Hi to all! Which is better for implementing a guestbook?: a database storage approach or a flat-file system approach? I am aware that a db allows better searching and data view. However, I am not sure as to how much data a db can hold. Which one can hold more?: a txt file or a db? Where can I find information about the amount of data that different dbs can hold. I am interested in MySQl and MS Access. Looking foward to your help. Thanks.
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Kyle Brown
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Well, let's see. A text file would be theoretically limited to the size of your hard drive. Databases often include low-level technology to cross multiple hard drives with RAID. I've seen databases in the hundreds of Terabytes (1 Terabyte = 1000 Gigabytes)... More practically, a search through a text file would be linear. Searches through databases are optimized with indices to be logarithmic or better... Also, a database can be run on a different machine from your servlet. This allows you to take advantage of the processing power of two machines. With a text file, well, your're kind of stuck there... Kyle ------------------ Kyle Brown, Author of Enterprise Java (tm) Programming with IBM Websphere See my homepage at http://members.aol.com/kgb1001001 for other WebSphere information.
First thing, think about what you hope to achieve. If you want a guestbook with 2-3 fields, then this would be fine for a text file. If there's going to be more info fields or loads of information (a forum like this) then a database might be a better option. Though I believe this forum is on a flat-file not a database.
Eric Howell
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Originally posted by Rob J Ford: Though I believe this forum is on a flat-file not a database.
I am surprised by this. I'ed be really interested to find out why this storage option was selected as there's a lot of info in this forum. Anyone got any inside info ?
ernest fakudze
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Thanks a lot everybody for your insights. I will convert from flat file to database. It seems like a good idea. Thank you very very much!
I agree. Here's the link: http://ej-technologies/jprofiler - if it wasn't for jprofiler, we would need to
run our stuff on 16 servers instead of 3.
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