Those of you who follow DB2, are only too aware that IBM is doing everything in its power to provide the very best value in database software. IBM made a massive investment to develop pureXML—true native XML storage that is clearly superior to the confusing array of XML storage options in Oracle Database. IBM has superior data compression algorithms as well as compression options that Oracle does not offer. DB2 recently added native support for the most commonly used Oracle Database data types, SQL syntax, PL/SQL syntax, and more, making it easy for Oracle Database users to move to DB2. And last year, DB2 added support for a pureScale shared-disk clustering architecture that many argue is better than Oracle RAC. And now IBM strikes another competitive blow to Oracle Database with the exciting new Advanced Enterprise Edition for Linux, Unix, and Windows.
DB2 Advanced Enterprise Edition bundles DB2 Enterprise Server Edition together with:
- DB2 Storage Optimization feature
- DB2 Performance Optimization feature
- DB2 Advanced Access Control feature
- Optim Database Administrator
- Optim Development Studio
- Optim Performance Manager
It also includes limited-use versions of InfoSphere Replication Server and InfoSphere Federation Server.
The list price for the entire bundle is $450 per Processor Value Unit. That works out at a list price of $45,000 for a server with 100 Processor Value Units, compared to $47,500 for a bare bones Oracle Database Enterprise Edition server license. That’s correct. You get DB2 together with all those value-add features and all that additional software for less cost than a bare bones Oracle Database license. When IBM assembled this bundle, we really wanted to make a statement of intent… this is not a standard bundle discount… this is an aggressive move to significantly beat Oracle when it comes to providing value to customers. And don’t forget that the IBM price includes the first year’s support and maintanence. You need to add 22% to the Oracle price for the first year’s support and maintenance.
Here is a table that compares the list price of IBM DB2 Advanced Enterprise Server with the list price of the equivalent Oracle capabilities for a server with 100 processor value units. To be able to compare apples-to-apples, this table also includes the costs for first year support and maintenance.
| Functionality | DB2 Advanced Ent. Edition | Price | Equivalent Oracle Software | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Database | DB2 Enterprise Server | Included | Oracle Enterprise Edition | $57,950 |
| Data Compression | Storage Optimization | Included | Advanced Compression | $14,030 |
| Disaster Recovery | HADR | Included | Active Data Guard | $14,030 |
| Advanced Security | Adv. Access Control | Included | Label Security | $14,030 |
| Data Partitioning | Table Partitioning | Included | Partitioning | $14,030 |
| Administration | Optim Database Admin. | Included | Oracle Enterprise Manager | No charge |
| Development | Optim Development Studio | Included | Internet Dev Suite | $7,076 |
| Performance Tuning | Optim Performance Manager | Included | Diagnostics Pack | $6,100 |
| Federation | Homogeneous Federation | Included | Oracle-to-Oracle Fed. | No charge |
| Active/Active Rep. | Q-Replication with DB2 | Included | Golden Gate | $21,350 |
| Total | $45,000 | $148,596 |
Hi. Excellent chart to compare DB2 to Oracle. Do you have a comparison between IBM’s vs Oracle’s Replication and CDC technologies?
Jim
The price comparison depends on the server. To try to account for the different processing power of different types of CPUs, both IBM and Oracle use “processor multipliers” to determine the price. This means that the prices can vary, depending on the processor being used. I can take a couple of examples if you’d like. But please remember that the price difference might vary on other processors. The only way to know for sure is to use the IBM and Oracle pricing information, which is available online.
For an IBM Power Systems 770 with 4 CPU cores, where I include the first year of maintenance and support so it can be an apples-to-apples comparison:
IBM InfoSphere CDC: $75,840 (120 PVUs x $158/PVU x 4 cores)
Oracle Goldengate: $85,400 ((1.0 x $17.5K x 4 cores) * 1.22)
For a Sun UltraSPARC IV with 4 CPU cores, where I include the first year of maintenance and support:
IBM InfoSphere CDC: $63,200 (100 PVUs x $158/PVU x 4 cores)
Oracle Goldengate: $64,050 ((0.75 x $17.5K x 4 cores) * 1.22)
Hi. you mentioned the pricing (which is fine) but I am looking for information that compares the technology features between Oracle Golden Gate and QReplication. You also mentioned that Oracle had Federation technology, but, does it compares to DB2 EII Federation technology?
Hi Jim,
I’ll have to get some help from some of my colleagues at IBM to answer competitive feature/function questions about those products. I’ll ask them to respond directly to this thread…
Regards,
Conor.
Hi Jim,
QReplication is one of the underlying technologies of InfoSphere Replication Server – similar to Oracle GoldenGate, it’s designed for high throughput, low latency data replication. For a more detailed comparison, would suggest referring to each of the product’s website (InfoSphere Replication Server is at http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/infosphere/replication-server/). I’m not very familiar with Oracle’s federation solution, but it’s important to keep in mind that DB2′s federation technology inherits the bulk of DB2 enterprise’s capabilities – this means that you get all the DB2 benefits of security, availability, parallel processing, auditing, monitoring, and caching with an IBM federation solution.
