OpenVMS Notes: RMS / Oracle-RDB / MySQL

1. The information and software presented on this web site are intended for educational use only for OpenVMS application developers and OpenVMS system attendants.
2. The information and software presented on this web site are provided free of charge.
3. The information and software presented on this web site are presented to you as-is. I will not be held responsible in any way if the information and software presented on this web site damages your computer system, business or organization (sounds like the legal warning from a Microsoft shrink-wrap seal, eh?)
4. The information presented on this page can be really dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. So develop your skills by practicing on development systems. On top of this, always make sure you have good backup copies of everything before you begin.
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RMS for OpenVMS

• RMS (Record Management Services) (a.k.a. Record Management System) is file storage technology which is built-into OpenVMS
• Although RMS is not as cool as SQL compliant databases like Oracle-Rdb, it is small, very fast, and free.
• Some third party tools to provide SQL access to RMS:
  • Oracle-Rdb Transparent Gateway for RMS (Google this phrase)
    • Generic Connectivity And Oracle Transparent Gateways
  • www.CONNX.com
  • www.Attunity.com (I use this product to connect the front end of Microsoft-Access to OpenVMS/RMS via ODBC)
• Popular RMS file formats on OpenVMS include:
  • Stream (non record)
    • just a stream of bytes (more like Windows Notepad and/or UNIX text files)
  • Sequential (record)
    • Traditional OpenVMS text files are nothing more than a sequence of variable-length string records, each one representing a line.
  • Relative (record)
    • access is by record number
  • Indexed (record)
    • supports up to 255 keys (a.k.a. indexes) although you seldom see applications employing more than 4
    • RMS indexed files are classified as ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Method) technology and many OpenVMS languages, like VMS-BASIC and VMS-COBOL, provide native support for it. (This technology is long from dead. The default storage engine for MySQL table creation is MyISAM which is a mature and stable ISAM technology)
    • I have encountered a number of computer industry people (I refuse to use the word "professional" in this case) who mistakenly think that RMS is only a "Flat File" Technology. While not inherently relational (although external software can make it so), it can be correctly called hierarchical.
• Many OpenVMS utilities are "RMS aware". For example, if you use the $TYPE command on an indexed RMS file, you'll generate an output listing in primary key order (hopefully you stored all the fields in string format). Using the same command on a sequential RMS file will also produce data in sequential order.
• OpenVMS contains many built-in RMS support commands like:
  • $convert/create
  • $analyze/rms/fdl (fdl = file description language)
  • $edit/fdl               (which contains a menu-driven optimizer)
  • etc.

RMS Links

• http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/731FINAL/DOCUMENTATION/PDF/OVMS_731_RMS.PDF
• http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/journal/v2/articles/rms.pdf
• http://dba.OpenVMS.org - OpenVMS Database Portal
• Byte Designs' IsamCentral - Byte Designs (C-ISAM + D-ISAM for Windows + UNIX)

Why Change to Relational?

Question: If RMS-Indexed (ISAM) technology is so fast and cheap, then why consider changing?
Answer: Evolution

1. The first computers had no operating system software so programmers needed to write their own I/O routines every time they built a new application. By building computer hardware with more memory, it was now possible to load both "operating system software" and "application software" thus saving programmers valuable time by not having to write their own I/O routines. Also, it would now be the responsibility of hardware manufacturers to write new I/O drivers to exploit new technologies like "error detection and error correction".
   
   p.s. The first commercial computer I worked on in 1977 had no operating system (although operating systems had been available for quite some time). It was a 16-bit Interdata Model 70 (a clone of an IBM minicomputer) that collected long-distance billing information from a Northern Electric toll-tandem crossbar switch, then wrote that information to a Hewlett-Packard 7970C 9-track tape deck.
    
2. Operating systems were first based upon tapes (TOS) and then later upon disks (DOS). Early disk operating systems only supported sequential-stream, sequential-block and relative-block operations. If you wanted indexed-access to your relative-block data, you needed to implement your own index schemes.
   
   p.s. OS developers developed standardized data formats so tapes could be read by many other vendors; this did not happen with disks until the advent of ubiquitous removable disk media such as floppy disks and CD-ROMs along with inexpensive IDE hard disk drives.
    
