Re: Ultimate DB Server

At 13:07 28/10/01 -0400, you wrote:
>I'm questioning whether anyone has done benchmarks on various hardware for
>PGSQL and MySQL. I'm either thinking dual P3-866's, Dual AMD-1200's, etc.
>I'm looking for benchmarks of large queries on striped -vs- non-striped
>volumes, different processor speeds, etc.

Hello Mike,

IMHO, you should consider *simple* software optimization first.

Hardware can bring a 2x gain whereas software optimization can boost an
application by 10x. Until now, I never heard or read about a real *software
optimization* benchmark between MySQL and PostgreSQL.

Software optimization includes the use of views, triggers, rules, PL/pgSQL
server side programming. By definition, it is hard to compare MySQL with
PostgreSQL because MySQL *does not include* these important features (and
probably will never do).

I see at least two easy cases where PostgreSQL beats MySQL:
1) Create a simple relational DB with triggers storing values instead of
performing LEFT JOINS. Increase the number of simultaneous queries. MySQL
will die at x queries and PostgreSQL will still be working at 5x queries.
2) Use PL/pgSQL to perform complex jobs normally devoted to an application
server (Java, PHP) on a separate platform. In some case (recursive loops
for example), network traffic can be divided by 100. As a result,
PostgreSQL can be 10x faster because everything is performed server-side.

This is to say that, in some circomstances, PostgreSQL running on an i586
with IDE drive beats MySQL on a double Pentium. In real life, applications
are always optimized at software level first before hardware level. This is
why PostsgreSQL is *by nature* better than MySQL.

Unless MySQL gets better, there is no real challenge in comparing both systems.

Cheers,
Jean-Michel POURE