Re: Throughput and storage requirements questions for modern vs old database processing apps

If you are going to replace the database then in this case you must replace the application. This may cost you far more than the hardware upgrades. The cost is not only going to be in the software cost but you are going to have to find a new application, make sure it meets their needs, then install, and train them on the new application. My impression from this thread is that they have a difficult time giving you time when it is slow. If that is the case then it isn't really that slow. That is it isn't really that painful and trying to get them to buy a whole new system (in this case hardware, software, application software, evaluation time, and training) is going to be a major uphill battle.

ntx files are index files in Clipper. DBF files are the Clipper database files. The program is not stored in the database but in an executable on each machine.
I see a problem when I read:

<snip>
> Please clarify. Be reminded I'm a newbie with databases. Isn't a
> *database* just a file that the information is kept in? I would have
> thought
> the remedy is proper databases and application...Do you really mean
> "database" (thus table architecture?), or "application"?.

<snip>

(The stuff I snipped out was good information, just saw no reason to repeat it here.)

If you are talking about a commercial quality RDBMS (Relational Database Management System) then the whole system is a database not just the files. The database engine knows how to read and manipulate the data files where it stores its data. Each database or database system (RDBMS) stores the data in its own internal format. There is a published API (application programming interface) to access the data via the engine. For example, most commercial RDBMSs can be accessed from the MS Windows environment via the ODBC API or their own native API. These APIs are the means to communicate with the RDBMS. You don't manipulate the data directly (e.g. access the files that contain data) but use an API and a language (usually SQL - Struct ured Query Language) to get, set, change, and manipulate data.

So you can't just have datafiles and swap out an engine.

Given the size of the company if you are going to recommend that they get a new application and a commercial quality RDBMS (one that has ACID properties - Atomicity, Concurrency, Isolation , Durability). I would recommend purchasing a packaged application that meets their rental shop needs. I know nothing about rental shops so I cannot recommend one to you. I do know about technology and databases and I have my preferences, but I think that whole issue is irrelevant at this stage. Their other choice is have someone build it for them. I don't think they will save money in the long run that way. Unless it really is a small application, and it probably isn't, it just will seem that way at the outset, these things have a way of scope creep. Also do you really want to be in the software support business?

I love building applications and since I got laid off at the begining of the month I would love to build it, but I don't think it would be an effecient use of their capital.

Jim Received on Sun Nov 25 2001 - 06:27:08 CET