Comparison of Database Types

NOT AVAILABLE IN SAAS

When installing the Ekran System Application Server, you can choose between two types of databases (the MS SQL database and the PostgreSQL database). These databases have the following differences:

Feature	MS SQL Server Database	PostgreSQL Database
General
Commercial/open-source	A commercial database from Microsoft.	An open-source product.
Free-of-charge	(but has a limited free version). NOTE: Using MS SQL Express does not guarantee the stable operation of the Application Server.
Requires additional software installation
Scalability
Remote access to database	(a separate database engine that can be deployed on a separate server).	(a separate database engine that can be deployed on a separate server).
Support for clustering		(Primary-Standby).
Support for network drives		(if mounted as a drive).
Performance
Processing speed	High	High
Efficient caching algorithms
Index statistics update	Automatic	Manual
Memory/process usage	A separate process, more efficient memory usage, quotas can be applied.	A separate process, more efficient memory usage, quotas can be applied.
Additional features	• Maintenance tasks can be executed by the engine independently. • Optimization of complex execution plans.	• Cross-platform. It can be run on a variety of systems and platforms (Windows, Linux, macOS, BSD, Solaris). • A lot of third-party solutions for replications and clustering are available.
Requires installation of additional software
Safety and Security
Security	High (keystroke encryption is supported).	High (keystroke encryption is supported).
Safety	• Database corruption is unlikely. • Replications. • Сan be managed via Microsoft native tools. • Supports scheduled maintenance: reindexing, shrinking, etc.	• Database corruption is unlikely. • Replications
Backup	Flexible backup logic (to learn more about MS SQL Server database backup, visit the Microsoft website at: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/backup-restore/full-database-backups-sql-server?view=sql-server-2017	Flexible backup logic (to learn more about PostgreSQL database backup, visit the PostgreSQL website at: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/backup.html