Choosing a database

[smarti]

Hello,

I coming from a shop that was SQL Server, using MS's provider for EF 4.x. At my new shop we are looking at going away from SQL server for various reasons, but have misgivings about the non-sql-server path when using EF.

We have a few projects that we are about to start, that will likely get to 1000 users, and millions of records. So performance is an issue, but we are building Facebook or twitter here.

The biggest question is how much friction will there be going with My or Postgres? It seems that DevArt is the only one making commercial grade providers (in my so far limited research), so assuming the DevArt providers, which is the path of least resistance? Which of the DevArt providers, are the most feature complete, updated the most frequently, break the least, etc.

Is the performance of EF with the DevArt providers similar on Postgres and My?

I would love to hear some insight from the DevArt guys on which DB they would choose, as well as from the soldiers on the ground about their experiences with the two using EF. Basically if you were starting a project from scratch, and had to choose one of the two to use with EF and DevArt providers, which would you go with, and why?

Thanks,
~S

[Shalex]

The biggest question is how much friction will there be going with My or Postgres?

The choice of a particular database should depend on the scenario you are going to implement in your project. You can download the trial versions (free use during 30 days) of dotConnect for MySQL and dotConnect for PostgreSQL to make your own tests to find out which database fits your needs best.

We support EF functionality for these two providers equally fully. Our providers include but are not limited to the following features concerning Entity Framework:

• Fully functional development of EF Code-First (EF v4.1 & EF v4.2) http://blogs.devart.com/dotconnect/enti ... qlite.html
• Support of EF Code-First Migrations (EF 4.3 & 5.0) http://blogs.devart.com/dotconnect/enti ... qlite.html
• Batch Updates in EF http://blogs.devart.com/dotconnect/new- ... html#Batch
• The use of SQL queries for initializing values of StoreGeneratedPattern columns when using XML mapping http://blogs.devart.com/dotconnect/set- ... ggers.html
• Monitoring of DDL and DML execution using dbMonitor http://www.devart.com/dotconnect/postgr ... nitor.html
• Entity Developer provider included into the delivery, which is a powerful alternative tool for creating and editing EF models http://www.devart.com/entitydeveloper/
• Public builds with fixes and new functionality delivered every 2-4 weeks
• dotConnect for PostgreSQL and dotConnect for MySQL are providers with the history of Entity Framework support starting from 2007, since then a lot of bugs have been fixed, optimizations implemented and new functionalities added

As for migration from SQL Server, please take into account that both MySQL and PostgreSQL have limitations/differences in behaviour comparing to SQL Server. Some of them are listed here: http://www.infoq.com/articles/multiple-databases.

[smarti]

Thanks.

I have determined that either Database would work for us. Leaning towards Postgres, but I wanted to make sure that choosing postgres over mysql would not result it a more painful development experience. If both the dotConnect products are updated just as frequently, then we will likely go with postgres, pending a trial run.

Thanks,
~S