At Dulcian, we use a “thick database” approach because we believe that putting code in the database makes systems work better. Having your code next to your data means less moving of data and fewer context switches. Also, PL/SQL is the best language for data manipulation (particularly when lots of data is involved).
Any advantage of load balancing is almost always overshadowed by the cost of context switches and data movement.
In our experience, the benefits of moving code to the database include:
- About half the lines of code required
- Ten times better performance
- One-tenth the network traffic
- Fifty percent load reduction on the database server
The last result is the most surprising. How can the database server work less if it is doing more? The reason is that the cost of getting the data in and out of the database is more expensive than leaving the data there and doing all of the processing in the database.
Using Dulcian’s “ultra-thick” database approach results in a lower hardware footprint than comparable systems built in other technologies. In one case, when refactoring an old Oracle Forms system to a BRIM system, one of our clients went from over 200 servers to a single rack.
Read more about thick database on our blog.