Wendy,Conor,
Hi. Thanks for the update on Change Data Capture technology. I am currently using the DB2 Federation (Enterprise Information Integration) technology and very powerful when compared to solutions from companies like SAP/Business Objects (Product: Data Federator), Composite (Product: Composite Suite), Oracle (Product: Aqualogic – via BEA), Ipedo (Product: Ipedo).
Jim
Compared apple to oranges really strange
Price calculation taken from another post :
If i right calculate, now for 8-sockets machines the license price difference between DB2 ESE and Oracle EE + Partitioning is ……ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!
DB2 = 120 * 64 * 433 = 3 325 440$
Oracle = (47500+11500) * 0.5 * 64 * 1.22 = 2 303 360$
So DB2 is slghtly 1.000.000 Bugs more expensive
if there is a comparison on feature the person should know which one he should compare:
Data Compression is included in the Oracle Enterprise Edition
Disaster Recovery HADR
Its included but you can have more featues if you like.
evelopment Optim Development Studio
The SQL-Developer is for free and offers more functionality more speed easier to use and its for free or should I say included?
Advanced Security Adv. Access Control Included
VPD is free of charge ist included in the enterprise
Performance Tuning Optim Performance Manager
Statspack is include in the enterprise edition you can use it no additional charge
Active/Active Rep. Q-Replication with DB2
You don’t need any Golden Gate product whats about RAC / Data Guard and so on…
Not really a good article , misses too many information , and gives even wrong information
Hi Dirk,
You calculation is correct, but a little misleading.
As you know, both companies charge different amounts for different processor types and configurations. POWER7 configurations vary from 70 PVUs to 120 PVUs; POWER6 from 80 to 120 PVUs; and Intel from 50 to 120 PVUs. You can see the IBM table here… Processor Value Unit [PVU] licensing.
Oracle has a core factor of 1.0 for POWER7, 1.0 for POWER 6, and between 0.5 and 1.0 for Intel. The Oracle table is here… Oracle Processor Core Factor Table.
You happened to choose the configuration that favors Oracle Database the most. For instance, if you had instead chosen a 2-socket POWER 7 server, the IBM PVUs are 70, whereas the Oracle core factor is 1.0, resulting in a very different conclusion. Unfortunately, the fact that both companies have different factors, makes comparison difficult because the results will be different depending on the server being used. That’s why I chose not to specify a configuration, but to simply use a PVU value of 100 and a core factor of 1.0. If I had chosen a configuration, I could have made the numbers look much stronger in IBMs favor, but I didn’t feel that would be the right thing to do.
Regards,
Conor.
Hi Dirk,
Regarding your other claims, I believe that the information in this blog post is accurate. Let me explain why…
Compression: Oracle base compression is included in Oracle Enterprise Edition. However, that’s only compression for bulk load. If you want to get compression for inserts (like the DB2 Deep Compression) then you need Oracle Advanced Compression.
Disaster Recovery: To get functionality equivalent to what HADR provides, you have to buy Active Data Guard. For instance, with HADR you can do reads against the standby server. With Oracle Database, when you do a read on standby, you can’t apply logs while reading at the same time (like we do with HADR) unless you purchase Active Data Guard.
SQL Developer: I imagine the “ease of use” of the two products is a matter of opinion.
Advanced Security: DB2′s Advanced Access Control is similar to Oracle Label Security. DB2′s Advanced Access Control is multi-level security (for classified data).
Statspack: Yes, Statspack is free… just like DB2 snapshot monitors are free in all editions. But Optim Performance Manager provides added value to make performance monitoring and tuning easier. Just like AWR and ADDM (the underpinnings of Enterprise Manager Diagnostic pack) make things easier (where you have to pay for it).
Golden Gate: Q-Replication provides replication bi-direction much like Golden Gate. With Data Guard it’s one way, with Q-Replication it’s peer-to-peer. With Data Guard it’s the full database, with Q-Replication or Golden Gate you can replicate a subset of the tables.
People may not need all of these add-ons. However, when you consider that if you do need a handful of them, the price for Oracle is going to grow very quickly when compared to the price for DB2 Advanced Server Enterprise Edition (which includes them all).
Regards,
Conor.
Did you consider using socket instead of cores/processors in your calculations?
A thing essential to me is an HADR mechanism, at least having a coherent stand-by database, which in DB2 is offered (included) right from entry editions and Oracle has only on Enterprise Edition at an extra cost.
Most of my clients’ needs are fulfilled with workgroup/standard edition and this feature request in Oracle makes the price too high.