Oracle Real Application Clusters 10g Release 2 - Technical Comparison with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (Friday, October 21, 2005)
The cluster database market is rife with competing marketing claims, with each vendor touting the benefits of its own architecture. The buyer has to make the choice of a mission-critical software platform while sifting through a mass of rapidly evolving benchmark results, conflicting analyst reviews and uniformly positive customer testimonials.

This paper is a technical evaluation of three different database technologies from Microsoft: the ‘Federated Architecture’, the ‘Failover Clustering Architecture’ (managed by MS Cluster Server) and the ‘Database Mirroring Architecture’ as represented by Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Each of these technologies is compared to Oracle’s clustered architecture: Oracle Real Application Clusters10g Release 2. Oracle RAC forms part of Oracle’s High Availability Architecture, which further enhances protection for the database from disasters.

The Federated and Failover Clustering architectures have existed in previous versions of SQLServer. The Microsoft Database Mirroring technology is a new SQLServer 2005 feature.
www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/clustering/pdf/twp_rac_compare_sqlserver2005.pdf

Manageability Comparison of IBM UDB DB2 8.2 and SQL Server 2005 (Friday, October 21, 2005)
This white paper compares the productivity of two popular databases: SQL Server 2005 and IBM UDB DB2 8.2. By examining a suite of standard relational database management system (RDBMS) administrative tasks in both databases, this paper compares the time it takes to complete the task (efficiency), the complexity of the operation using the standard practices on each platform as a way of accomplishing the task, and the number of steps needed to accomplish the task along with a complexity analysis of the steps according the description in the methodology section.
www.microsoft.com/sql/evaluation/compare/IBM/managecompare.mspx

Comparing SQL Server 2005 and IBM DB2 v8.2 as a Database Platform (Friday, October 21, 2005)
A well-known developer in the Visual Studio and Microsoft .NET community compares and contrasts SQL Server 2005 with IBM DB2 UDB 8.2, from the perspective of a Visual Studio 2005 developer. This study compares the core technologies used by both SQL Server 2005 and DB2 UDB 8.2, such as .NET Framework integration, support for language and other enhancements, and performance and manageability. The study also presents the steps necessary to build, debug, and deploy a stored procedure using SQL Server 2005. These steps are then compared to the steps required to build, debug, and deploy the same stored procedure using DB2. The intended audience for this article includes developers, architects, and technology decision-makers.
www.microsoft.com/sql/evaluation/compare/IBM/db4developers.mspx

Study Shows SQL Server Costs $3.2 Million Less Than Oracle (Friday, October 21, 2005)
The Walklett Group, a project delivery and project management company, explored the cost differences between two comparable business intelligence solutions that were designed to fit into a very large database environment—one from Unisys and Microsoft, the other from Sun Microsystems and Oracle. The Walklett Group found that a Unisys and SQL Server solution saves $3.2 million over five years compared to a Sun and Oracle solution. This paper details the analysis process and reveals the Walklett Group's findings.
www.microsoft.com/sql/evaluation/compare/walklettanalysis.mspx

Analytical Paper Favors SQL Server in Comparison of Business Intelligence Strategies and Platforms (Friday, October 21, 2005)
This paper analyzes and compares the BI components—data warehousing databases, OLAP, data mining, interfaces, and build and manage capabilities—of SQL Server, Hyperion Solutions, IBM, and Oracle.
www.microsoft.com/sql/evaluation/compare/GreenHill.doc

Comparing SQL Server 2005 and Oracle 10g as a Database Platform for Microsoft .NET Developers (Friday, October 21, 2005)
Which database is a more productive application development platform for the .NET platform developer: SQL Server 2005 or Oracle 10g? This white paper answers this question from the perspective of the Visual Studio developer, and is intended for technology decision makers as well as information technology managers, architects, and database application developers.
www.microsoft.com/sql/evaluation/compare/oracle/ss2005oracle10gnetdev.mspx

Time to Celebrate! Integration of SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 gives developers a reason to cheer (Tuesday, October 18, 2005)
It's time to celebrate! On November 7, we release SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 to the world. I hope that many of you reading this column have already had a chance to try these great new products, but if you haven't, I recommend getting your hands on them soon so that you can experience all the new features and functionality. To highlight the products' dual launch, this month's column focuses on how SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 work together to make database-development tasks easier, faster, and better. The road to this launch has been long, and tougher than most because of the challenge of trying to simultaneously beta test and ship two major products that rely heavily on each other. The two products are tightly aligned in many areas, the most obvious of which is in the SQL Server 2005 Common Language Runtime (SQLCLR), but the products also overlap in other, less obvious, places. For example, all of the data-access functionality (e.g., ADO.NET 2.0) was created by developers working on the SQL Server development team, then integrated into Visual Studio by the Visual Studio development team.
www.windowsitpro.com/SQLServer/Article/ArticleID/47570/47570.html

What’s New in SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence? (Tuesday, October 18, 2005)
SQL Server 2005 is finally here. If you've been tracking this release's course for a long time by using the betas and scouring the Microsoft site for feature lists, how-to articles, and white papers, you're probably very much in tune with what the SQL Server 2005 Business Intelligence (BI) platform offers. But if you haven't been keeping up with it, or if you've been concentrating on all the advancements in the relational engine and now want a glimpse at the BI features, this article should provide a helpful SQL Server 2005 BI summary.
www.windowsitpro.com/SQLServer/Article/ArticleID/47912/47912.html

SQL Server 2005 Express and Workgroup: Scaled Back, Yet Feature-Rich (Tuesday, October 18, 2005)
SQL Server 2005 includes two new editions, each of which provides a subset of the features in SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition. SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, which is free, is geared toward developers who want to build a database into their applications. SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition is a smaller-scale, lower-priced version of SQL Server 2005 Standard for small businesses and departments. Web Table 1 (http://www.sqlmag.com, InstantDoc ID 47721) compares the two editions' features. Let's take a closer look at what's in them.
www.windowsitpro.com/SQLServer/Article/ArticleID/47721/47721.html

Learning SQL Server 2005: Where to Start (Tuesday, October 18, 2005)
I'm a database administrator, and I'm trying to install SQL Server 2005. Everything looks different. Help! Where do I start?

SQL Server 2005 is the most significant upgrade to ever come out of the SQL Server family. The product offers a lot of new functionality but, just as significant, the various management tools you use to interact with SQL Server 2005 are entirely different from what you're used to. SQL Server 2000 offered significant improvements over SQL Server 7.0, but a skilled SQL Server 7.0 user could sit down at a clean server and get SQL Server 2000 up, running, and configured without a lot of research because the tools were similar. Because the SQL Server 2005 tools are vastly different from SQL Server 2000, however, you'll need to spend a considerable amount of time learning the new tools and UIs in addition to learning about the new features in the engine and other services.
www.windowsitpro.com/SQLServer/Article/ArticleID/48013/48013.html