3. The pressure of COBOL standards forced prudent OS vendors to build in index-block support. This is one reason why RMS was chosen to be built directly into the first version of VMS in 1977.
    
4. In the 1960s and 1970s Edgar F. Codd made huge contributions to the field of relational databases. His employer, IBM, was slow to develop and market Codd's ideas but Larry Ellison of Oracle Corporation was not and so kicked off the age of transactional computing. At this time, Digital Equipment Corporation started work on RDB (relational data base) which first appeared in 1984 for VMS on VAX.
    
5. This software evolution continues today with modern databases now being able to store everything from searchable electronic documents, images, music, or anything else you can think of. This new technology is known by many names including "Enterprise Content Management", "Content Management System", etc.

Subscript Notes:

1. With software anything is possible. However, relational databases allow relational rules to be built-into the database while ISAM technologies require the accessing application software to support/enforce this. But remember that relational databases offer SQL access for ad-hoc queries. Since a human could potentially do anything he wants, the database is now required to protect itself.
2. SQL access to RMS is only possible with third-party tools
3. Almost all corporate financial software of the 1980's used ISAM technology so these features are possible but require a great amount of work. On top of that, all future programmers coming into an existing project need to be as diligent as the original programmers and must never make any mistakes. This last statement is possible but only at a great expense.
4. The "RMS Journaling" option provides cool logging features but requires a license (RMS is free, RMS Journaling is not)

5. Relational databases are "relational in both time and space". Consider the following example from Oracle 9i

   1. At 9:00, Betty starts generating a large report which will take 5 minutes to execute
   2. At 9:01, Joe starts adding/deleting/modifying records which are of interest to Betty, then commits his changes before Betty's report is finished.
   3. Unlike what would happen with ISAM technology, Betty will not see any of Joe's changes because:
      an internal time-stamp associated with the SELECT statement used in Betty's report will be used to search through the rollback segments (UNDO tables) generated by the Bill's changes. Betty will only see things as they were at 9:00 even if Bill deleted everything.  It's as if Betty sees a "snapshot" of the whole database taken at 9:00, and "snapshot" is exactly what the associated file is called in Oracle-Rdb

6. SQL compliant databases first look at your SQL Statement, then look at the current database structure before building the "execution plan" to carry your desires (experts have told me that there are. on average, 20 different ways to get at your data). If you decide to rebuild an index during an online maintenance operation, the database will produce a different execution plan in order to carry out your request. Access to the data might be a little slower (because the index is unavailable) but it will never be blocked as long as the database is still running. (note that clever forms of index maintenance can even prevent this problem; for example, just create the new index before deleting the old one)

7. If none of these features matter to you, then stick with RMS-Indexed (ISAM) databases

Oracle-RDB for OpenVMS

A really neat product which all VMS developers should try at least once.

