MaxDB is an enterprise level database. MaxDB is the new name of a database management system formerly called SAP DB.
The history of SAP DB goes back to the early 1980s when it was developed as a commercial product (Adabas). The database has changed names several times since then. When SAP AG, a Walldorf, Germany, based company, took over the development of that database system, it was called SAP DB.
SAP developed that database system to serve as a storage system for all heavy-duty SAP applications, namely R/3. SAP DB was meant to provide an alternative to third-party database systems like Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, or DB2 by IBM. In October 2000, SAP AG released SAP DB under the GNU GPL license (see section G GNU General Public License), thus making it open source software. In October 2003, more than 2,000 customers of SAP AG were using SAP DB as their main database system, and more than another 2,000 customers were using it as a separate database system besides their main database, as part of the APO/LiveCache solution.
In May 2003, a technology partnership was formed between MySQL AB and SAP AG. That partnership entitles MySQL AB to further develop SAP DB, rename it, and sell commercial licenses of the renamed SAP DB to customers who do not want to be bound to the restrictions imposed to them when using that database system under the GNU GPL (see section G GNU General Public License). In August 2003, SAP DB was renamed to MaxDB by MySQL AB.
MaxDB can be used under the same licenses available for the other products distributed by MySQL AB (section 1.4.3 MySQL Licenses). Thus, MaxDB will be available under the GNU General Public License (section G GNU General Public License), and a commercial license (section 1.4 MySQL Support and Licensing).
MySQL will offer MaxDB support to non-SAP customers.
The first rebranded version will be MaxDB 7.5.00 that will be released in late 2003.
MaxDB operates as a client/server product. It was developed to meet the demands of installations processing a high volume of online transactions. Both online backup and expansion of the database are supported. Microsoft Clustered Server is supported directly for multiple server implementations; other failover solutions must be scripted manually. Database management tools are provided in both Windows and browser-based implementations.
The following list provides a short summary of the main differences between MaxDB and MySQL; it is not complete.
The following features will be included in MaxDB versions to be released shortly after the first 7.5.00 version. These features will allow interoperation between MaxDB and MySQL:
mysql
command-line user interface,
the mysqldump
dump utility, or the mysqlimport
import
program. Using mysqldump
, one can easily dump data from one
database system and export (or even pipe) those data to the other
database system.
The main page for information about MaxDB is http://www.mysql.com/maxdb. Eventually, all information available at http://www.sapdb.org will be moved there.
Like MySQL, MaxDB has a number of reserved words that have special meanings. Normally, they cannot be used as names of identifiers, such as database or table names. The following table lists reserved words in MaxDB, indicates the context in which those words are used, and indicates whether or not they have counterparts in MySQL. If such a counterpart exists, the meaning in MySQL might be identical, or differing in some aspects. The main purpose is to list in which respects MaxDB differs from MySQL; therefore, this list is not complete.
For the list of reserved words in MySQL, see See section 10.6 Treatment of Reserved Words in MySQL.
Reserved in MaxDB | Context of usage in MaxDB | MySQL counterpart |
@
| May prefix identifier, like ``@table'' | Not allowed |
ADDDATE()
| SQL function | ADDDATE() ; new in MySQL version 4.1.1
|
ADDTIME()
| SQL function | ADDTIME() ; new in MySQL version 4.1.1
|
ALPHA
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
ARRAY
| Data type | Not implemented |
ASCII()
| SQL function | ASCII() , but implemented with a different meaning
|
AUTOCOMMIT
| Transactions; ON by default
| Transactions; OFF by default
|
BOOLEAN
| Column types; BOOLEAN accepts as values only TRUE , FALSE , and NULL
| BOOLEAN was added in MySQL version 4.1.0; it is a synonym for BOOL which is mapped to TINYINT(1) . It accepts integer values in the same range as TINYINT as well as NULL . TRUE and FALSE can be used as aliases for 1 and 0 .
