Benchmark wars
Published: 09 Aug 2002 19:33 BST
So how do we compare database speed?
For the manager charged with comparing database performance, benchmark studies present a huge challenge. While it's not fair to say that database benchmarks are meaningless, it's very difficult to use benchmarks to "prove" that any single database product is faster than another. To see how difficult it is to compare database performance, just look at the TPC publication on a variety of TPC-C benchmarks for various hardware and database platforms.
Choosing your database
Given this wealth of confusing and conflicting information, how do you choose the proper database product? Of course, performance is only one of many factors in evaluating a database. You must also consider the availability of trained DBAs, the vendor's technical support, and total cost of ownership, among other factors.
Most databases can be configured to process hundreds of transactions per second. Based on that, this is what we can say about database performance:
- Hardware matters -- Database performance is largely a function of hardware. A poorly performing database can be made to appear fast with cached disk arrays and super-fast processors. Even "independent" benchmarks can be misleading because of the varied hardware, disk, and network configurations.
- Knowledge is speed -- Delivery of high-speed transactions requires knowledge of the application. High-speed database performance is usually achieved through complicated caching tricks and preaggregation schemes. This requires detailed knowledge of the application and its I/O signatures.
In sum, it's difficult to evaluate database performance objectively. The savvy manager must carefully evaluate all of the database vendors with a jaundiced eye to separate the hype from the reality.
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