Re: Performance of ODBC vs. other access methods

It might be  helpful to think of ODBC as the communication interface between 
the client and  the server.  ODBC, JDBC, and .Net data providers evidently use 
comparable communication interfaces (same TCP/IP ports, for example), and 
interface with the  same QZDASOINIT jobs, so my guess would be that the 
performance of the  communication interface would be comparable between them.
  
 There may also be  a question of performance distinctions between SQL 
statements running  in QZDASOINIT jobs vs. statements embedded in HLL programs. 
 Again, my guess  would be that there would be little difference between the 
two.  I think they  both use the same low level query engine.
  
 The biggest  performance difference seems to be in 3rd party tools and 
frameworks that  generate different variations of SQL statements, or implement 
object-relational  bridges, or provide their own drivers as alternatives to 
those provided by IBM,  or users who don't know how to optimize their SQL 
statements or optimize the  database for their SQL statements.
  
 Nathan.


----- Original Message ----
From: Dave Odom <Dave.Odom@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Tuesday, September 5, 2006 1:29:20 PM
Subject: Re: Performance of ODBC vs. other access methods

Richard,

Your response to me:

This is one of those loaded questions that I have to answer:  "It

depends 
on what you want to do and how well your database is indexed". 

If you are doing lots of queries where there are existing indexes, the

performance can be sub-second. 

If you are doing lots of queries where there are no indexes it will be

slow as molasses. 

Tell us more about what you're trying to do and also start doing some 
real-world experimentation. 

No better way to learn than to get your feet wet. <<

Yes, very aware of all the "depends" but that doesn't answer my basic
questions which were:

"What's the prevailing wisdom backed up by real world experience when
using ODBC from whatever tool or programming language to access
DB2/400
or ORACLE versus using some other remote or distributed access method
such as DRDA, calls to stored procedures or API calls?   I've been
told
that ODBC is a good performer but have my doubts.

What's your experience show vs Ivory Tower tests?"



Thanks,

Dave