• Oracle-Rdb is a fully relational database product which is a desirable (although expensive) successor to RMS
• Rdb/VMS was created by DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) in 1984 and was part of the VMS Information Architecture. Rdb/VMS was intended to be used as a data access method by DATATRIEVE, RALLY, and TEAMDATA as well as applications written in high-level DEC languages like COBOL, FORTRAN, BASIC, Pascal, and C/C++
• In 1994 DEC sold their Rdb division to Oracle where it was rebranded Oracle-Rdb
• Contrary to popular belief, Oracle is still enhancing and developing this product. Click here for Rdb Version Info and release notes. (or at least they were up to May 2010)
  Caveat:
  • searching for the phrases "VMS", "OpenVMS", or "Rdb" on www.oracle.com  will return very little Rdb information
  • searching for these same phrases at "The Oracle Store" web-site returns even less
  • when you discuss "Oracle-Rdb" licensing with Oracle sales reps, they will frequently be quoting facts associated with "Oracle-Database" (e.g. Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g) rather than Oracle-RDB so good luck with that
• Oracle-Database (eg. Oracle 8i, Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g) is a different product line than Oracle-Rdb but many GUI tools used with Oracle-Database now also work with Oracle-Rdb
• Oracle-Rdb currently runs on OpenVMS for VAX, OpenVMS for Alpha, OpenVMS for Itanium
• There was a version of Oracle-RDB for Windows-NT called Rdb8 but this seems to have dropped off the face of the Earth and I can't find anyone to tell me what happened or why
• You can access Oracle-Rdb directly from high level languages, indirectly from ODBC, or interactively via SQL and/or RDO.
• The Relational Database Operator (RDO) utility is the original interactive interface to Oracle-Rdb. RDO lets you type Oracle-Rdb statements interactively and see the results immediately. (Think "SQL" but with a different command set)
• SQL is an industry standard interface for accessing relational databases. The SQL interface included with Oracle-Rdb provides full access to Oracle-Rdb databases. With Rdb's SQL interface, users can define, update, and query relational databases. SQL provides the following environments for issuing SQL statements:
  • An interactive SQL utility
  • A precompiler that lets users embed SQL statements in programs written in: Ada, C, COBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal, or PL/I
  • SQL module language modules containing SQL statements that can be called by any language
  • A "Dynamic SQL" interface that process SQL statements generated at program run-time
• The SQL module language (SQLMOD) and SQL module processor allow procedures that contain SQL statements to be called from any host language, including those not supported by the SQL precompiler. Click here for more info: Oracle Rdb7 Guide to SQL Programming
• "RDO vs. SQL" command comparison

  Rdb/RDO Commands	Rdb/SQL (equivalent command)
  $RDO	$SQL
  AT END	IF SQLCODE=SQLCODE_EOS
  DECLARE TRANSACTION	SET TRANSACTION
  FETCH/GET	FETCH INTO
  INVOKE DATABASE	DECLARE DATABASE
  ON ERROR	IF SQLCODE<SQLCODE_SUCCESS
  MODIFY	UPDATE
  REMOVE	DELETE
  START STREAM	DECLARE/OPEN CURSOR
  STORE	INSERT

• To the best of my knowledge there are no OpenVMS languages with native support for Rdb. However, there are several popular methods for interfacing Rdb to a high level language:
  1. SQLMOD (newer method 1):
     • Note: this works with all so-called DEC languages (including BASIC)
     • A static SQL technique (although variable passing to SQLMOD can make it appear pseudo-dynamic)
     • A supplied SQL MODULE LANGUAGE complier complies your SQL statements into an object file of callable routines.
     • You call these routines from your high level language
     • Your high level language is connected to these routines by the OpenVMS linker

       DCL Command	Yields	Notes
       $SQL$MOD program_bas.sqlmod	program_bas.obj	your SQL subroutines are located here
       $basic program.bas	program.obj	compile the way you normally would
       $link program.obj, program_bas.obj	program.exe	include the new object file to your link command

     • click here for more info: Oracle Rdb7 Guide to SQL Programming
  2. Embedded SQL (newer method 2):
     • Note: Only works with 6 ANSI standard languages (Ada, C, COBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal, and PL/I)
     • A static SQL technique (although variable passing to SQLMOD can make it appear pseudo-dynamic)
     • a supplied SQL pre-complier can be used to convert special embedded SQL statements found in your source code into the required source code like so:

       DCL Command	Yields	Notes
       $SQL$PRE/cobol program.sco	program.cob	- Your COBOL source code must be maintained in ".sco" format - This new ".cob" file is expendable
       $cobol program.bas	program.obj	compile the way you normally would
       $link program.obj	program.exe	link the way you normally would

     • click here for more info: Oracle Rdb7 Guide to SQL Programming
  3. Dynamic SQL
     • obviously a "dynamic SQL" technique (introduced with SQL-92)
     • SQL text statements are parsed at run-time then passed to Oracle-Rdb via the SQLDA (SQL Descriptor Area)
  4. Embedded RDO (older method):
     • a supplied pre-complier (see RDML below) can be used to convert special embedded RDO statements (each line is prefixed with &RDB& ) in your source code into the required source code like so:

