I am writing a paper on web database systems and looking for help that anyone can provide from current new database software to the fundamental differences between web databases and traditional databases. thanks

-- jon (joncroud@totalise.co.uk), January 10, 2002

Answers

This question is a little nebulous, but I'll attempt to answer it as best I can. A web Database System is a DBMS that supports applications that query and modify data over an Internet connection (a web client). Of course, that is just a bare bones requirement. Most DBMS products are being enabled with numerous features and functions to make Internet-computing easier and more robust. For a DBMS to claim that it supports Internet programming it should at the very least provide support for Java, XML and Unicode, as well as TCP/IP and connectivity from multiple platforms. Large object support is crucial to enable storing and manipulating multimedia data. Stored procedures and user-defined functions can make things easier as well. Additionally, high availability is a key requirement of an Internet DBMS. Internet applications typically require 24x7, around-the-clock uptime. Features that support this include online utility processing (REORG, COPY, etc.), online system configuration, clustering and failover support and rapid problem diagnosis. Some DBMS products support these features better than others. Some third party vendors, such as BMC Software, provide database management solutions to enhance the availability of data in popular relational database systems such as DB2, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server.

You should examine the DBMS you are planning to use to see how it supports your Internet and Web-related project needs. Most of the popular RDBMS products are quite capable, especially when coupled with high availability solutions from third party vendors.

-- Craig S. Mullins (Craig_Mullins@BMC.com), March 18, 2002.