Comparing SQL Server and Oracle Database Features: SQL Server Management Features vs Oracle Database Management Features

Oracle Database supports the automatic starting of an instance; whatever is associated with that instance can also be started along with the instance. The same holds true with the SQL Server instance and its agent service.

Notification Services

SQL Server Notification Services (SQLNS) was meant to be an all-purpose message or messaging delivery system. Its architecture is based on a subscriber, subscriptions, one or more events, and a notification. If you have events whose occurrence you want messaged to a user, that user could receive a notification via PDA, SMS text, and other forms of delivery.

SQLNS is similar to the scheduling and bursting of reports in Oracle’s BI Publisher application. The concept is that you can send versions of whatever information to whomever in various formats. Overall, SQLNS sounds like a decent feature. The problem is that it was kind of a non-starter and it wasn’t widely adopted and in future releases of SQL Server 2008, SQLNS is not to be found. However, the functionality found in SQL Server 2005 can be used against or applied to 2008.

There are some additional licensing requirements associated with SQLNS, just as there are with BI Publisher.

SQL Server Agent

The usefulness and utility of the SQL Server Agent cannot be overstated. So many things within SQL Server are and can be driven by the Agent. So much so that the Agent can be overused, and most of the issues regarding this concern security. The Agent is fairly secure within its own domain (i.e., server or instance it runs on or in), but is not so secure outside of that area. The running of the Agent, with respect to it running as a service, is often tied into the overall MSSQL service in the first place. As an analogy, Oracle supports the automatic starting of an instance via init.d scripts, so whatever is needed or associated with the Oracle instance can also be started along with the instance (listener, OEM, Database Control, etc.). The same holds true with the SQL Server instance and its agent service.

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