A Comparison of SQL Server 2000 with DB2 v8.1

Alexander Chigrik compares SQL Server 2000 with DB2 Universal Database version 8.1 regarding price, performance, platforms supported, SQL dialects, and products limits.

Introduction

Often people in newsgroups ask about a comparison of DB2 and Microsoft SQL Server. In this article I will compare SQL Server 2000 with DB2 Universal Database version 8.1 regarding price, performance, platforms supported, SQL dialects, and products limits.

Platform comparison

SQL Server 2000 only works on Windows-based platforms, including Windows 9x, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows CE. In comparison with SQL Server 2000, DB2 Universal Database version 8.1 supports all known platforms, including Windows-based platforms, AIX-based systems, HP-UX systems, Linux Intel, Sun Solaris and so on.

Hardware requirements

To install SQL Server 2000, you should have Intel or compatible platforms and the following hardware:

Hardware	Requirements
Processor	Pentium 166 MHz or higher
Memory	32 MB RAM (minimum for Desktop Engine), 64 MB RAM (minimum for all other editions), 128 MB RAM or more recommended
Hard disk space	270 MB (full installation), 250 MB (typical), 95 MB (minimum), Desktop Engine: 44 MB Analysis Services: 50 MB minimum and 130 MB typical English Query: 80 MB

DB2 Universal Database v8.1 supports Windows-based platforms, AIX-based systems, HP-UX systems, Linux Intel, Sun Solaris and so on.

To install DB2 Universal Database v8.1 under the Windows-based platforms, you should have the following hardware:

Hardware	Requirements
Processor	Pentium or Pentium compatible CPU
Memory	RAM: 256 MB minimum, additional memory may be required.
Hard disk space	Typical installation: 350 Mb minimum Compact installation: 100 Mb minimum Custom installation: 100 Mb minimum. Additional disk space may be required on FAT drives with large cluster size.

To install DB2 Universal Database v8.1 under the UNIX Systems, such as AIX-based systems, HP-UX systems, Linux and Sun Solaris, you should have the following hardware:

Hardware	Requirements
Processor	For AIX: IBM RISC/6000 or eServer pSeries. For HP-UX: HP 9000 series 700 or 800 system. For Linux: Intel 32-bit, Intel 64-bit, S/390 9672 generation or higher, Multiprise 3000, eServer z-Series. For Solaris: Solaris UltraSPARC-based computer.
Memory	RAM: 256 MB minimum, additional memory may be required.
Hard disk space	Typical installation: 450 to 550 Mb minimum Compact installation: 350 to 400 Mb minimum Custom installation: 350 to 700 Mb minimum.

Software requirements

SQL Server 2000 comes in six editions: Enterprise, Standard, Personal, Developer, Desktop Engine, and SQL Server CE (a compatible version for Windows CE) and requires the following software:

Operating System	Enterprise Edition	Standard Edition	Personal Edition	Developer Edition	Desktop Engine	SQL Server CE
Windows CE	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
Windows 9x	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Windows NT 4.0 Workstation with Service Pack 5	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Windows NT 4.0 Server with Service Pack 5	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Windows NT 4.0 Server Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 5	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Windows 2000 Professional	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Windows 2000 Server	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Windows 2000 Advanced Server	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Windows 2000 DataCenter	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Windows XP Professional	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

DB2 Universal Database v8.1 comes in six editions:

DB2 Enterprise Server Edition (ESE)

DB2 Workgroup Server Edition (WSE)

DB2 Workgroup Server Unlimited Edition (WSUE)

DB2 Personal Edition (PE)

DB2 Universal Developer's Edition (UDE)

DB2 Personal Developer's Edition (PDE)

and requires the following software:

Platform	Operating System Version	Required Patches
Windows-based	Windows NT 4.0	Service Pack 6a or higher
Windows-based	Windows 2000	Service Pack 2 is required for Windows Terminal Server
Windows-based	Windows XP	Not Necessary
AIX-Based	AIX 4.3.3 (32-bit)	Maintenance Level 9 or later, and APARs IY22308, Y32690, and IY33024
AIX-Based	AIX 5L (32-bit)	Maintenance Level 2 or later
AIX-Based	AIX 5.1.0 (32-bit)	Maintenance Level 2 or later, and APARs IY31254, IY32217, IY32905, IY33023, and IY29345
AIX-Based	AIX 5.1.0 (64-bit)	Maintenance Level 2 or later, and APARs IY31254, IY32217, IY32905, Y33023, and IY32466
HP-UX	HP-UX 11i	December 2001 GOLDBASE11i, December 2001 GOLDAPPS11i bundles
Linux	For Intel 32-bit: kernel level 2.4.9 or later glibc 2.2.4 or later RPM 3 or later For Intel 64-bit and z-Series: Red Hat Linux 7.2 SuSE Linux SLES-7	Not Necessary
Sun Solaris	Solaris 7 (32-bit)	patch 106327-10
Sun Solaris	Solaris 7 (64-bit)	patch 106300-11
Sun Solaris	Solaris 8 (32-bit)	patch 108434-03 and 108528-12
Sun Solaris	Solaris 8 (64-bit)	patch 108435-03 and 108528-12
Sun Solaris	Solaris 9	Not Necessary

Performance comparison

It is very difficult to make a performance comparison between SQL Server 2000 and DB2 Universal Database v8.1. The performance of your databases depend rather on the experience of the database developers and database administrator, than on the database's provider. You can use both of these RDBMS to build stable and efficient systems. It is possible to define the typical transactions, such as those used in inventory control systems, airline reservation systems and banking systems. After defining these typical transactions, it is possible to run them under different database management systems working on the different hardware and software platforms.

