Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!mtxinu!sybase!binky!tim From: tim@binky.sybase.com (Tim Wood) Newsgroups: comp.databases Subject: Re: DB engine embedded in the OS? (long) Message-ID: <5732@sybase.sybase.com> Date: 24 Aug 89 17:47:40 GMT References: <8951@blia.BLI.COM> Sender: news@sybase.sybase.com Reply-To: tim@binky.UUCP (Tim Wood) Distribution: comp Organization: Sybase, Inc. Lines: 59 In article <8951@blia.BLI.COM> miket@blia.BLI.COM (Mike Tossy) writes: >In article , hargrove@harlie.sgi.com (Mark Hargrove) writes: >> >> [Basic topic:] >> One group of vendors (most notably DEC and Tandem) are making very strong >> arguments that most, if not all, of a DB engine should be embedded in the >> operating system. > >(5) tim@sybase.com writes "The challenge in designing an OS-hosted DBMS > is to use only the most basic OS functions (such as user-buffered > disk I/O and basic front-end/backend IPC services). ... > ... That is, added resources should not be used up by overhead such > as OS scheduling and heavyweight process state, they should be used > directly by the DBMS to run applications faster or keep more of the > database memory resident." > > By that, I think, he means that they have built an integrated dbms > & o/s that runs on top of a regular o/s that they don't really use. > I place Sybase in the DEC / Tandem / ShareBase camp on this one. > (No big suprise to anyone who knows the ShareBase / Sybase history.) Mmm, close enough. But there's an important difference. The Sybase database engine can be run on several different hardware+OS platforms, and the number is growing. This design gives the advantage of DBMS-managed resources plus the advantage of multi-vendor compatibility. DEC, Tandem and ShareBase (if I'm not mistaken) all require use of their own hardware in order to use their database solution. But we've shown that that limitation is not necessary to have performance, functionality and high availability in a DBMS. An OS-hosted server can take advantage of the hardware advances of all vendors' hardware to which it has been ported. A proprietary DBMS only has one vendor's growth path open to it. For those that don't know the history, Sybase was formed in 1984 by two executives and two development managers from then-Britton-Lee. Our Executive VP, Robert Epstein, was a lead designer of Berkeley INGRES, of the Britton-Lee IDM database machine and in 1984-85, of the Sybase SQL Server. I am employee #8 at Sybase counting the founders, and have been here 7th longest. All but one of the first dozen or so people to join are still here. > >(6) jkrueger@dgis.daitc.mil writes: >> I remember [not so long ago] hearing that operating systems had to >> be written at machine level... [and other scary examples of device and >> application dependence] >> Have we learned nothing? > > How about network protocols running as user processes, or > windowing systems without operating system support? Sometimes > integration makes sense. Not sure whether you're pro or con these. User-domain network protocols are of some interest, especially in secure systems development. Sybase, Inc. / 6475 Christie Ave. / Emeryville, CA / 94608 415-596-3500 tim@sybase.com {pacbell,pyramid,sun,{uunet,ucbvax}!mtxinu}!sybase!tim Voluntary disclaimer: This message is solely my personal opinion. It is not a representation of Sybase, Inc. OK.