Sneak Peek: jBASE Release 5
jBASE International, a leading supplier of database management software is pleased to unveil features of its multidimensional database, jBASE Release 5. This release builds on jBASE Release 4 to deliver a true 64-bit database implementation together with new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and enhanced resilience through the introduction of Dataguard. The Dataguard features allow jBASE to be a truly non-stop MultiValue database.
The new features include:
64-bit database
jBASE 5 is a true 64-bit MultiValue database.
Whereas other MultiValue databases might have
added 64-bit addressing to overcome 2GB file
sizing, jBASE 5 is a complete 64-bit
implementation of the database. The upgrade
path for all jBASE 4 customers is very
straightforward.
Warmstart Recovery
A jBASE 4 database can be recovered by restoring
the last backup and replaying the transaction
journal but requires manual intervention.
Warmstart enables jBASE 5 to automatically
recover from events such as power failures in a
similar way to mainstream RDBMS products. This
is made possible by the Checkpointing
enhancements to Transaction Journaling.
Checkpointing
Transaction Journaling has been enhanced to
provide an even greater level of flexibility and
robustness with the introduction of
Checkpointing. Periodically, Checkpointing
pauses activity to record a point in time when
the database is in a known state - a
checkpoint.
Resilient Files
In badly sized hash files data is frequently
split across a number of different frames and
all must be read from and written to disk when
the data changes. If something goes wrong there
is a significant chance that an update will be
interrupted and the structure of the file
corrupted. In jBASE Release 5, a new JR
resilient file type has been introduced to
eliminate this possibility. In a resilient
file, where data spans across disk frames, it is
built up in a separate area of the file and
flushed to disk. Only once it is on disk is a
pointer updated to the new data structure rather
than the old structure. There is a small
performance overhead when using JR files due to
the extra flushing.
Auto-Resizing files
As well as being resilient, JR files also resize
automatically. This is achieved by separating
the location of the data from the record key of
the file. This means that the structure of the
underlying data can expand without having to
redistribute all the data as was the case with
previous hash files.
Online Backup and Restore
Backup and Restore commands have been enhanced
so that a database backup and restore can be
performed without the need to shutdown activity
on the database server. The backup will be a
complete copy of the database at the point in
time when the backup process finished. This
backup is guaranteed to be in a consistent state
because of the new Checkpointing feature. The
new Restore command can also be used on a live
system.
New APIs
A new jRemote Resource Adapter has been
implemented for jBASE 5. It is a J2EE Connector
Architecture (JCA) compliant resource adapter
allowing J2EE applications to integrate with a
jBASE Enterprise Information System. The JCA
accepts connections with JEE clients and manages
the lookup, execution and transactional flow of
Enterprise Java Beans (EJB), JMS queues and
requests from Message Driven Beans (MDB). By
means of the JEE user functions a jBASIC program
can perform transactional calls to EJB's, drop
messages on JMS message queues and perform
processing via custom synchronous MDB's.
A new Secure Socket Layer (SSL) API has also been implemented for jBASE 5.
Native SQL Support
The query processor has been enhanced to accept
SQL commands as well as jQL commands.
New JDBC and ODBC Connectors
A new 64-bit JDBC connector allows external
applications written in Java to retrieve data
from jBASE via this industry standard
interface.
A 64-bit ODBC Connector implementing the OpenDatabase Connectivity (ODBC) 3.0 API has also been developed. It supports a driver manager based and Unicode compliant interface featuring support for transactions and the calling of stored procedures.
jBASE Release 5 is now available as a Beta release. Those interested in testing their applications against Release 5 should email r5@jbase.com for more information.
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About jBASE International
jBASE International, a member of the Mpower1
group of companies, is a leading supplier of
database management software and web enabling
tools for developing, deploying, and maintaining
business applications solutions. The flagship
product, jBASE, was designed from the ground up
to be an open database product that would bring
the strengths of MultiValue technology into the
mainstream computing market. With exclusive
worldwide distribution rights, jBASE
International offers technologies and assistance
that allow businesses to thrive into the
future.