Help in choosing an Informix database
We are putting up a new application which, under development, was on an IDS 9.2x engine. It has worked fine but I am concerned about the maintenance issues since the box will be colocated away from me. For the size and complexity of the DB, I would like to use SE. The DB is quite small ( < 20 tables) but I need transactions. The only problem with SE (from my limited reading) is that the DB must be down in order to back it up and I need to be online 24/7. Has anyone found other solutions to this? UDS 9.2x seems a high price to pay ( financially and resource wise) for this one downside. Any help appreciated. -darrel -- ========================================== Darrel Davis darreld@audiosonix.com AudioSonix, Inc darrel@davisware.net ==========================================
SE stores data as Unix files, one .dat (data) and one .idx (index) file per table in the database. It doesn't have to be "down" to back it up, since it is never really "up" - each client accessing the database gets its own sqlexec process, and can access the database as long as the files are there. Any Unix backup utility that doesn't skip open files will back up the database files, but you run the risk of some insert/update/deletes being missed if they occur while the file is being written to tape. "Darrel Davis" <darrel@davisware.net> wrote in message news:394E7BC0.EF0CE895@davisware.net... > We are putting up a new application which, under > development, was on an IDS 9.2x engine. It has > worked fine but I am concerned about the maintenance > issues since the box will be colocated away from > me. > > For the size and complexity of the DB, I would like > to use SE. The DB is quite small ( < 20 tables) but > I need transactions. The only problem with SE (from > my limited reading) is that the DB must be down in > order to back it up and I need to be online 24/7. > > Has anyone found other solutions to this? UDS 9.2x > seems a high price to pay ( financially and resource wise) > for this one downside. > > Any help appreciated. > -darrel > -- > ========================================== > Darrel Davis darreld@audiosonix.com > AudioSonix, Inc darrel@davisware.net > ==========================================
Ed Brown wrote: > > SE stores data as Unix files, one .dat (data) and one .idx (index) file per > table in the database. Correct. > It doesn't have to be "down" to back it up, since it > is never really "up" One way of looking at it; alternatively, it is up any time anybody is using it. > - each client accessing the database gets its own > sqlexec process, and can access the database as long as the files are there. Correct. > Any Unix backup utility that doesn't skip open files will back up the > database files, but you run the risk of some insert/update/deletes being > missed if they occur while the file is being written to tape. If the back up is to be worth anything, then there must be no write activity to the database for the entire duration of the backup of the database. Anything else is a recipe for integrity disaster on recovery. This is why OnLine was called OnLine; you could use it 24x7 and do backups while the system was running, in contrast to SE where this was not a sensible option. IDS.2000 and Foundation.2000 are in the OnLine family of products for the purposes of this discussion; they can be backed up while the database is still in use. > "Darrel Davis" <darrel@davisware.net> wrote in message > news:394E7BC0.EF0CE895@davisware.net... > > We are putting up a new application which, under > > development, was on an IDS 9.2x engine. It has > > worked fine but I am concerned about the maintenance > > issues since the box will be colocated away from > > me. > > > > For the size and complexity of the DB, I would like > > to use SE. The DB is quite small ( < 20 tables) but > > I need transactions. The only problem with SE (from > > my limited reading) is that the DB must be down in > > order to back it up and I need to be online 24/7. > > > > Has anyone found other solutions to this? UDS 9.2x > > seems a high price to pay ( financially and resource wise) > > for this one downside. -- Yours, Jonathan Leffler (Jonathan.Leffler@Informix.com) #include <disclaimer.h> Guardian of DBD::Informix v1.00.PC1 -- http://www.perl.com/CPAN "I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it!"