I have used Hiberbernate in production in the past. I have used HQL of Hibernate, never used Native SQL though.

However for the new project, I have a complex database over which I do not have much control.

If I were to choose Hibernate (version 3.2) for this new project, I will have a frequent need to use Native SQL.

So, this is my question:
1. If I were to use Hibernate 3.2 with Native SQL in several places of the project, am I better off using iBATIS?

If it is not possible to answer my above question (question 1), without additional details, will it be possible to provide me some pointers and links on the following questions:
2. What are the drawbacks of using Native SQL in Hibernate?
3. What was the motivation of introducing Native SQL with the newer version of Hibernate?
4. What are the advantages of using Nattive SQL?