Comparing database engines is quite complex when you are deciding on which engine to use for managing a database on a desktop machine or a database for a website, although the MySQL engine is the most refined and stable database engine that is available today. Installation is very simple and after the installation it is easy to get started with the MySQl application, it comes with a default database named `test` and this is ready to fill with tables and data or you may wish to create a new database and fill that with data. It is available for Linux and Windows just as OracleDB is, but MySQL is easier to use I have found, I am still getting my head around the OracleDB command syntax, whereas MySQL is easy once you learn the SQL language. But if I had learned OracleDB instead it would be second nature, since Facebook uses the MySQL database engine and countless others; it is an easy choice.
The majority of the Internet use the LAMP platform, the simplicity of deploying a MySQL powered server is a great attraction and since MySQL is integrated simply with Apache and the Linux or BSD as an operating system for hosting, it makes it easier than some other database solutions. OracleDb of course has a different SQL syntax, the same as the MSSQL language used by the Microsoft SQL Server 2008, but that can also use standard SQL syntax, and is in my opinion a better GUI solution for managing database tables than SQL Workbench. If you learn the SQL syntax used by the MySQL database engine, then managing the databases with the command-line is simple. I would prefer it if all database engines had the same syntax. SQLliteis one mini database engine that uses standard syntax and is a very good way to practise SQL commands if you do not wish to install a full database engine to learn the SQL language.
Hosting your website using the CentOS Linux distribution and a LAMP platform creates a very reliable and secure server indeed, there is a discussion here about this very argument weighing the pros and cons of deploying the website with either the IIS solution or a Linux Apache MySQL and PHP solution instead. With the modern Windows Server products such as Windows Server 2012 using a Powershell interface instead of the older Windows command prompt, this allows management of a server entirely with the command prompt just as you would expect on a Linux or UNIX machine. But you need to learn the Powershell commands and then you will be able to manage the web server very easily, but since this is a Linux powered website that uses the MySQL database engine, I have to vote for that solution. Microsoft are moving towards a command-line only solution, that is just like a UNIX machine with the real difference being that the commands are entirely different and it is the new Microsoft.
They are saying that Windows is easier to use since you do not need to use the command prompt for everything, and now they are deploying a command line only interface and the optional GUI for Windows Server 2012. How times change. But if you are like me and you know the Linux shell commands and not the Powershell syntax, then you are quite lost when you load up Windows Server 2012 and the command prompt window appears. Windows 8 is a failure and the same interface in a server product seems like a really dumb decision on the part of One Microsoft Way Redmond WA.
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