V7 conversion

        We are in the initial planning stages for conversion to Version 7. One of the important considerations is time to allot for conversion. Since we are currently required to be available Monday-Friday except for holidays, our usual maximum time for any upgrade/conversion is a 3-day holiday weekend. However, the rumors I've been hearing say that V7 conversion is very timeconsuming.   Our largest db is ~16G -- what can I expect?? (Platform: Amdahl running UTS 2.1.5 in native mode)

        We also have 1200+ Pro*C programs for accessing this particular database. Must (not "is it recommended that") these all be recompiled? Are there specific code changes or Makefile changes required?

        My understanding is that the cost-based optimizer is the V7 default but, if there are no statistics on the particular tables that the program/query is accesssing, then the rules-based optimizer is used. Is this correct? I'm trying to avoid having to run all the statistics at the time that I convert (250+ tables, some with 4-7 million records), to cut down on the time required.

        Lastly (at least for now), can I expect increases in the amount of storage required due to changes in the datafile formats? The fixed-length char will certainly affect us if we don't convert the fields to varchar. Are there any other changes?

        Any information/hints/warnings will be appreciated. Thanks.

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*           Cindy Mumford      (301) 622-0900 ext 304               *
* Internet:   cindy_at_dataprompt.com     UUCP: ...!uunet!dprmpt!cindy *


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