprise level (massive numbers of users, multiple 9's uptime etc.) simply because in my experience Oracle tends to require a higher level of DBA knowledge and maintenance than MSSQL to get the best out of it. Oracle also tends to be more expensive, both for initial deployment and in the cost to hire DBAs for it. OTOH if you are looking at an enterprise system then Oracle would have the edge, not least because if you can afford it their support is second to none.

Answer 2

Oracle like a high-quality manual film camera, which needs the best photographer to take the best picture while MS SQL like an automatic digital camera. In old days, of course, all professional photographers will use film camera, now think about how many professional photographers use automatic digital camera.

Answer 3

I have to agree with those who said deisgn was more important.

I've worked with superfast and super slow databases of many different flavors (the absolute worst being an Oracle database, but it wasn't Oracle's fault). Design of the database and how you decide to index it and partition it and query it have far more to do with the scalability than whether the product is from MSSQL Server or Oracle.

I think you may more easily find more Oracle dbas with terrabyte database experience (running a large database is a specialty just like knowing a particular flavor of SQL) but that could depend on your local area.

Answer 4

I very much doubt that you are going to get an objective answer to that particular question, until you come across anyone that has implemented the same database (schema, data, etc.) on both platforms.

However given the fact that you can find millions of happy users of both databases, I dare say it's not too much of a stretch to say either will scale just fine (I've seen a snappy Sql 2005 implementation of 300 TB that seemed pretty responsive)