Oracle Rdb - question

DRODRIGU1 <drodrigu1_at_aol.com> writes
>I am looking into the possibility of administering an Oracle Rdb database. All
>I know is that Rdb is a relational database for open VMS, which Oracle bought
>back in 1994. What I don't know is how different is Rdb from RDBMS. Is it
>possible to migrate from Rdb to RDBMS? Can I work with Rdb if I know RDBMS?
>Thanks
>

Oracle rdb was bought from DEC, andin many ways is still (IMO) the better product compared with Oracle 7 or 8. I work with both products, though I've never been involved in porting a database between them.

They way the two products work is totally different, so a DBA familiar with one product will need to learn the new almost from scratch. Key differences include:
* Run unit Journals are maintained as external datafiles rather than in a rollback segment on the database.
* The Oracle Rdb product has its own backup and restore procedures which must be used in preference to image copies of the files. * There are differences in the SQL (no decode for example) and DML commands are different DESCRIBE <tablename> is SHOW TABLE <tablename> in Oracle Rdb.

-- 
Mark Baker
Web Pages: http://www.lange.demon.co.uk/Index.html