       DCL Command	Yields	Notes
       $rdbpre/basic program.rba	program.bas	- Your BASIC source code must be maintained in ".rba" format - This new ".bas" file is expendable
       $basic program.bas	program.obj	compile the way you normally would
       $link program.obj	program.exe	link the way you normally would

• The Relational Data Manipulation Language (RDML) is composed of statements that can be embedded in BASIC, COBOL, and FORTRAN programs. These programs can be processed by the RDML pre-processor, which converts the RDML statements into a series of equivalent DSRI calls to the database. Following a successful pre-compilation, the programmer can submit the resulting source code to the host language compiler.

  Symbol Definition For Various Languages Note: make sure you first execute DCL command @sys$library:RDB$SETVER RESET" (see below )

  $ SADA    :== $SQL$PRE/ADA $ SCC     :== $SQL$PRE/CC $ SCOB    :== $SQL$PRE/COBOL $ SFOR    :== $SQL$PRE/FORTRAN    $ SPLI    :== $SQL$PRE/PLI $ SPAS    :== $SQL$PRE/PASCAL $ RBAS    :== $RDBPRE/BASIC $ RCOB    :== $RDBPRE/COBOL $ RFOR    :== $RDBPRE/FORTRAN $ RDMLC   :== $RDML/C $ RDMLPAS :== $RDML/PASCAL

• Oracle RMU, the Oracle-Rdb management utility, lets database administrators manage Oracle-Rdb databases. Oracle RMU commands are executed at the operating system prompt. Oracle RMU command syntax follows the rules and conventions of the DIGITAL Command Language (DCL).

Oracle Rdb Installation (Quick Use)

Caveat: the following information came from tests on OpenVMS-7.3-2 Alpha. I can only assume it would be the same on OpenVMS-8-4.

• Install Oracle-Rdb from a terminal emulator and capture all the text to a file. Producing a hardcopy now may be helpful later on.
• Navigate to directory sys$help and read all of text file RDB071.INSTALL_GUIDE. You might find it helpful to produce a hardcopy but be prepared for 3/4 inch of printed fanfold when printed at a density of 88 lines per page. Alternatively you might wish to download an HTML or PDF version from here (you need to be a registered OTN member but membership is free)
• On system start up, execute something similar to the following two commands:
  • @sys$startup:RMONSTART71.COM
    • this command will start the process RDMS_MONITOR71 (nothing else will work unless this process is running)
  • @sys$library:RDB$SETVER.COM 7.1 /SYSTEM
    • this command will produce "system logicals" to support Rdb version 7.1 including the associated SQL commands
    • this is the first of two scripts necessary to support DCL command SQL$ (yes, the dollar sign must be after the command)
• On user login, execute the following command:
  • @sys$library:RDB$SETVER RESET
    • this command will produce DCL symbols to allow access the default installed version of Rdb
      (each process can support different versions of Rdb at the same time but it is not desirable to define these symbols yourself; always use this script)
    • this is the first of two scripts necessary to support DCL command SQL$ (yes, the dollar sign must be after the command)
• Directories of interest:

  sys$help	RDB071.INSTALL_GUIDE RDB071A.RELEASE_NOTES ... RDB071D.RELEASE_NOTES
  sys$examples	various things
  sys$manager	control + shutdown scripts
  sys$startup	startup scripts
  sys$library	version control scripts

• Don't forget to add @sys$manager:RMONSTOP71.COM to file sys$manager:SYSHUTDWN.COM
• Building the demo database
  • if you're the only one on the system playing with Rdb then enter the following commands:
        $set def sys$help
        $set def [.examples.rdb71]
        $@PERSONNEL.COM (to build the test database in either "single file" mode or "multi-file" mode)
  • if you're not the only one on the system playing with Rdb then copy the example files to an [.rdb71] subdirectory under your sys$login directory (you'll need ~ 20k blocks) then execute @PERSONNEL.COM in your subdirectory to create your own personal demo database to hammer anyway you want.
• Building your own demo database (this is a very simplistic first example with SQL$ statements in bold)

