[Info-vax] OpenVMS x86-64 and RDB and DB's in general on OpenVMS

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 6/28/2015 7:31 AM, IanD wrote:
> The need for a DB of some sorts? -------------------------------- A
> DB was once considered mandatory as a product to have available on a
> given OS platform, Windows and Access (later sql server),

MS Access is from 1992. SQLServer is from 1989 on OS/2 and 1993 on
Windows.

>                                                           Linux and
> MySQL, OpenVMS and RDB, IBM and DB2 bla bla bla, what to do about
> OpenVMS x86-64 and <blank>, what should be inserted here if it's not
> going to be RDB?

There are other potential databases: MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL, one of
the many Java base databases etc..

But commercially no RDB would hit hard.

> Other DB's ---------- PostgreSQL is slowly rising through the ranks
> (4th position, up from 5th) but it is tiny compared to the main one's
> and getting it working on OpenVMS with cluster awareness I suspect is
> years in the making?

I don't think you would need it. There will not be a compatibility
requirement. And sharding for horizontal scalability and simple failover
for availability may not be elegant, but it will get the job done.

> With nosql db's starting to forge their own market share, stagnating
> traditional relational DB's market share, I wonder how much energy
> should be expended in this area anyhow? I like Cassandra as a nosql
> DB, no single point of failure sort of melds in with the OpenVMS
> cluster concept but it also by-passes the need for a traditional
> OpenVMS style of cluster too

Yes.

> Is having a DB still mandatory when it comes to an OS's success or is
> that a by-gone concept now

I think that a significant part of VMS revenue comes from sites
running either RDB or Oracle classic.

Commercially it is important.

>                           and if it's not a by-gone concept, then
> what DB should VSI be looking at for OpenVMS market attractiveness?

For *a* database there are plenty of candidates.

For commercial reasons I think they need to talk to
Oracle.

Arne