Re: Installing Postegres side-by-side with M$ SQL server

Please find answers to your questions below:

>>1.) Would running Postgre and SQL Server on the same machine cause any
conflict with each other (other then competing for
>>CPU/Memory)

I don't think so that will be a problem except that it is not always a good
idea to keep two database servers on one machine :)

>>2.) Would there be any drastic changes required to the VB program to get
it to communicate or would the ODBC driver take
>>care of everything for me? The program in question does nothing fancy, a
simple take of the data coming across the network
>>and pushing it into the designated database i.e. purley add/update single
row at a time.

There shouldn't be any problem unless you are using TSQL procedures and in
that case it will require the migration of these procedures to PostgreSQL
functions.

>>3.) Are there any significant differences in functionality between the two
systems I should be aware of that may cause problems
>>down the line.

MS SQL Server has its own range of functionality like you get TSQL,
Replication Server, and easy to use GUI, easily integrable into Microsoft
based applications and etc etc, and with PostgreSQL you too get most of it
as it offers a strong SQL syntax and you can cover almost everything with
PostgreSQL functions that you were doing in TSQL procedures and for
replication you can Slony, an easy to use GUI for server administration is
also available.

>>4.) Can anyone offer any other pointers on what I should look out for when
doing this transition.

In order to migrate data from MS SQL Server to PostgreSQL you can simply use
the data transfer wizard from SQL Server and during the process give it the
ODBC of PostgreSQL for target database. You will have to migrate your
procedures I think manually if there are any to PostgreSQL functions.

You can find some good detail over here as well -->
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/techdocs.29

----------------
Shoaib Mir
EnterpriseDB (www.enterprisedb.com)

On 1/19/07, Paul Lambert <paul(dot)lambert(at)autoledgers(dot)com(dot)au> wrote:
>
> G'day folks,
>
> I'm faily new to the world of Postgre so excuse me if these questions seem ignorant.
>
> My current employer develops a software package which runs on OpenVMS on HP Alpha/Itanium servers and contains a custom
> database comprised of various format text and binary files. I.e. not in a real database engine.
>
> In order for our customers to have a wider range of reporting on their database (via M$ Access, M$ Excel, CrystalReports, websites
> and other such facilities) I have some programs which replicate updates in this pseudo-database over the network to a Weendoze
> server on which I have a program written in VB which pipes the data updates via ODBC into an M$ SQL server.
>
> A number of months ago I was pointed towards Postgre as a reliable database server after which I signed up to a number of these
> mailing lists and have been reading them quite extensively since that time.
>
> Having made a decision to port this SQL server database into Postgre I have a few questions before I get started:
>
> 1.) Would running Postgre and SQL Server on the same machine cause any conflict with each other (other then competing for
> CPU/Memory)
>
> 2.) Would there be any drastic changes required to the VB program to get it to communicate or would the ODBC driver take
> care of everything for me? The program in question does nothing fancy, a simple take of the data coming across the network
> and pushing it into the designated database i.e. purley add/update single row at a time.
>
> 3.) Are there any significant differences in functionality between the two systems I should be aware of that may cause problems
> down the line.
>
> 4.) Can anyone offer any other pointers on what I should look out for when doing this transition.
>
> And given my lack of unix/linux/etc experience, yes it has to run on weenbloze - unless there is an OpenVMS port? ;)
>
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions/information.
>
> Cheers,
> Paul.
>
> --
> Paul Lambert
> Database Administrator
> AutoLedgers
>
>