$!============================================================
$! title  : rdb_demo1_create_db.com
$! author : Neil Rieck
$! created: 2004-09-11
$! NSR 051231 tweaked for public display
$!============================================================
$       env_verify = f$environment("verify_procedure")  ! remember verify_state
$       set nover                                       ! now force verify: OFF
$       say :== write sys$output                        !
$       ask :== inquire/nopunct                         !
$       bel[0,8]==7                                     !
$       on warn then goto warning_handler               ! don't take any chances
$       set on                                          !
$       say ""                                          !
$       say "rdb_demo1_create_db.com"                   !
$       say "======================="                   !
$       temp = f$trnlnm("csmis$dat")                    ! does this logical exist?
$       if temp .eqs. ""                                ! nope
$       then                                            !
$               temp2 = f$environment("DEFAULT")        ! get our current default directory
$               set ver                                 !
$               def/sys/log csmis$dat 'temp2'           ! so we'll create the file in current directory
$               setnover                                !
$       endif                                           !
$       temp = f$search("csmis$dat:rdb_demo1_db.rdb")   !
$       if temp .nes. ""                                !
$       then
$               say "-w- warning: database 'csmis$dat:rdb_demo1_db.rdb' already exists"
$               say "    and continuing will create a new database over the old one"
$               ask choice "Continue? (y/N) "           !
$               choice = f$extract(0,1,choice)          !
$               if choice .nes. "Y" then goto sortie1   ! don't take any chances
$       endif
$       set ver		                                ! watch the SQL$ statements
$sql$                   ! this will only work after "@sys$library:RDBVMS_SETVER.COM reset"
!
!       WARNING: if the database already exists, this command will create another new one
!
create database filename csmis$dat:rdb_demo1_db.rdb
        number of users 500             ! number of connections (e.g. 125 users x 4 connections each)
        number of cluster nodes 1;      ! if not in an OpenVMS cluster then set to 1 to improve performance
!
!       domains can be used to provide a uniform column definition between tables
!       eg. alter table customer add column tel3 standard_tel after column tel2;
!
create domain   standard_address        char(25);
create domain   standard_city           char(20);
create domain   standard_name           char(30);
create domain   standard_tel            char(10);
commit;
!
create table customer(
        name    char(30),
        address char(25),
        city    char(20),
        tel1    char(10),
        tel2    char(10));
commit;
!
alter table customer add column postal char(6) after column city;
alter table customer add column province char(15) after column city;
commit;
!
insert into customer values(
        'Neil Rieck',
        '20 Water St N',
        'Kitchener',
        'Ontario',
        'N2H5A5',
        '5195551212',
        '');
insert into customer values(
        'Steve Kennel',
        '20 Water St N',
        'Kitchener',
        'Ontario',
        'N2H5A5',
        '5195551212',
        '');
insert into customer values(
        'Dave McNeil',
        '140 Bayfield St',
        'Barrie',
        'Ontario',
        'L4M3B1',
        '7055551212',
        '');
insert into customer(
        name,address,city,province,postal,tel1,tel2)
        values(
        'Karim Macklai',
        '220 Simcoe St',
        'Toronto',
        'Ontario',
        'M5T1T4',
        '4165551212',
        '');
commit;
!
exit                                    ! exit from SQL$
$sortie1:                               !
$       set nover                       !
$       goto sortie2                    !
$warning_handler:                       !
$error_handler:                         !
$       set noon                        !
$       set nover                       !
$       say "-e- did you execute the script '@sys$library:RDBVMS_SETVER.COM reset' ?"
$sortie2:                               !
$       if env_verify .eqs. "TRUE" then set verify
$       exit                            ! adios

