ADABAS Versus DB2

1
ADABAS Versus DB2

• An Evaluative Study by Butler Bloor Group

2
The DBMS Marketplace

• The OLTP Database
• used for production data
• designed for the production logic flow
• The Operational Data Mart
• similar to the OLTP DB in Structure Volume
• used for heavy production-oriented query activity
• The Data Warehouse
• Data Volume is much larger than in OLTP DB
• Neutral Data Structures for Data Mining/Trawling

3
ADABAS Ratings
EASE OF USE UTILITIES DEVELOPMENT TOOL
S
IBM Mainframe Database Ratings
4
DB2 Ratings
DB2
EASE OF USE UTILITIES DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

IBM Mainframe Database Ratings
5
Performance

• DB2 has a history of performance problems and IBM
  has historically addressed it by throwing more
  hardware resources at DB2, specifically memory
• ADABAS major strength has always been
  performance, regardless of platform. We have
  numerous success stories and references to
  support this claim. Note the performance
  ratings on Butler Bloor study.

6
Resource Consumption

• Resource consumption is a major weakness of DB2.
  DB2 is not only mainframe and memory hungry, it
  is a DASD eater as well because it stores data
  uncompressed
• ADABAS has always proven to be a cost effective
  database solution, requiring limited hardware
  resources. Unlike DB2, the ADABAS nucleus needs
  only 1 region to run in and, because of ADABAS
  unique ability to compress data, it is stingy on
  DASD resources

7
Relational Flexibility

• This is one area where DB2 shines. From the end
  users perspective, as well as for data modeling,
  the relational model greatly simplifies the
  concept of data storage and access
• ADABAS also supports the relational model.
  Moreover, ADABAS can support a wide variety of
  data models which can add flexibility and
  performance

8
Development Productivity

• Most of the DB2 related software products
  currently on the market focus on performance and
  tuning, system monitoring and database
  administration. CASE tools have failed miserably
  to provide productivity gains. Other offerings
  are limited to query tools
• Software AG has two different solutions for the
  productivity issue with NATURAL for DB2 as well
  as NATURAL for ADABAS

9
Desktop Access

• DB2 offers a superior solution in this category.
  Due to DB2s market presence, and its support of
  SQL, there are a wide variety of desktop
  solutions for accessing DB2 data
• With the ADABAS SQL Server and ODBC driver
  interface we are able to provide direct access to
  ADABAS data via ODBC compliant desktop tools

10
Other Issues

• MUs and PEs ADABAS has them, DB2 doesnt
• Binding Precompiling and binding a program
  package for DB2
• Read-thru-locks An option with DB2, the norm
  with ADABAS

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Other Issues Contd

• Field lengths Cant change them in DB2, can in
  ADABAS as long as it is not FIXED format
• Database Reorganizations In DB2 you cannot
  reorganize at the table level, only at the DB
  level. ADABAS allows you to do both
• Reorders on Simple Tablespaces in DB2 dont help
  anyway because the rows from other tables are
  intermingled

12
Other Issues Contd

• Reorganizations (contd) When you drop a
  tablespace in DB2, that space is not available
  until the next Reorganization. If you delete a
  file in ADABAS, the space can be reused
  immediately
• Row overflow Rows can span a page in DB2, but
  causes overhead if it does. Records cannot span
  blocks in ADABAS

13
Other Issues Contd

• The 3 Rs of DB2 Reorganization, Runstats,
  Rebind. ADABAS needs only the first R and
  youre ready to go
• Backups DB2 does not copy indexes with backups.
  You must recover them separately. ADABAS
  includes both index and data in the backup

14
Other Issues Contd

• Data Compression DB2 doesnt do it, unless
  hardware compression is involved. Indexes are
  not compressed in DB2, nor is the catalog. DASD
  saving compression has always been a part of
  ADABAS architecture