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Comparing InterBase and BlackfishSQL

Someone asked in the newsgroups for a comparison between InterBase and Blackfish SQL. So off the top of my head:

Feature Blackfish SQL InterBase
Connectivity ADO.NET 2.0, JDBC, dbExpress ADO.NET 1.1 and 2.0, JDBC (type 4), dbExpress, ODBC, native API, embedded SQL, OLE-DB via third parties
Data recovery features Incremental backup with failover on Java platform only. Crash recovery via transaction log on both .NET and Java. Journaling, incremental backup, read-only live backup
Deployment considerations XCOPY deployment if .NET 2.0 installed, must install .NET 2.0 if not Must be installed, but install is embeddable via MSI and other means
GUI tools None at present, but third-party support is beginning to show up IBConsole included, wide third-party support
In-process embedding Yes No
Licensing Free deployment for limited users with RAD studio purchase. Other licenses available. Many types of licenses, including unlimited users, available. Only free license is the developer’s edition.
Mobile device support .NET Compact Framework planned but not currently available None
Multi-version concurrency control No; uses transaction log Yes
Performance monitoring No? Yes, built in to IBConsole and available via SQL
Stored procedure/trigger syntax Managed code in language supported by deployment platform Proprietary, cross-platform-compatible
SMP support Yes, with purchased deployment license. Not included with free RAD Studio license. Supports multi-core without extra license purchase. Yes, with purchase of CPU license or second core license
Supported OSs .NET 2.0, Java RSN Windows, Linux, Solaris, Mac
Unicode support Charset and collation Charsets, but only binary collations

This is preliminary and could be wrong in places. It’s also a bit superficial, but like I said, it’s off the top of my head. I’ll try and update it as I learn more.

{ 10 } Comments

  1. Anders | October 6, 2007 at 6:33 am | Permalink

    "Journaling, incremental backup, read-only live backup" aren’t really clustering features. IMO they are more "Data recovery" features. AFAIK neither InterBase nor Blackfish has any explicit clustering features.

    Also, while InterBase might have been spotted running on a Mac, it isn’t officially supported until the customers can purchase it.

  2. Craig Stuntz | October 6, 2007 at 12:21 pm | Permalink

    Anders,

    I agree "Data recovery" is a better heading. I’ve changed it.

    You can buy IB for the Mac by buying 3rdRail. Not the ideal system, but it is available to the public. When I know when it will be available separately, I’ll blog it.

  3. Yogi Yang | October 24, 2007 at 2:56 am | Permalink

    why compate Blackfish with IB. Compare it with FB. Waiting for comparision with FB as well as with db4OO if you have time.

    TIA

    Yogi Yang

  4. Craig Stuntz | October 24, 2007 at 8:03 am | Permalink

    Yogi, the reason I don’t compare Blackfish with Firebird or db4O is because I don’t use either one of them, so it would be a pretty uninformed comparison if I wrote it.

    The patently obvious reason to compare IB with Blackfish is because they’re both CodeGear products.

  5. Tomohiro Takahashi | March 5, 2008 at 8:20 am | Permalink

    HI,

    > Incremental backup with failover
    Does BSQL for .NET support this feature?

  6. Craig Stuntz | March 5, 2008 at 8:28 am | Permalink

    Tomohiro,
    I thought it did, but I’ve never tried it myself. This article says that it does:
    http://dn.codegear.com/article/36770

  7. Tomohiro Takahashi | March 7, 2008 at 1:06 am | Permalink

    [FAQ- BlackfishSQL(.NET/Java)]
    http://www.codegear.com/article/36903/images/36903/Blackfish%20SQL%20FAQ.pdf
    says, BSQL for .NET does not support both "Mirroring" and "Failover Clustering".

    AFAIK, JDataStore(BSQL for Java) support "incremental backup and failover" by "Mirroring" and "Failover Clustering".

  8. Craig Stuntz | March 7, 2008 at 8:42 am | Permalink

    Thanks, Tomohiro; I’ll update the post.

  9. Tomohiro Takahashi | March 12, 2008 at 12:18 am | Permalink

    Hi,

    How about IPv6 support?

  10. Craig Stuntz | March 12, 2008 at 10:53 am | Permalink

    I have no idea about IPv6. I haven’t tried it, and I’m not sure where to find a definitive answer for either product. My wild guess is that if the underlying OS supports it that it will work on both products, but, like I said, it’s a guess.

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