Oracle Rdb Links

• http://h71000.www7.hp.com/partners/oracle/
• Oracle Rdb
• Oracle Rdb Products
• Oracle Rdb Download - you need to become an OTN (Oracle Technology Network) member but membership is free
• Oracle Rdb Documentation - mostly PDF files.
  1. Be sure to first read "Oracle Rdb7 Introduction to SQL" only found in the "RDB 7.0" area
     (tells how to edit SQL files etc. from OpenVMS)
  2. Be sure to download "Oracle Rdb7 Guide to SQL Programming" only found in the "RDB 7.0" area
  3. Be sure to download "Oracle Rdb 7.1.4.3 SQL Reference Manual" (in 5 manuals)
• Oracle Rdb Technical Journal - many back issues are on line
• SCI - Version Information for Oracle Rdb and Oracle CODASYL DBMS version comparison chart - training
• http://slacvx.slac.stanford.edu/HELP/DECRDB
• http://tigger.stcloudstate.edu/htbin/helpgate/HELP/DECRDB
• http://www.pi-net.dyndns.org/help?key=ORACLE_RDB71
• Over 40 example files including demos of how to access 'Oracle-Rdb' from 'HP-BASIC for OpenVMS BASIC' using SQLMOD
• http://www.shannonknowshpc.com/stories.php?story=04/10/10/1936825 - good article from Terry Shannon
• news: comp.databases.rdb
• news: comp.os.vms
• Oracle FAQ
• http://dba.OpenVMS.org - OpenVMS Database Portal
• An unsupported demonstration version of RDB is available for Windows-NT on Intel to customers licensed to use RDB on OpenVMS (because of a BLISS licensing problem this product must never be sold or used on a production platform)
  • Oracle Rdb Workbench for Windows NT/Intel - Information
  • Oracle Rdb Workbench On Windows NT/Intel - Announcement
  • RDB for Windows-NT and Windows-2000 - Download
  • For full demonstration effects you should probably locate an old copy of "Oracle Enterprise Manager v2.0.4" (a.k.a. OEM) which is now only available on an old Oracle-8i (Personal) CD-ROM. If you have lost your old ROMs, you might need to purchase an old Oracle-8i manual but not all of these contained Oracle binaries. Alternatively, I suspect that OEM on the Oracle-9i (Personal) three CD-ROMs may also work provided you download the RDB plug-in for it.

Oracle-Rdb Web Agent Links

• Oracle Rdb Web Agent Release 3.1
• Download the Rdb Web Agent
• http://www-wnt.gsi.de/webdocs/RDB/intro_rw.htm - online docs
• http://www.pi-net.dyndns.org/docs/rdb/rdbwebagent/rdbweb_v22/index.htm - online docs

Note that "Rdb Web Agent" is not recommended for new code development. In 2004-11-xx I sent a note to the "Oracle-Rdb team" asking them why the "Rdb Web Agent" links were buried in their web site. Here is their response:

The Rdb Web Agent software works well but it is very much out of date.  We are working hard to help you deliver great web based applications by enhancing our support for Java and JDBC based applications and by working on integration of Oracle-Rdb with Oracle Application Server.  We don't want customers to make a mistake by starting new development work with the Rdb Web Agent.  That's why we don't have links to these pages. 

"Oracle Database" Links

Note: Be sure not to confuse "Oracle-Rdb" with "Oracle Database" (a.k.a. Oracle 8i, Oracle 9i, Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g, etc.). They are two different product lines.

• www.oracle.com/database/index.html
• asktom.oracle.com
• Oracle Magazine (back issues online)

Product	Note	Description
Oracle 8		Just a very cool SQL-compliant database
Oracle 8i	i=internet	Oracle 8 with added Java support for easy interfacing to the INTERNET (built-in callable Internet package s/w)
Oracle 9i	i=internet	Oracle 8i with many more features including auto-tuning
Oracle 10g	g=grid	Oracle 9i with many more features including support for GRID computing
Oracle 11g	g=grid	Oracle 10g with many more features including automated self-management and testing; XML support; compression

