IT for Business - Research Paper Example

IT for Business HC1041 Individual Assignment 5pm Friday Week 10 ID Table of Contents Three database systems 2 Hardware and software requirements for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 2 Costs of implementing SQL Server 2012 3 Other factors to consider before implementing the database 3 Fault tolerance and durability 3 Transaction support 4 Flexibility and Scalability 4 Reference List 5 Three database systems Three database systems that a merchant supplier could use to store its financial, employee, inventory records and general use records for the business are MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server and Salesforce Database.com. These three represent the three popular relational database management systems (RDBMS) available to todays’ modern enterprises, both large and small.

MySQL represents open source systems which give organisations freedom to customise their database whichever way that suits them and also low total cost of ownership (MySQL.com 9 & 10). SQL Server represents the proprietary databases provided and supported by mega-corporations, in this case Microsoft. SQL Server is feature-rich, has high security features and comes with guarantees typical of mega-corporation backed software. Database.com represents the most modern and rapidly growing platform of provisioning software over the cloud. Database.com represents the growing trend of developing social software, in this referring to software that can easily be accessed through multiple devices (such as smartphones and tablets), paid for per-use and requiring minimal investment on equipment, upgrades and maintenance.

In the next section we shall discuss SQL Server because its newest version SQL Server 2012 has an on-premise and a public cloud option, with the cloud option costing less than Database.com (Jennings 1), and more features and better security than MySQL (Lorini 9). Hardware and software requirements for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 The recommended minimum hardware requirements for standard SQL Server 2012 database system are as follows: (1) x86 Pentium III processor or faster or equivalent from other processor vendors; (2) processor speed of 2.

0 GHz or faster; (3) at least 4GB memory; (4) at least 6 GB of available hard-disk space; (5) an NTFS file system; and (5) a Super-VGA (800x600) or higher resolution monitor (Microsoft.com). The software requirements include Internet Explorer 7 or a later version, dot NET Framework 4 and Windows PowerShell 2.0 (Microsoft.com). Costs of implementing SQL Server 2012 SQL Server 2012 is priced according to the edition that the customer picks. There are four major editions: Enterprise, Business Intelligence, Standard and Express.

The Express edition is free but has minimum capabilities. This paper shall discuss costs for the Standard edition which offers basic database, reporting and analytics capabilities. SQL Server 2012 cost is determined by the licensing options selected. There are two options: one based on computing power, and the other based on number of users or devices. In the former license model, cost is based on power provided measured by cores. Core-based licensing provides a more precise measure of computing power and a more consistent licensing metric regardless of where the solution is deployed across on-premises, virtual and on public cloud scenarios.

This licensing model is appropriate when it is difficult to count number of users or devices, or where you have Internet or extranet facing workloads or systems that integrate with external facing workloads (Microsoft 2). On the other hand, the second model is referred to as Server and Client Access License (CAL) model. This licensing model is appropriate to use when the number of users or clients can be counted. Other factors to consider before implementing the database Fault tolerance and durability Events such as an unexpected shutdown or a system freeze-up tend to corrupt files by interrupting writes to disk.

The database software that the organization selects should therefore have tools to detect such problems and that can be used to accurately rebuild these corrupt files. Transaction support This refers to the characteristics of database that ensures that complex data sets are saved correctly for example in an accounting database it could mean ensuring that when a credit entry is entered, a corresponding debit is also entered such that in any single transaction either both entries succeed or neither succeeds.

Flexibility and Scalability The applications that one is planning to use the database system now are likely to be different in the next 2 or 3 years. This means that the business should ideally select a database system that can more readily be adapted for future needs. Scalability on the other hand refers to the expectation that the business will continue to grow such that it will need to support more data, number of users and number of applications. It is very expensive in terms of time, money and resources to migrate databases when the organisation grows therefore the business has to select a database system that they are assured will be able to match their needs as they grow.

Another key attribute to look at here is the data footprint of the database system. File size and growth of files are key considerations when it comes to scalability. However, database size has as much to do with database design as it does with the data itself. Therefore the business needs to select database software whose SQL files are designed to be considerably smaller than those of rival software. Reference List Jennings, Roger. “Preliminary Cost Comparison of Database.com and SQL Azure Databases for 3 to 500 Users.

” OakLeaf Systems 10 Dec. 2010. Web. 29 May 2012. Lorini, Matteo. “Microsoft SQL Server Vs. MySQL.” MSSQLTips. 13 Jan. 2010. Web. 29 May 2012. Microsoft. “SQL Server 2012 Licensing Datasheet & FAQ.” 7 Mar. 2012 : n. pag. Print. Microsoft.com. “Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2012.” Microsoft.com. 29 May 2012. Web. 29 May 2012. MySQL.com. “MySQL?:: Top Reasons to Use MySQL.” MySQL.com. 29 May 2012. Web. 29 May 2012.