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Hi. My two cents and the same disclaimer as above (I am SQL Server / .NET / C# guy)

Recently had a disappointing experience as a SQL DBA in a Hibernate shop (yes, the Java Hibernate, not the NHibernate). The problems stem from a lack of understanding of exactly what Hibernate can do for you. Even though the Bauer and King book tell people not too, Java folks still insist they can "design the database" just by using Hibernate (i.e., hbm2ddl).

If this is your situation, you should be aware of the problems with the standard SQL Server dialect that Red Hat ships with Hibernate. The dialect is really extended from a base used by both SQL Server and Sybase. It drove me crazy why Java booleans were being translated to tinyint. Well, if you look at the java class, AbstractTransactSQLDialect, you'll quickly see why. You can also see why "text" data types are still be translated in deprecated SQL Server syntax.

HTH

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