Oracle-Rdb Licensing (as I understand it)

• you may download "Oracle-Rdb" for free and use it for free provided you are only working on a first prototype (or evaluating Rdb)
• as soon as the first prototype goes into production...
  • the developer must acquire a developer's license in order to maintain the production software or further develop it.
    (note: The definition of developer seems blurred when viewed from otn.oracle.com (the Oracle Technology Network). Here they seem to make a distinction between DEVELOP and TEST licenses. I get the feeling that if you are only a developer, then you don't need to buy a license. But this is a gray area which can only be solved by a call to Oracle) 
  • the user of the production software must purchase an Oracle-Rdb "Enterprise license" or "named user license"
• License Types:
  • named user (although these must be purchased in minimum sizes that usually number 25 or 50)
  • per processor
    • as of 2004-09 licensing is still bizarre. "Oracle-Rdb" is only available in the "Enterprise Edition" (while "Oracle Database" is sold in different prices ranges with names like: "Personal Edition", "Standard Edition", and "Enterprise Edition"). The price is based upon "total CPU count" and it doesn't matter if the CPUs are in a single host (SMP); or spread across multiple hosts in an OpenVMS Cluster; or both. This means that an old 8-host "Alpha Server 1000" cluster is charged the same as a new "8-CPU Alpha Server GS1280".
      Since the majority of the Rdb market is for OpenVMS, you would think that Oracle-Rdb Licenses would adopt the three tier naming convention used by the hardware manufacturer. (DS = Departmental. ES=Enterprise. GS=Global)
    • Oracle is a rich company but they don't seem to realize that Microsoft got really rich by selling MS-DOS at $99.⁰⁰ per copy. IMHO, Oracle should drop the prices of all their products and make up the difference in increased volume. This would certainly slow (if not stop) the migration to open source alternatives like MySQL.
    • Oracle Price Lists

MySQL For OpenVMS (a low budget alternative)

• MySQL is a fully SQL compliant "open source" (free) relational database.
• MySQL version 4.x does not fully supports "constraints" or "referential integrity" so make sure you use version 5.x or higher.
• Download MySQL for OpenVMS from Jean-François Piéronne.
• High level languages can currently access MySQL via client APIs.
  (alternatively, if MaxDB has been ported to your platform then you can also use the SQL pre-complier for C/C++)
• Many people wonder why MySQL is so fast. The reason is simple; the default storage engine for table creation is MyISAM which is mature/stable ISAM (Indexed Sequential Access Method) technology.
  • CREATE TABLE yada ( id INT(11) default NULL auto_increment, s char(60) default NULL, PRIMARY KEY (id) )
    this table defaults to storage engine 'MyISAM'
• Using either InnoDB or BDB will cost you a very slight drop in performance but you'll get guaranteed rollbacks if a error occurs after a COMMIT
  • CREATE TABLE yada ( id INT(11) default NULL auto_increment, s char(60) default NULL, PRIMARY KEY (id) ) TYPE=type
    where type can be any one of the following:
    • ISAM (deprecated in MySQL 4.1, will be removed in MySQL 5.0)
    • MyISAM
    • MERGE
    • MEMORY (a.k.a. HEAP)
    • InnoDB ¹
    • BDB (BerkeleyDB) ¹
      Notes:
      1. only InnoDB and BDB are transaction-safe (ACID compliant)
      2. ACID = Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability
• Update:
  • For some reason I will never understand, SUN purchased the Swedish company giving away MySQL (but selling support)
  • When Oracle purchased SUN they acquired MySQL
  • I am not sure what Oracle is doing with MySQL, but the Linux distro community is accusing Oracle of letting MySQL go stale-on-the-shelf and, as a result, are shifting to an alternate MySQL branch called MariaDB

