How to choose light version of database system

Question

I am starting one POS (Point of sale) project. Targeting system is going to be written in C# .NET 2 WinForms and as main database server We are going to use MS-SQL Server. A

Answer 1

I'm doing much the same thing: central server probably running MS SQL server and distributed systems though these are running Linux. We opted to do the data transfer in XML and use sqlite on the distributed systems.

It's early days but seems to be going well so far.

There are .net bindings for sqlite.

The reason we chose sqlite were:

1. because it doesn't need any database management, which would be tricky on the remote systems.
2. It seems very widely used: for example firefox uses sqlite for local storage.
3. We can use it on Windows and Linux.
4. It's supposed to be good at not losing data if there's an unexpected power outage.

Answer 2

I use System.Data.Sqlite, which is an open-source ADO.Net wrapper around Sqlite from http://sqlite.phxsoftware.com/. You can use it from within Visual Studio to build databases. It supports a subset of the field types of Sql Server, and writing an interface class between the two databases should be a snap. And you get the benefits of simple deployment by including a single DLL in your project and a single-file database. And it includes encryption, too.

Answer 3

SQL Server Compact

It's designed for embedded devices (i.e. Windows Mobile), but can also run on PCs. It's 2MB, runs in-process, single database file, that can have whatever name you like.

Its meant as a local high-performance database. You can't connect to it remotely, and doesn't support stored procedures, or user-defined functions.

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But to answer your actual question: how to choose?

Choose what have management tools, with an easy, compatible, upgrade path when you outgrow it.

Answer 4

I would suggest Sql Compact Edition as it's lightweight and free, so it solves two of your three problems. I have no idea if it works on Mono.....

I've used it in the past, and I was actually quite impressed with the performance. The one big drawback is the lack of stored procedures...