Richard_D_Levine@raytheon.com wrote:
> The trick is making database administration invisible to the user. Since
> Firebird requires no administration, it's easy. The single file database
> architecture in Firebird is also easy since you generally have only one
> drive.
The decision not to create an embedded Postgres version is never about
administration issue. If we want to, we can make Postgres administration
and configuration as minimum as possible by creating, say, a pg_autotune
daemon that monitors the OS, db activity, and usage pattern, and
automatically adjusts the kernel and/or db parameters. I think there's
something like this in Oracle 10g and perhaps someday there will be too
in Postgres.
It's about reliability. Running the app and dbms in the same process
space will not guarantee that bugs in app will not mess up the database.
And after all, the "Firebird requires no administration" statement is
more of a marketing gimmick anyway. Is it really 100% DBA-free? Can
Firebird automatically connect to newegg.com and buy an extra harddisk
if it runs out of disk space? :-)
To me Postgres is already pretty low in administrative demand as it is.
Not that it cannot be improved, of course.
--
dave