MySQL Links

• Download MySQL for OpenVMS from Jean-François Piéronne (France)
  • http://erebus.homeip.net:8080/mirror/KITS/ - North American Mirror
  • http://www.vsm.com.au/ftp/jfp/kits/ - Australian Mirror
• High level languages can currently access MySQL via client APIs.
  (alternatively, if MaxDB has been ported to your platform then you can also use the SQL pre-complier for C/C++)
• www.MySQL.org - this site has binaries for most platforms but not OpenVMS
• MySQL Reference Manual - online manual but quality paper copies are widely available if your as paranoid as I am
• dev.mysql.com/doc/ - contains a set of downloadable document sets in formats including HTML and PDF
• MaxDB™ by MySQL - Programming Interfaces
• C/C++ Precompiler Manual - includes support for SQLDA, etc.
• http://dba.OpenVMS.org - OpenVMS Database Portal

Other (low budget) Alternatives

• Computer Associates has released INGRES into Open Source
  • http://www.ingres.com/
  • http://opensource.ca.com/projects/ingres
  • http://sourceforge.net/projects/db2ingres/
  • http://www3.ca.com/Solutions/Overview.asp?ID=1013&TYPE=S
• Borland has released "Interbase 6" into Open Source but they still sell "Interbase 7" ( www.interbase.com )
  • http://info.borland.com/devsupport/interbase/opensource/
  • http://sourceforge.net/projects/interbase/
• www.PostgreSQL.org is Open Source
• www.EnterpriseDB.com (based upon PostgreSQL)
• http://www.freetds.org
• http://www.easysoft.com

Other Links

• www.regdeveloper.co.uk/data/databases/
• Access Isn’t a Relational Database DB Myths and Legends (Part #6)
• SQL Server and the 7.5-day MTBF DB Myths and Legends (Part #5)
• When Borland Got Shirty DB Myths and Legends (Part #4)
• The parable of the beer and diapers DB Myths and Legends (Part #3)
• Microsoft was caught stealing secrets from Borland NOT! DB Myths and Legends (Part #2)
• Byte Designs' IsamCentral - Byte Designs (C-ISAM + D-ISAM for Windows + UNIX)

Final Thoughts

• LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl) is is a powerful technology mash-up employed to serve up MySQL databases over the web.
  • XAMPP (X-platform, Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl) is a cross-platform version of LAMP which you can download from here:
    • www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
  • Currently (2008-06-30) XAMPP runs on the following operating systems:
    • Linux, Windows, Solaris, Mac OS X
  • XAMPP is totally free of charge
• VAMP is an acronym of "VMS, Apache, MySQL, Perl" and the unofficial home of VAMP can be found here www.issinoho.com
• VARD is an acronym of "VMS, Apache, RMS, DCL" (or alternatively "VMS, Apache, RDB, DCL") and represents a more expensive but equally powerful alternative to LAMP.

Links: Click to here to download a quick hack demo program that shows how to extract information from a web page submitted to Apache for OpenVMS (CSWS) using CGI (Common Gateway Interface). This program can run in four different modes: CRT (green screen), WEB=GET, WEB=POST and WEB=GET+POST. It shows how to submit forms. It contains a small amount of RMS code to show how to interface RMS to the WEB. It also shows how to do a JAVASCRIPT pop-up window. Click OpenVMS Notes: CSWS-Tips if you need to modify your Apache environment.

Business over the web (an OpenVMS future without VT-100 terminals)

• Anyone coming from an RMS or ISAM background will want to (at times) place an exclusive lock on a record/row. Since a web-browser is connectionless (the HTTP connection closes almost as soon as the retrieved page is rendered), you may need to resort to other methods.
  • Non-lock concurrency control @ Wikipedia a.k.a. Soft Locking
    • Optimistic concurrency control (OCC) a.k.a. Optimistic Locking
    • Timestamp-based concurrency control
    • Multiversion concurrency control
  • Lock (database) @ Wikipedia
    • article includes Pessimistic Locking
  • Lock (computer science) @ Wikipedia
  • Opportunistic Locking @ Wikipedia
     
• BTW, although it was possible to hard-lock a record via ADO (depending upon how you connected to the database), Microsoft has removed this capability from ADO.NET

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Neil Rieck
Kitchener - Waterloo - Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.