Re: AS/400 Gasping For Air ??

[Don Schenck <schencd%AM_LZCH%VASELL@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

::::At 00:34 01/05/1999 -0500, Booth Martin wrote:
::::>Pete, what does "not scale very well" mean?  Are we to think of one or two

::::>users, or 8, or 15, or 3,000?
::::
::::I've got 30 or so users running against a read-only Access database with no
::::problems, however, if several (meaning 2 or more) open it for update, they
::::have problems with lock conflicts because it seems to use a disk sector
::::locking algorithm. There is also little in the way of security. It's an all
::::or nothing proposition. Nothing at even at the table level. It doesn't do
::::triggers either, although it does handle constraints fairly well. I can't
::::comment on what happens if you have a large table. You do need to compress
::::the database regularly. I've had trouble with databases becoming corrupt
::::while doing automated compress operations. SQL Anywhere is a lot better for
::::not much more money.
::::Pete Hall


Pete --

The JET database locks 2,048 BYTES. The "trick" is to pad all your tables with
a text field or fields so that the record length equals 2,048 bytes or a
multiple of that.

Security is addressed -- in Visual Basic, anyway -- by implementing a "Data
Server" object that marshalls all requests and validates the user.

Compresses (Hmmmm ... sounds like a System/36!) can/should be scheduled to run
evenings or weekends.

You are correct, however, when you recommend a different RDBMS engine. "The
right tool for the job" is a good idea -- one every zealous RPG programmer
doesn't share, I might add.

<grin>

I'm working on a huge three-tier project right now for a pharmaceutical giant.
I tested my Business Rules object this morning, and loaded 4,000 records from a
JET database (called "qis.mdb") on our development NT server into a list box.
>From qis.mdb to a collection to a listbox on a form took four seconds. Not bad.

I expect the SQL Server 7 performance to shave a second.

Would I rather be hitting a DB2/400 database on a RISC box? YOU  BETCHA!

Peace,

-- Don Schenck
www.SchenckTech.com

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