Mysql V. Mssql?

[hybrid kill3r]

Hello, I have a couple of questions about MicrosoftSQL. I recently enrolled in a class for college called "Intro to Business Software" which is required by my major(web development). The class required that I purchase Microsoft Office 2007 so I can do assignments at home. MySQL and PHP have been my primary resources for managing dynamic web content and databases. Since the Office purchase includes Microsoft Access(which is one of the programs covered in the class), I was wondering if I would be able to use the Access databases I create on the web. How different is MySQL from MSSQL as far as PHP coding is concerned, and is it difficult to learn MSSQL syntax for PHP?Also, if this would be a good route for me to take, are there any web hosts that you'd recommend? They would need to support Apache and obviously MSSQL. Does not have to be free, but under $15/month.

[justsomeguy]

First, Access and MSSQL aren't the same thing. MSSQL is Microsoft SQL Server, Access is Access. In PHP you would probably connect to an Access database through an ODBC connection.Second, any self-respecting web developer does not use Access. In fact, it's considered good practice if you make fun of people trying to use Access with high-performance or multi-user applications, so watch for opportunities to do that.Access is easy to use, it's just not suited well for high-performance applications (it's not all that fast) or multi-user applications (it tends to lock tables when you're using them). My first database class used Access, and it was a good tool to use to learn some of the basics of database theory, but either MySQL or MSSQL would be a better choice to use for any live application.

[hybrid kill3r]

I've been doing some more research and I've found that you can convert Access databases to SQL Server. Would that be a practical thing to do? And second, is MSSQL faster than MySQL? Which database do you prefer and why?

[boen_robot]

I've been doing some more research and I've found that you can convert Access databases to SQL Server. Would that be a practical thing to do? And second, is MSSQL faster than MySQL? Which database do you prefer and why?

Both MySQL and MSSQL have advantages that are dependent on the kind of environment your application must work under.MSSQL has better integration with Windows, especially in terms of security and user management. Microsoft once claimed that MSSQL hasn't suffered any security issues in the last 2 years (that is, no such issues were found), whereas MySQL has had several over those years (and has now fixed them of course). I can't find this same claim now, but here's Microsoft's take on comparing MSSQL to MySQL. The short version is that if you plan to use Windows exclusively as your platform (i.e. if you want to use the WIMP setup... Windows, IIS, M*SQL, PHP), and if security and stability come as higher priority than price, you're better off with MSSQL. Otherwise (i.e. if you plan to use the LAMP setup - Linux , Apache, MySQL, PHP), MySQL is the better, and actually, the only choice between those two. And as far as the WAMP setup goes (i.e. Windows, Apache, M*SQL, PHP)... I'd say MSSQL is better at that too, but if you're going to use Windows on your live server anyway, you might as well use IIS. It's latest version - IIS7 is a great web server, and if Windows was free, I'd choose it any day instead of Apache.MySQL works equally well on any OS, and if you know its inner workings, you can make it as secure on any OS, especially Linux. Best of all - it's free, and therefore hosting companies won't charge you that much more than they would with MSSQL. MySQL is also better known to different communities (such as this forum), so if you have a problem, they're more likely to be able to help.Which one do I prefer? Give me $3,500 (MSSQL Web Edition) + $3,999 (Windows Server 2008 Enterprise) = $7,499, and I'll prefer MSSQL with the WIMP setup. Until then, I prefer MySQL with the WAMP setup (home) and LAMP setup (live server).

[justsomeguy]

There are some versions of Windows that include a stripped-down version of SQL Server that doesn't include most of the addon tools, but there's still a price involved. I like some of the things that SQL Server does, and it comes with a lot of useful tools, but I've had mixed experiences. Unfortunately they're a little biased though, so I can't really make a good comparison. The previous version of an application I developed was written in ASP/SQL Server and had some really slow reports and things like that, the database would just take a long time to do certain things. I rewrote it in PHP/MySQL and it is a lot faster, but then again the database structure is different and the server-side code is different, so it's not really comparing the same thing. The speed increase might be because I'm using PHP instead of VBscript, or it might be because of MySQL alone, or it might be because the database structure is more efficient, or it might be because it's running on a dedicated hosted server instead of the local web server we've got in the office, or it might be all of those. Still, that being said, SQL Server does have several nice things about it (I wasn't really introduced to the concept of table-level locking until I moved it to MySQL, courtesy of the MyISAM engine; SQL Server might be slow to return certain records but at least it doesn't lock the entire table while it's doing it).