TPC tests

The Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC.Org) is an independent organization that specifies the typical transactions (transactions used in inventory control systems, airline reservation systems and banking systems) and some general rules these transactions should satisfy.

The TPC produces benchmarks that measure transaction processing and database performance in terms of how many transactions a given system and database can perform per unit of time, e.g., transactions per second or transactions per minute.

The TPC organization made the specification for many tests. There are TPC-C, TPC-H, TPC-R, TPC-W and some old tests, such as TPC-A, TPC-B and TPC-D. The most popular test is the TPC-C test (OLTP test).

At the moment this article was written, SQL Server 2000 held the top TPC-C by performance results with Distributed Partitioned Views-based cluster systems. See Top Ten TPC-C by Performance Version 5 Results

At the moment this article was written, SQL Server 2000 held the top TPC-C by price/performance results. See Top Ten TPC-C by Price/Performance Version 5 Results

Note. Because most organizations really do not run very large databases, the key points on which SQL Server 2000 won the TPC-C benchmarks do not really matter to the vast majority of companies.

Price comparison

One of the main Microsoft SQL Server 2000 advantage in comparison with DB2 Universal Database v8.1 is that SQL Server is cheaper. Another SQL Server advantage is that Microsoft includes the Online analytical processing (OLAP) and Data Mining as standard features in SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition. So, you can save up to four times with SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition if you use OLAP and Data Mining.

The price comparisons below were based on the IBM DB2 Version 8.1 and SQL Server 2000 Price Comparison article from Microsoft.

Compare pricing for SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition and IBM DB2 v8.1 Workgroup Edition:

Number of CPUs	IBM DB2 v8.1 Workgroup Edition	SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition
1	$7,500	$4,999
2	$15,000	$9,998
4	$30,000	$19,996
8	$60,000	$39,992
16	$120,000	$79,984
32	$240,000	$159,968

Compare pricing for SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition (which include OLAP and Data Mining) and IBM DB2 v8.1 Enterprise Edition with OLAP and Data Mining:

Number of CPUs	IBM DB2 v8.1 Enterprise Edition	IBM DB2 v8.1 Enterprise Edition With OLAP and Data Mining	SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition
1	$25,000	$113,000	$19,999
2	$50,000	$126,000	$39,998
4	$100,000	$252,000	$79,996
8	$200,000	$504,000	$159,992
16	$400,000	$1,008,000	$319,984
32	$800,000	$2,016,000	$639,968

Note. This is not a full price comparison between SQL Server 2000 and DB2 Universal Database v8.1. It is only a brief comparison. Discounts may apply and the prices can be increased or decreased in the future. See Microsoft and IBM to get more information about the price of their products.

Features comparison

Both SQL Server 2000 and IBM DB2 Universal Database v8.1 support the ANSI SQL-92 entry level and do not support the ANSI SQL-92 intermediate level. In the Features comparison section of this article I want to make the brief comparison of the Transact-SQL with DB2 SQL dialect and show some SQL Server 2000 and DB2 Universal Database v8.1 limits.

T-SQL vs DB2 SQL dialect

The dialect of SQL supported by Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is called Transact-SQL (T-SQL). The dialect of SQL supported by IBM DB2 v8.1 is called DB2 SQL dialect. DB2 SQL dialect is a more powerful language than T-SQL. This is the brief comparison of DB2 SQL dialect and T-SQL:

Feature	DB2 SQL dialect	T-SQL
Tables	Relational tables, Object tables, Temporary tables	Relational tables, Temporary tables
Triggers	BEFORE triggers, AFTER triggers, INSTEAD OF triggers	AFTER triggers, INSTEAD OF triggers
Procedures	DB2 SQL dialect statements, Java methods, third-generation language (3GL) routines	T-SQL statements
User-defined functions	External Scalar functions, External table functions, OLE DB External table functions, Sourced or Template functions, SQL Scalar, Table or Row functions	Scalar functions, Inline table-valued functions, Multistatement table-valued functions
Arrays	Supported	Not Supported

SQL Server 2000 and DB2 v8.1 limits

Here you can find some SQL Server 2000 and DB2 version 8.1 limits:

Feature	SQL Server 2000	IBM DB2 v8.1
column name length	128	128
index name length	128	128
table name length	128	128
view name length	128	128
cursor name length	128	18
constraint name length	128	18
password length	128	32
SQL variable length	128	64
user name length	128	30
index length	900	1024
max char() size	8000	254
max varchar() size	8000	32672
max columns per table	1024	1012
max table row length	8036	32677
max columns per index	16	16
max indexes per table	250	32767
longest SQL statement	16777216	65535
columns per SELECT statement	4096	1012
columns per INSERT statement	1024	1012
nested stored procedure levels	32	16

Conclusion

It is not true that SQL Server 2000 is better than DB2 Universal Database v8.1 or vice versa. Both products can be used to build stable and efficient systems and the stability and effectiveness of your applications and databases depend rather from the experience of the database developers and database administrator than from the database's provider. But SQL Server 2000 has some advantages in comparison with DB2 Universal Database v8.1 and vice versa.

The SQL Server 2000 advantages:

SQL Server 2000 is cheaper to buy than DB2 v8.1 Database.
SQL Server 2000 holds the top TPC-C performance and price/performance results.
SQL Server 2000 is generally accepted as easier to install, use and manage.

The DB2 Universal Database v8.1 advantages:

DB2 Universal Database v8.1 supports all known platforms, not only the Windows-based platforms.
DB2 SQL dialect is a more powerful language than T-SQL.
More fine-tuning can be done to the configuration via start-up parameters.