Is SQL Anywhere viable and sustainable

[RiclWash]

I have a consult that is telling us we need to move away from SQL Anywhere, now and immediately, for the following reasons:

• It is End of Life (from what I can tell the current version is EOL in 2028)
• Limited interoperability
• There are many more modern database solutions available for YEARS that would better position us for growth and modernization
• SQLA is not a modern technology
• Other solutions provide improved scalability and performance as SQLA is not designed for large-scale applications
• Other solutions provide enhanced security and compliance
• Other solutions offer great integration and flexibility, having extensive integration capabilities with various tools and platforms, including cloud services and container orchestration systems like Kubernetes.
• Other solutions have long-term viability and ecosystem support from strong communities and corporations.

Are they speaking truth? half-truths?

We use SQLA in a highly available 3-node cluster in a single corporate server/data center.

[MCMartin · Accepted solution]

You are right, End of Main Channel Support is end of 2028.

Regarding your other topics you are totally wrong:

It is scalable, we have a lot of enterprise customers (in high demand 24/7 business) using thousands of clients and up to 4 Terrabytes (only metadata - no documents) of database sizes and still the performance, ressources needed, reliability and the zero maintenance is outstanding.

SQLA is one of the few databases delivering Data at Rest encryption (TDE), it even has for the US an extra FIPS compatibility mode.

In addition it provides a lot of nice features like UTF-8 support, before and after triggers, row and statement triggers, events, procedures. Insert or Update, GUID datatype, GEO datatypes and a huge collection of datetime functions and datatypes. Online Backup. Support of operating systems. Auto deadlock detection. etc.

It is really a shame that SAP is dropping this product. It is one of the hidden gems in the market and in my opinion the best database product during the last 30 years. 

[RiclWash · Accepted solution]

MCMartin, Thank you for the information. Our Database files (spaces) together are only about 600 Gig (we do have documents, but on the network, db only has paths to them). Client connections average about 500 connections hour to hour.

The consultant pushing us to switch is pushing us in other areas, too.

We love SQLA, but we have not liked the diminishing support/knowledge from SAP. It is the only DB software that is pretty self-sufficient.

Your answer helps me to combat the consultant's negativity about the software and push to switch now. I hope more can chime in with more information I can use. Thank you again.

[VolkerBarth · Accepted solution]

As to the EOMM 2028 date, see the following question and Jason Noack's answer:

https://community.sap.com/t5/technology-q-a/no-sql-anywhere-ebf-in-5-months/qaq-p/13837725

According to that, SQL Anywhere is at least supported till 2028-12-31, and that date has been extended several times in the past (from 12/2023 to 12/2025 to 12/2027, IIRC...).

That being said, I strongly share the impression that less and less effort is put into enhancing the product. Nevertheless, for our needs and from a developer and part-time-DBA point of view, it does so many things much better than MS SQL Server, which we also use...

[Chris26]

I wonder where you found the End of Main Channel Support?
In https://help.sap.com/docs/SUPPORT_CONTENT/sqlany/3362971125.html it just says "Active".
In the past there have been other EOL dates for SAP SQL Anywhere version 17, which got updated later on.
See also: https://community.sap.com/t5/technology-q-a/sql-anywhere-end-of-life-overview/qaq-p/13821802 

It would be nice if someone from the SAP SQL AnyWhere team could respond to this

[RiclWash]

I"ve seen 2028 in various places.

This is copied from my product page:

Details for Product Version SAP SQL ANYWHERE 17.0

Official Name:	SAP SQL Anywhere 17.0
Product:	SYBASE SQL ANYWHERE
Product Category & Line:	Technology Platform > SAP SQL Anywhere
Type of Product Version:	Standalone
Release Type:	Standard
Current Status:	Unrestricted available
SAP HANA Readiness:	Ready  16.07.2015 Further Information

Release Plan

Release to Customer (RTC):	16.07.2015
General Availability:	16.07.2015
End of Mainstream Maintenance:	31.12.2028

[RaymondGiuseppi]

You can find this information in

• PAM Product Availability Matrix Details for Product Version SAP SQL ANYWHERE 17.0 'Unrestricted available' but until end of 2028
• OSS KBA 2381119 - About the latest version of SQL Anywhere SAP Knowledge Base Article and 2140990 - SAP SQL Anywhere Roadmaps attachment SQL_Anywhere_Roadmap.pdf
• Online help SAP SQL Anywhere Supported Platforms and Engineering Support Status 

[chris_keating]

The SQL Anywhere End of Mainstream Maintenance (EOMM) is 31 December 2028.

The Product Availability Matrix (PAM) is the definitive EOMM for SAP products. It is updated with any changes to EOMM dates.

[VolkerBarth]

@chris_keating: Is this the definite EOMM for SQL Anywhere as a product – or just for the SQL Anywhere 17 version (because there might be a newer version and SAP does not want to bind itself to maintaining two SQL Anywhere versions in parallel)?

That certainly makes a huge difference for us curstomers.

[VolkerBarth]

FWIW, the linked "SAP SQL Anywhere Road Map" pdf has the PDF title "SAP Product Road Map 2018" and was created in 2021/02, so there's that...