Which Database is Good for Asp.Net?

Question

I have been using oracle database throughout database courses, and I have programmed there a lot. However, now, I have to develop real life web application in ASP.NET and some people suggested me to use sQL server because it is more compatible with ASP.NET.

But I did not like it at all using it, since, I got used to oracle programming, and SQL server MAnagement studio works a real slow in my computer, not like oracle.

So, what do you guys suggest me to do, does ASP.NET support it real badly? I may use linq-to-sql and Nhibernate I am not sure. Which databases will not create much problems when using them?

Answer 1

There are definitely some benefits to using SQL with ASP.NET, since the two are architecturally synchronized. However, plenty of high-performing applications use Oracle. NHibernate works fine with Oracle. The productivity gains from sticking with what you know will probably outweigh any sugar for SQL that .NET has baked-in.

Answer 2

Since both are MS products , yes what your friend said is right. But there is no harm in using oracle. How about the licensing costs? You can use express edition which is free.

Answer 3

LINQ to SQL doesn't work against Oracle at all as far as I'm aware. NHibernate does, and I believe the Entity Framework does (it certainly should - working with multiple databases is one of the selling points of EF over LINQ to SQL; try it before making a firm decision though!)

I've known a few quirks in the Oracle .NET drivers before now, but they generally work okay. If you don't mind losing the option of LINQ to SQL, and you're significantly more comfortable and productive with Oracle, then I'd stick with it.

Answer 4

ASP.NET works fine with Oracle and comes with plenty of datasources and other components which can communicate with Oracle. As Rex M said, making a full switch over to SQL Server is not going to be worth it versus the time and effort it will take getting acclimated to the new environment.

Answer 5

I'm currently developing a .NET webapplication that connects to an oracle database, and though I personally prefer MSSQL over Oracle, you'll be just fine.

When you're going to use linq 2 sql, keep in mind that you will need either LinqToOracle or DbLinq. It won't work 'out of the box'. And, like others said, NHibernate should work just fine.

Answer 6

First you have to choose a data provider. There are different data providers for combining .NET and Oracle: ODP.NET, Devart's provider and a provider from Microsoft (System.Data.OracleClient).

Maybe there are other data providers too?

Edit:

Above if you have choosen Oracle, first means before starting to code.

Answer 7

I stuck an answer into another question earlier, but you definitely have to consider licensing costs if the database is going to grow. The enterprise cost for sqlserver is very expensive (as in 23k per processor), for a quad processor that is 92k.. a lot of money!

MySQL 6.0 .net connector apparently supports ado.net entity data framework, I'm looking forward to checking this out. In any event, I'm planning on using MySQL to keep costs down.

Answer 8

I would be interested in getting more detail on how ASP.NET, a web application development platform is 'more compatible' with SQL Server, a database engine, given that they are totally disparate technologies.

I would argue that the bottleneck is not the database per se but your knowledge of said database. If you already are polished in Oracle RDBMS I dare say you could churn out a site a lot faster than learning SQL Server.

I have developed applications on ASP.NET using various databases, including Access, MySQL, Oracle, Sybase and SQL Server. The itch to be scratched is universal -- getting data out of the database and displaying it or pushing data back into the database.

Linq2SQL is an option only available to SQL Server unlike NHibernate that has pretty good support for many databases.

You could also evaluate other ORMs like LLBLGEN