Infos on OS/2 2.x-version sought.

We are using the OS/2 2.x-version of ORACLE together with the following installations:

Install                                                     2.1.0.5
RDBMS With SQL2TT.DLL 6.0.36.1.0                            6.0.34.0.1
Tools Utilities Rev 1.1                                     1.0.10.0.1
SQL*Loader                                                  1.1.7.0.1
SQL*Plus with help                                          3.0.10.1.4
SQL*Forms                                                   3.0.16.9.5
SQL*Menu                                                    5.0.11.9.4
SQL*ReportWriter                                            1.1.13.2.3
SQL*Net TCP/IP for IBM                                      1.1.6.9
Support Files Rev 1.1                                       6.0.34.1.3
Utilities                                                   6.0.34.1.1
SQL*Report                                                  1.1.10.1.1
CASE*Dictionary                                             5.0.22.0.1
CASE*Designer                                               1.1.19.11
CASE*Generator Support Files                                2.0.7.0.1
CASE*Generator, SQL*Plus/SRW                                1.0.8.0.1
CASE*Generator, Forms/Menu                                  2.0.7.0.1

Questions on the implementation for OS/2.

1. HPFS: HPFS allows for naming files with mixed case, any characters and up to 255 chars long. This seems not to be supported in the OS/2- version. E.G. SQL*Plus chokes on a file name like "rony_test.sql" ("unable to open file"), whereas the DOS-FAT-name "rony_tst.sql" works. Will HPFS be supported in regard to long-names and therefore allowing for using the same file-names as e.g. under Unix-versions of ORACLE ? As it merely needs a query to the maximum path-length and recompilation this would seem feasible.
2. OS/2 "DYNAMIC" vs. "ABSOLUTE": OS/2 allows for self-adjustments in dispatching processes resp. threads. This behavior can be controlled by the implementators, so they can define that e.g. the DBRW-threads run at a specified priority-level at all times, but leave the rest of OS/2 adjusting dynamically. At the moment - according to the installation guide - one needs to change OS/2 to uniformely dispatch all threads ("PRIORITY=ABSOLUTE"). This hampers the normal interaction with applications in the foreground, which is especially annoying if running Windows-apps under OS/2 which at initialisation time need a boost (e.g. loading Ventura Publisher takes considerably longer with "PRIORITY=ABSOLUTE" than with OS/2 default of "PRIORITY=DYNAMIC"). Will a future OS/2-version of ORACLE be able to control its dispatch-priority on its own such that "PRIORITY=DYNAMIC" will be allowed by it? This definately would improve the usability of the OS/2 machine for additional work besides ORACLE-stuff.
3. SGA and swapping: As it is possible under OS/2 to tell the operating system that the implementor does not want to allow specific memory-objects to be swapped to disk, it would be possible - granted that those options would be configurable for the user in the init.ora-file - to finetune the database. It would be some gimmick if one could tell ORACLE not to swap the SGA. Will such a feature be considered for a future version or is it implemented already ?
4. Lazy writes and ORACLE: Is the present implementation of ORACLE safe with lazy-write-caching ? With other words, did the implementors implement write-thru on the file-system ?
5. Utilizing OS/2-printers in native mode: Are there any plans to support the installed OS/2-printers directly, rather than using outdated printers ?
6. Utilizing the OS/2-Clipboard: Are there any plans to utilize the OS/2-Clip- board, e.g. for copying CASE*Designer-diagrams to use in documents ?

BTW, running ORACLE from an HPFS-system with write-cache enabled on the file-system and setting PRIORITY=DYNAMIC seems to work. As for feeling safe and comfortable with the OS/2-version it would be rather nice if someone from ORACLE would comment on these issues.

Thanks,

---rony
P.S.: I really think that the OS/2 version is great. It is fully compatible with the DEC-Ultrix-versions and one can additionally utilize the workstation for normal day-to-day work.
P.P.S.: It is funny to control an ORACLE-instance on a Unix-machine from an OS/2 workstation (probably because one does not expect that it would work). Received on Mon May 10 1993 - 18:43:54 CEST