Sybase/Web platform issues

Before we make a final decision on this, I wanted to get some additional
feedback (the sooner the better) from anyone who might have gone down this
path before.

We are putting together a Web/Sybase interface for a client. The actual
database will be Sybase System 10 running on a Pentium NT.  The Web server
will be Netscape's. Queries to the DB are all through stored procedures, so
we have a well-defined set of possible queries and possible results. Writes
to the DB may be (although we'd rather not) asynchronous, and are only
possible for a limited number of items. Our original plan was to use WDB
and Sybperl to access the database. Initially generating all result pages
on the fly, then moving to a page-caching scheme if necessary. Caching
might be done either on a per-query bases, or by pre-generating pages
nightly and on writes.

We have three options for the web-server platform (different machine than
the DB server)
  1. Pentium NT
  2. Pentium BSDI
  3. SPARC Solaris

As I see it, we have the following issues. If there are any more (or less),
I'd love to hear it.

Option 1 (NT)
  o Is Netscape's NT server shipping yet?
  o ntperl exists, but is sybperl portable?
  o And if so, is the same Open Client interface available?

Option 2 (BSDI)
  o Is Open Client available for this platform?
  o Any other way to access Sybase from perl?

Option 3 (Solaris)
  o Open Client is available, sybperl should run, any other issues?
  o Any problems with a cross-platform database connection? (Solaris<->NT)

It looks to us like Option 3 is the way to go. But I suspect the client
would prefer PC hardware and/or a non-Unix solution, so we need to fully
explore all the options. Of course they need a decision today.

Comments?

Kee Hinckley      Utopia Inc. - Cyberspace Architects    617/721-6100
nazgul@utopia.com                               http://www.utopia.com/

Received on Thursday, 25 May 1995 05:27:52 UTC