Hello,

I'd ordered a Raq4 (w/ 256MB) & I need a SQL database.

I don't know Interbase, so how's anyone's experience with it? Should I (additionally) install install mySQL, or stay with Interbase? Can both co-exist w/o generating to much unnecessary processor utilization?

I know this is some kind of philosophy question like Linux vs. FreeBSD, but...

One thought is that mySQL is widley used, so if you fetch any script (PHP, Perl; don't know about ASP) it's likely that you've to rewrite all mySQL code to Interbase code.

Thanks,
Martin/Iplexx

I faced the same question (MySQL vs. Interbase) a while back, and I went with MySQL, just because there's so much information about and support for it on the 'net. It's also a breeze to install on the RaQ (get the .pkg file at http://pkg.nl.cobalt.com). I'm not SQL-guru enough to know exactly what the differences are (and was not able to find a clear-cut description of the differences via a Web search); all I know is MySQL works great on our RaQ4s, and if I run into a problem there's a ton of places I can turn to for support (my primary source of information is the book MySQL from New Riders; search for MySQL on Amazon.com--it's the one that has a five-star user review rating).

Same here. I'm going to install the pkg from the site mentioned above.

thanks, i'll install mysql.

just one more question: did you disable/uninstall interbase, or just left it running?

I did not attempt to disable Interbase on any of my boxes. As I said I'm not an SQL guru, and everything seems to be running perfectly, so I don't have a compelling reason to mess with it. Maybe if an Interbase expert wanders through here he/she can shed some additional light on the subject.

Guys, I say installation from raq4 control panel is a breeze but how do you create user database ?

Is there any article on the net addressing this issue. I understand there's quite a few but most are addressing base on installing via telnet.

As I have been working hard on my Raq4 server converting an Access database to mySQL - I feel I can actually contribute something here! mySQL for me is working fine, however there are some limitations as to what it can do (for example no sub-selects etc.) mySQL was alos pre-installed on my system but I have not played around with Interbase as there seems so little support for it. Go the mySQL route and also install (as a subfolder to a webdir) phpMyAdmin, which is the dogz nutz for looking after / browsing / editing mySQL tables. There is also an excellent little add on for this to allow user maintenance as well...

And a subselect is something really really useful!

Other useful SQL constructs not supported by MySql are Views and Outer Joins.

And it doesn't enforce foreign keys, which is very useful at development time to avoid design errors.

Therefore talking ANSI92 SQL compliance there's no doubt InterBAse 6 is way better.

However there was some talk about InterBase 6 performance issues, the server gradually slowing down and requiring a restart after a while, to make it speed up again. Apparently that was due to some bug, don't know if that's fixed yet...

The advantage of MySql is that it's fast like hell (partly due to lack of foreign key enforcement).

The first DB I used was DBMaker, some taiwan product. When I then had to use MySql (because my host only has MySql), I was very disappointed, simply because the SQL is poor. But it works.

I'm looking forward to the release of Firebird 1.0 (the open source InterBase).

If I could choose now, I'd go with InterBase 6, to learn about it and then switch to Firebird 1.0 when it becomes available :)

However, if you get the server not for yourself but to sell virtual hosting, I guess MySql is indispensable, everybody wants it because there's plenty of "webmaster ressources" for all those webmasters who prefer the copy&paste approach rather than learn SQL....