Re: Is there a faq for this group...

In article <9502201656.aa14220@condor.entel.cl>, Leo Lagos <LLAGOS@entel.cl> wrote: >Hi, i'm just entering the world of DB's, and i'm going to work >with Informix and Sybase. Before i begin, i'm asking for some >information that could be worthy, so i'm looking for the faqs of >both groups (pointers to books, tips and tricks, versions, >integration, compatibility, etc). > >I looked on rtfm but there is nothing there. Coincidentally, I just got the sybase faq from rtfm about 5 minutes ago. It's in /pub/usenet/news.answers/sybase-faq. It's also right here! ... Path: sipb-server-2.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!grapevine.lcs.mit.edu!olivea!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!yeshua.marcam.com!news.kei.com!ddsw1!meaddata!news From: davidp@meaddata.com (David Pledger) Newsgroups: comp.databases.sybase,comp.databases,comp.answers,news.answers Subject: comp.databases.sybase Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Supersedes: <sybfaq_778163979@meaddata.com> Followup-To: comp.databases.sybase Date: 25 Oct 1994 19:30:28 GMT Organization: Strategic Data Systems, Dayton, OH Lines: 3205 Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu Distribution: world Expires: 8 Dec 1994 19:30:24 GMT Message-ID: <sybfaq_783113424@meaddata.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: ibis.meaddata.com Summary: This monthly posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions about the Sybase Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). Keywords: Sybase,RDBMS,FAQ,Frequently Asked Questions,isql,T-SQL Xref: sipb-server-2.mit.edu comp.databases.sybase:11899 comp.databases:20169 comp.answers:7979 news.answers:28103 Archive-name: sybase-faq Last-modified: 1993/09/16 Version: 1.2 ====================================================================== S Y B A S E F R E Q U E N T L Y A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S Version 1.2 Copyright 1993 by David W. Pledger, Strategic Data Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. ====================================================================== Table of Contents ====================================================================== 1. Introduction 1.1. General Information 1.2. Summary of changes 1.3. Posting Hints 1.4. Archive information 1.5. Acknowledgments 1.6. Terms and Abbreviations 1.7. Sybase Corporate Information Q1. How can I get in touch with Sybase? Q2. Who are my local user groups and how can I get in touch with them? 2. Database Server 2.1. General Questions Q1. What periodicals exist for Sybase? Q2. What's a good book about Sybase? Q3. Does Sybase support the X/Open XA interface? Q4. Does Sybase support ODBC (Microsoft Windows Open Database Connectivity)? Q5. What are some of the size limitations of Sybase? 2.2. Sybase ISQL Q1. How do I prevent isql output from wrapping around at 80 columns? Q2. How do I send isql output to a file? The -o switch doesn't work? Q3. Can I submit a multiline statement as input to isql without creating a file with the commands in it first? Q4. How do I prevent the password from being displayed when someone does a UNIX *ps* command? Q5. I want to add some new features to isql. Does anyone have the source code? 2.3. Sybase Transact-SQL Q1. What exactly do sp_primarykey, sp_foreignkey, and sp_commonkey do? Q2. I want to write a new system stored procedure that gives me information not provided by the existing stored procedures. How do I make these available to all users like the system stored procedures? Q3. How can I do a "row level select" (built-in "if" function) without having to create a temporary table, etc.? Q4. How do I use a table name as a parameter to a stored procedure, which will then run a query on the specified table? Q5. Can you change the definition of a table to prohibit nulls once you've defined it to permit them? Q6. Is there a simple way to solve the Sybase ""matching quotes"" requirement in a character field? Q7. How can I do a case-insensitive search? Q8. How do wildcards used for pattern matching work in the context of the LIKE operator? Q9. How do I put a unique serial number on a table? Q10.Exactly when does a trigger fire? Q11.Is there an easy way within the server to determine how many days are in the current month? Q12.How can I recursively retrieve the rows in a bill of materials type problem? Q13.What mechanism does Sybase offer to control concurrency when multiple users are doing *select - think - update* kind of operations? Q14. In what order are defaults, rules, triggers, etc. enforced/executed? 2.4. Sybase Bulk Copy Q1. When using BCP to copy a database, is the copy equivalent to the original in terms of performance? Q2. Can BCP load null dates? 2.5. Sybase Backup and Recovery Q1. How can I dump more than one database to a single tape? 2.6. Upgrading the Sybase Server Q1. I'm upgrading from version <x> and/or operating system <p> to version <y> and/or operating system <q>. Any advice? 2.7. Sybase Security Q1. What different mechanisms are there to control Sybase security? 2.8. Sybase Database Administration Q1. Why does the transaction log on the model database keep filling up? Q2. Why does my transaction log fill up even when I have allocated lots of space for it? Q3. Is there a way to turn off logging altogether? How about putting the transaction logs on '/dev/null'? How does tempdb avoid logging? Q4. Is there any reason not to have 'truncate log on checkpoint' turned on for the model database? Q5. Why doesn't the Sybase kill command work? Q6. What are some of the undocumented features of DBCC? Q7. Why don't the dbcc commands produce any output on my screen? Q8. What are the trace flags used for and what are some of the more common flags? Q9. Is there a way to accurately estimate how much space a table and its indexes are going to take? Q10.What causes a database to be marked SUSPECT and can I recover a database that comes up marked 'SUSPECT'? Q11.My database tables often get locked by the client's hung workstation. Is there a way that I can unlock those locked tables? Q12.Does the server sort order affect performance? Is binary sort order the fastest way? Q13.Does Sybase have a memory limit? 2.9. Sybase Performance Tuning Q1. How much overhead do variable size and NULL columns require? Q2. How are null values stored? How does Sybase distinguish between an integ