If Linux is the OS what OLAP database software options are there?
What relational databases can run on Linux?

The only one I have personal experience with is Hyperion Essbase, which has
a Linux version of their OLAP server. Not sure if Oracle has ported Express
to Linux, but they could be a possible candidate as well. I have never
worked with Cognos or their tools, but I saw a bullet point on their web
site about a Linux port (don't know if its available yet).

As far as relational engines go, there is the obvious MySQL that can be
installed with most (if not all) Linux distributions - but DB2, Oracle and
Sybase all have Linux versions of their relational engines (there are
probably others but those are the big ones I can think of).

Regards,
Jade
--------------------------------------
Jade Cole
Clarity Systems
jcole (AT) claritysystems (DOT) com

"John Keeley" <duvinrouge (AT) servihoo (DOT) com> wrote

John,

Can't speak for other platforms, but Oracle Express and Oracle 9i (which
features the OLAP Option, the successor to Express but hosted in the Oracle
database) run on various Linux platforms - supported, on SuSE and Redhat,
unsupported on most other distributions (Debian, Gentoo, etc). I've even
heard of versions of Oracle running happily on FreeBSD. A good first port of
call for 'Oracle on Linux' tips is Werner Puschitz site
http://www.puschitz.com/

In addition, OFA and OSA (for Express) and BI Beans (for 9i OLAP) work well
under Linux. Oracle are making a big push for Linux being a primary
development and production platform for Oracle, with Oracle themselves
moving most of their production systems, and developers, over to Linux. Take
a look at http://otn.oracle.com/tech/linux/index.html for more details on
Oracle's Linux support.

If you're looking for an open-source Java OLAP server, the mondrian project
(http://sourceforge.net/projects/mondrian/) is worth taking a look at, plus
I've heard comments about OLAP extensions for mySQL being developed.
Relational database wise, the obvious open-source candidates are mySQL and
postgresql, both of which are usually included in standard Linux
distributions.

regards

Mark

"John Keeley" <duvinrouge (AT) servihoo (DOT) com> wrote

John,

You may want to take a look at Databeacon. http://www.databeacon.com

Frank

"John Keeley" <duvinrouge (AT) servihoo (DOT) com> wrote

There's an open source java OLAP product which will most likely run on
Linux...

http://apoptosis.dyndns.org:8080/ope...doc/index.html



"John Keeley" <duvinrouge (AT) servihoo (DOT) com> wrote

"John Keeley" <duvinrouge (AT) servihoo (DOT) com> wrote

Despite several OLAP servers being available on Linux, the percentage of the
1047 sites in The OLAP Survey 3 using Linux for their OLAP server was less
than 1%, and only slightly higher than in The OLAP Survey 2. It seems that
this is an area where Linux has not yet made much penetration.

Of course, as the fastest growing OLAP server (Microsoft AS) isn't available
on Linux, and isn't likely to be, it holds back Linux penetration. The
commercial OLAP servers available on Linux are just as expensive as they are
on Windows, so any cost savings on the operating system are likely to be
more than made up by the higher price of the OLAP product compared to
Microsoft AS.

In other words, unless sites use an open source OLAP server (and there are
no 'full' Linux OLAP products available as far as I'm aware), the Linux
option for OLAP will actually be more expensive than the Windows option, so
they would have to have a reason other than cost saving to go Linux (for
example, if all their other applications run on Linux it would make sense to
run the OLAP server on the same platform, even though it's more expensive to
do so).

My understanding is that the appeal of Linux as a platform for
commercial OLAP servers and relational databases, is as an alternative
to using a commercial version of unix, on an expensive unix server. By
running the OLAP Server or database on Linux, you get all of the
'power' of Unix but on commodity intel hardware.

Customers looking to deploy OLAP on Linux are probably quite a
different market segment to those looking to deploy MSAS on Windows;
probably more high-end, probably migrating from Sun, HP etc hardware,
more of an investment in Unix. It's a valid approach although as Nigel
points out probably not a large sector of the market.

Mark

"Nigel Pendse" <nigelp.nospam (AT) compuserve (DOT) com> wrote

Yes, I'd go along with that -- in practice, Linux is more of a low-priced
Unix alternative than a Windows substitute. The OLAP Survey 3 found that
Unix has about 22% share of the OLAP server market, with only a slow move to
Linux.


"Mark Rittman" <mrittman (AT) plusconsultancy (DOT) co.uk> wrote

Not sure about relational, but Hyperion Essbase runs on Linux.


"John Keeley" <duvinrouge (AT) servihoo (DOT) com> wrote

Actually, the full Hyperion OLAP package runs well on several (all
I've tested) distros of Linux.

Of course that will be down played by the MicroSoft apoligists.

TCO for our delivered, in production, up and running, apps/cubes is
far lower with Essbase than any the alternatives, and some real time
effort has gone into the analysis. We have other gorups in an
international org running alternatives. Granted, it a lot of knowing
what your doing and being a professional - but that hurdle is really
kinda low. We're a multi-national financial corp (top 6 in NA).. The
alternatives run at a low level, and are targeted there.

On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 20:08:12 GMT, "Carl Krueger"
<emailme (AT) carlkrueger (DOT) com> wrote: