RE: Question regarding moving a database

Hi John ! John & Cassy Montgomery wrote: > > Informix-List wrote: > > >> A software package I support uses Informix Online as it DBMS engine. We > > >> often need to bring back customer databases to the lab to recreate and > > >> debug problems. This exactly the first time I see a customer let you "MOVE THEIR DATA" to a lab. Is it really important to move Production System ?, anyway, let's continue. > > > > >> Our software as it is currently written prohibits the use of dbexport > > >> and import as a way to move the database because certain type of data are lost. As if your software were a database engine !!!, They wrote a lot of code and waste their time. INFORMIX provides security, reliability, storage mechanisms,managing data mechanisms, I mean , and application must NOT worry about Referential Integrity , Data Integrity, Triggers ...., Just the Main Logic, but I see your software is intended to implement a layer of security. A CLIENT PROGRAM CANNOT DETERMINE IF A DBEXPORT OR DBIMPORT OR ANOTHER UTILITY CAN OR CAN NOT MOVE DATA! What happen is that your application maybe using some encrypting mechanisms for certain columns. Please call the DEVELOPERS and have them put it in order. > "binary" data in some text fields. The problem is of course that > dbexport> sees the ASCII null character as the end of string character and stops > exporting data at that point. SO your developers inserted and INVALID CHARACTER in a CHAR DATA TYPE didn't they? > > The design is now changed but I need to support alot of customers with > the > existing design. I am looking for alternatives to using the ontape > utility As I said, please contact the people who wrote the application, INFORMIX is BIG CORPORATION with oher priorities, they will not write a special ontape parameter and put 2 engineers to guess what kind of alghoritm did your developers use. > and was wondering how onunload differs from ontape? ONTAPE: Archive at the system Level Support for incremental archives Separate devices for Archives and logical log backups Automatic or continuos logical log backup options Restore at the system or dbspace level Used to export data in ASCII format. ONUNLOAD Transfers data to tape in binary pages But, this binary type is different from your programmers alghoritm, of course :) Regards, ---------------------------------------------------------------- Mario Estrada / SISTECO, S.A. INFORMIX, / Phone (502) 3340214 Support Department / Fax (502) 3348447 ----------------------------------------------------------------