|
CHECK
| CHECK TABLE
| CHECK TABLE ; similar, but not identical usage
|
COLUMN
| Column types | COLUMN ; noise word
|
CHAR()
| SQL function | CHAR() ; identical syntax; similar, not identical usage
|
COMMIT
| Implicit commits of transactions happen when data definition queries are being issued | Implicit commits of transactions happen when data definition queries are being issued, but also with a number of other queries |
COSH()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
COT()
| SQL function | COT() ; identical syntax and implementation
|
CREATE
| SQL, data definition language | CREATE
|
DATABASE
| SQL function | DATABASE() ; DATABASE is used in a different context, for example CREATE DATABASE
|
DATE()
| SQL function | CURRENT_DATE
|
DATEDIFF()
| SQL function | DATEDIFF() ; new in MySQL version 4.1.1
|
DAY()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
DAYOFWEEK()
| SQL function | DAYOFWEEK() ; the first day (1 ) by default is Monday in MaxDB, and Sunday in MySQL
|
DISTINCT
| SQL functions AVG , MAX , MIN , SUM
| DISTINCT ; but used in a different context: SELECT DISTINCT
|
DROP
| inter alia in DROP INDEX
| DROP INDEX ; similar, but not identical usage
|
EBCDIC()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
EXPAND()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
EXPLAIN
| Optimization | EXPLAIN ; similar, but not identical usage
|
FIXED()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
FLOAT()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
HEX()
| SQL function | HEX() ; similar, but not identical usage
|
INDEX()
| SQL function | INSTR() or LOCATE() ; similar, but not identical syntaxes and meanings
|
INDEX
| USE INDEX , IGNORE INDEX and similar hints are being used right after SELECT , like SELECT ... USE INDEX
| USE INDEX , IGNORE INDEX and similar hints are being used in the FROM clause of a SELECT query, like in SELECT ... FROM ... USE INDEX
|
INITCAP()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
LENGTH()
| SQL function | LENGTH() ; identical syntax, but slightly different implementation
|
LFILL()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
LIKE
| Comparisons | LIKE ; but the extended LIKE MaxDB provides rather resembles the MySQL REGEX
|
LIKE wildcards
| MaxDB supports ``%'', ``_'', ``ctrl+underline'', ``ctrl+up arrow'', ``*'', and ``?'' as wildcards in a LIKE comparison
| MySQL supports ``%'', and ``_'' as wildcards in a LIKE comparison
|
LPAD()
| SQL function | LPAD() ; slightly different implementation
|
LTRIM()
| SQL function | LTRIM() ; slightly different implementation
|
MAKEDATE()
| SQL function | MAKEDATE() ; new in MySQL version 4.1.1
|
MAKETIME()
| SQL function | MAKETIME() ; new in MySQL version 4.1.1
|
MAPCHAR()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
MICROSECOND()
| SQL function | MICROSECOND() ; new in MySQL version 4.1.1
|
NOROUND()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
NULL
| Column types; comparisons | NULL ; MaxDB supports special NULL values that are returned by arithmetic operations that lead to an overflow or a division by zero; MySQL does not support such special values
|
PI
| SQL function | PI() ; identical syntax and implementation, but parantheses are mandatory
|
REF
| Data type | Nothing comparable |
RFILL()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
ROWNO
| Predicate in WHERE clause
| Similar to LIMIT clause
|
RPAD()
| SQL function | RPAD() ; slightly different implementation
|
RTRIM()
| SQL function | RTRIM() ; slightly different implementation
|
SEQUENCE
| CREATE SEQUENCE , DROP SEQUENCE
| AUTO_INCREMENT ; similar concept, but differing implementation
|
SINH()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
SOUNDS()
| SQL function | SOUNDEX() ; slightly different syntax
|
STATISTICS
| UPDATE STATISTICS
| ANALYZE ; similar concept, but differing implementation
|
SUBSTR()
| SQL function | SUBSTRING() ; slightly different implementation
|
SUBTIME()
| SQL function | SUBTIME() ; new in MySQL version 4.1.1
|
SYNONYM
| Data definition language: CREATE [PUBLIC] SYNONYM , RENAME SYNONYM , DROP SYNONYM
| Nothing comparable |
TANH()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
TIME()
| SQL function | CURRENT_TIME
|
TIMEDIFF()
| SQL function | TIMEDIFF() ; new in MySQL version 4.1.1
|
TIMESTAMP()
| SQL function | TIMESTAMP() ; new in MySQL version 4.1.1
|
TIMESTAMP() as argument to DAYOFMONTH() and DAYOFYEAR()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
TIMEZONE()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
TRANSACTION()
| Returns the ID of the current transaction | Nothing comparable |
TRANSLATE()
| SQL function | REPLACE() ; identical syntax and implementation
|
TRIM()
| SQL function | TRIM() ; slightly different implementation
|
TRUNC()
| SQL function | TRUNCATE() ; slightly different syntax and implementation
|
USE
| mysql commandline user interface command
| USE
|
USER
| SQL function | USER() ; identical syntax, but slightly different implementation, and parantheses are mandatory
|
UTC_DIFF()
| SQL function | UTC_DATE() ; provides a means to calculate the result of UTC_DIFF()
|
VALUE()
| SQL function, alias for COALESCE()
| COALESCE() ; identical syntax and implementation
|
VARIANCE()
| SQL function | Nothing comparable |
WEEKOFYEAR()
| SQL function | WEEKOFYEAR() ; new in MySQL version 4.1.1
|
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