On 2011-01-20, Robert Paresi <firstname@lastname.net> wrote: > Hello, > > We have 700 user install base using Sybase SQL Anywhere 9.02 > > We are looking at migrating these installations over to PostGres
> 1. Very Very Short Answer Please - why should we?
postgres is the best database in the universe. :)
> 2. Does anyone have a utility or migration application to read SQL Anywhere > to go to PostGres
sed ? Any stock utility is likely to make choices that are sub optimal for your needs. with 700 changeovers pending I would want complete control over how each column is handled.
> 3. Does PostGres handle column descriptions (ie: you can give each column a > 50 character description) and then access it via SQL Result Set (like I can > do in Sybase)
you can put descriptions on columns, I have not hit a length limit. (probably several megabytes like other text fields).
Getting descriptions in the same same result set as column data is probably impractical (see length limit for a possible reason why this has not been implemented). fetching them separately en-masse and caching them or fetching or individually afterwards should not be greatly difficult, resultsets are returned with the column and table indicated.
> 4. Is there any Date/TimeStamp issues and conversions I need to know about. > I use simply a DATE field and a TIME field - but do not use DATE/TIME stamp > fields together.
time goes upto 24:00:00.999999 just incase you come across a day that long. so unless that's going to cause problems there should be no issues. the range supported by date is starts in pre-history and continues for a few million years into the future.
> 5. What UI/Developer tools (GUI) are available to manage the database as > well as add/change columns rather than doing it via SQL commands.
I hear there are several, But I can't understand why someone would want to perform non-graphical tasks using a GUI.
I can't understand how to develop and maintain even small data model without diagramming tool which can represent entities and relationships between them. Using pure psql and paper with a pen - is nothing more than LOL.
I recommend dbWrench as a diagramming tool for Postgres.