9 replies to this topic

[Mike Schoen]

I'm trying to get an idea of what the licencing costs are for mssql on windows.
I have been here (http://www.microsoft...uy/default.mspx) which describes the costs, but I dont know how pro-iv talks to mssql.

Do you require either a processor licence or one licence per user, or is possible to use a server plus 1 Device licence, since all the access comes from the one device?

Also, has anyone had experience with both oracle and mssql, and how difficult it is to support both?

[Bill Loven]

We have both. Oracle is now offering 10G Standard edition 2, 5 user for $795 and can run on a 4 processor box. Oracle is more robust than MSSQL and ProIV uses the Oracle API for access.
You must use ODBC for MSSQL access which adds another layer between ProIV and MSSQL.

HTH
Bill

[Lewis Mccabe]

Mike,

SQL is bundled with Windows Small Business Server as well as being available inexpensively through the Microsoft ISV Partner program if you are selling your app. The Small Business Server option permits up to 75 users. After that you have to convert to (I think?) to MSSQL Enterprise. Dexter+Chaney has come out with a MSSQL version of their software and are doing well with it. As of his last post, Mark says they have about 100 installations on it. See Mark Dexter's recent post regarding MSSQL performance. PRO-IV talks to MSSQL via ODBC.

Lew

[Fred Marker]

Mike,

I am presently in the process of converting a commercial ProIV application from ProISAM to MS SQL Server. We run the ProIV kernel on a dual processor Windows 2003 server so I purchased 2 "per processor" licenses for MS SQL Server 2000 at a very hefty cost$$$$.

It appears that only one "user", the ProIV kernel, connects to the SQL Server. The pro4.ini on your server must have an entry like the following:

[Database - SQLDEFAULT]
PRODB_CHARSET=7
FILETYPE=SQLSERVE
CONNECTION=username/password/dbname

To make your ProIV application use a SQL database, you only need to define the username included in the pro4.ini as a "login" for the MS SQL Server instance and a "user" within the specified dbname.

However, you or your attorney should read the fine print on the ProIV and MS SQL Server License Agreements to determine what/how many licenses you really must purchase!

Fred

[Mike Schoen]

Thanks for the comments and advice.

Does anyone know if it is possible to specify the database somewhere other than the pro4.ini?

Can it be specified in the .ini file tied to the .piv file (or registry setting) so that you can have a production and test environment on the same application server?

Mike

[Lewis Mccabe]

Mike,

You can set the database in INI file tied to a user. We do this to have one user per named database. In the PRO4.INI set the INIPATH value in the user stanza to direct a user to run a specific INI.
INIPATH=C:\INIFILES\SOME.INI
In user's INI you can then set the database.

I don't know if there are any registry settings which will accomplish it.

Lew

[Joseph Bove]

Mike,

If you are a software developer, I would suggest joining the MS ISV royalty program. You are able to get very good prices for SQL Server - compared to market price.

Regards,

Joseph

[mdexter]

On the licensing question, as near as we have been able to figure out, with PRO-IV applications you must either have a processor license or a license for every device (or user) that can theoritically connect to the database. Because PRO-IV accesses the database at the server, the licensing falls under Microsoft's definition of a "multiplexed environment". In practice, as best as we can determine, it means that you either need an unlimited processor license or a license for every workstation that has your software installed on it.

Note that if your application can be accessed via the web, you would probably need to have either a processor license or a license for every named user of the system.

You can read more about the licensing on Microsoft's web site at http://www.microsoft...uy/faq.mspx#EQC. HTH. Mark Dexter

[Tony Waszkiewicz]

hi Mike,

Note this is not a reflection of the abilities of the two databases but of how proiv works with them.

We support both Oracle and SQLServer and much prefer Oracle since we find that it runs up to 4 times faster than SQLServer and is way more reliable. I guess this is chiefly because proiv accesses Oracle at a "lower" level than SQLServer which uses ODBC and Oracle has been supported for much longer.

Given a free choice we would always recommend Oracle in a production environment. So if you only need to support one production database then i would go for Oracle.

As for pricing both databases are priced similarly on either processor or named users. It is Oracle's policy to make the pricing competitive but note there are different versions available so do not buy the enterprise version unless you really need the bells and whistles and then expect to pay for it. If you are using it for a mission critical application then the cost is not much compared to all the other costs e.g. staff costs are usually an order greater

You can obtain an Oracle development licence (and all their tools) for free by signing up for OTN (free) and downloading the software, but obviously cannot use this for production work.

HTH

[Mike Schoen]

Thanks for all your comments on this, someone from our office is going to be talking to microsoft soon.

I wish we could just support oracle on all platforms, but one of the issues getting us looking at msslq is the "my IT staff know microsoft so thats what we want." This becomes more of an issue for smaller install bases, where we dont want to become their oracle dba. Going microsoft-only will (hopefully) get us where we want to go.