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"Third-Party" TurboImage Database Tools
by Sally Blackwell, Hewlett-Packard Ltd.
products
Adager from Adager Corporation, //www.adager.com
DBGeneral from Bradmark, //www.bradmark.com
Flexibase from Open Seas, //www.open-seas.com
introduction
The products named above have been examined and compared. The first thing that
should be noted is that all of these products are excellent replacements
for DBChangePlus.
Four areas of functionality were looked at, and these are described under
separate headings below.
- Dataset capacity changes
- Reporting
- Fixing structural damage
- Database restructuring
Due to different product structures and pricing strategies, exact
comparisons of functionality and value for money cannot be made. The
following product combinations are roughly equivalent, and have been
used for comparison.
For a lite version which does dataset capacity management, database
reporting and structural fixes, but no restructuring:
- Adager's Adager Model 1
- Bradmark's DBGeneral Introduction Package plus Section 2
- No Flexibase option
For a full version which restructures the database as well:
- Adager's Adager Model 2
- Bradmark's DBGeneral Standard Package plus Section 2
- Open Seas' Flexibase
The vendors of these products have special offers in place at
present, due to the obsolescence of DBChangePlus. It would be wise to
visit their web sites for information on the special offers and for more
information on the products, before making a choice.
dataset capacity changes
All three products can modify dataset capacities.
Adager provides an MPE/iX script file to set minimum and maximum
capacity thresholds for datasets, and increase & decrease those
capacities accordingly.
DBGeneral has similar capacity changing features that are executed by
the DBGeneral program itself. DBGeneral can also do some trend analysis
of dataset capacities. DBGeneral can also be set to identify, within a
range of +/- 5 around the calculated required capacity, that capacity
which will produce the best primary/secondary ratio for master datasets
Flexibase has the same capacity management features as the other two
products; they are executed by the Flexibase program. It can also accept
quite complex calculations to determine the new capacity of a dataset,
based upon the capacities of other datasets.
All three can set up batch jobs that will automatically manage dataset
capacities when streamed on a regular basis.
reporting
All three products provide some level of reporting. They can all
list details of the structure of the database, and recreate the database
schema.
In addition, they all include further reporting features:
Both the DBGeneral Section 2 package and Flexibase provide
database analysis. They will examine the whole database for capacity
information, blocking factors, and path, chain and sortitem efficiency
within master and detail datasets. Then they make recommendations such
as 'reduce dataset capacity' or 'repack dataset'. DBGeneral
will also make recommendations on structural damage and inefficient synonym
chains in master sets.
Adager lite includes howmessy from Robelle, which reports
information about datasets.
DBGeneral Intro will store dataset capacity information spanning
up to six years for trend analysis.
Flexibase will analyze log files in order to report database access
information (as will DBGeneral's DBAudit option). Some trend analysis of
this information is planned for future releases.
fixing structural damage
All three products can detect broken chains. This feature is included
in all the lite and full packages described in the introduction;
in DBGeneral's case it is included in the Section 2 module.
Adager allows you to choose which dataset and path you wish to check at high speed.
DBGeneral provides menu options to examine specific datasets, paths or the
whole database for errors, at high speed.
Flexibase provides a separate utility that examines the whole database.
All three products can repair or rebuild broken chains/paths and datasets.
Adager can also replace 'lost' dataset files (but not the data within).
database restructuring
All three products can list the database structure and modify it to
add, delete, modify and rename dataitems, datasets, paths, and
sortitems. They all allow you to modify the security on datasets and
dataitems, and rebuild the database schema file. DBGeneral and Flexibase
can restructure a database either directly from a schema file or from
individually specified changes. Adager is introducing the restructure
from schema feature.
As described earlier, both Adager and DBGeneral supply versions that do
not do structural changes. The references below are to the full
functionality packages, which do.
All products can re-pack datasets for optimum performance and efficiency.
All three products support most of the latest Turboimage and Image/SQL features:
All three support B-Trees and Third Party Indexing.
Image/SQL - DBGeneral, Adager and Flexibase all handle Image/SQL
attached databases automatically. DBGeneral can generate a list of
commands used to re-attach the database if it cannot automatically do so itself.
Adager and DBGeneral support Jumbo datasets (> 4Gb).
Dynamic Detail set expansion and Master set expansion (DDX and MDX)
are both supported by Adager. DBGeneral and Flexibase support DDX.
other features
Adager offers and supports a program to convert DBCPlus scripts into
Adager jobstreams for those users that have DBCPlus command files.
Adager and DBGeneral fully support Netbase/Shareplex. In both lite
and full version, database modifications are automatically mirrored
to the slave database.
DBGeneral has a Storbase option, which writes compressed database
data to tape.
DBGeneral has a DBAudit option that will report analyze Turboimage
logs and report information on database access.
DBGeneral will create a test multi-database environment for you at
the size of your choice and copy logically and physically consistent
data across; this could be very useful in an active development
environment. This function is found in Section 6, and must be
bought separately.
Flexibase can extract data from one database and copy it to another to create test data./p>
Flexibase provides German, French and Spanish versions as well as English./p>
Flexibase can check logical data relationships are consistent in
addition to the structural checking mentioned above.
discussion
The sections below relate to these products' standard prices.
However, the vendors are responding to the obsolescence of DBChangePlus
and have special offers in place. Please visit their websites for
further information.
Adager from Adager Corporation
Adager has a non-tiered pricing structure based on two models. Adager Model 1
provides all functionality (including capacity changing) except
database restructuring. This would be particularly suitable for sites
with a large number of stable production systems. The full-function Model 2
could still be installed on development systems.
Adager's non-tiered pricing structure is also to the advantage of
sites with larger systems. Comparing the full function products at a
single-system site, Adager becomes the best-value option compared to
both Flexibase and DBGeneral at about the series 957 size.
Adager offers reduced prices for second and subsequent copies.
Subsequent copies are priced at either 30% or 39% of the first-copy
price. This comparatively low second-copy price may make Adager
attractive to sites with many systems.
Support for the first copy of Adager is priced at 13% of the original
purchase price, (in Adager's case, purchase includes first-year
support), and between 4% and 13% of the first-copy price for support of
subsequent copies.
DBGeneral from Bradmark
DBGeneral's product is modular, so it is possible tailor it to
requirements, this would useful for the cost-sensitive site which
requires a database tool, but does not want to spend money on redundant
functionality.
DBGeneral's test database creation feature would be ideal for a busy
and dynamic development environment, however this is not included in the
packages described so far, but must be bought separately.
DBGeneral's lite combination provides all functionality
(including capacity changing) except database restructuring. This would
be particularly suitable for sites with a large number of stable
production systems.
DBGeneral has tier-based pricing, which may make it more economic for
use on smaller systems. Comparing the full function products at a
single-system site, DBGeneral has a price advantage compared to Adager
on 922-size systems and matches it on systems up to 949s.
Bradmark offers reduced prices for second and subsequent copies.
Subsequent copies are discounted at between 10% and 40% of the list
price; most customers would benefit from a 10% or 20% discount.
Support is priced at 20% of the list price. Bradmark offers further
discounts to education, government and non-profit organizations.
Flexibase from Open Seas
Flexibase's ability to check logical data consistency within a
database could be useful for development, testing and 'uncontrolled'
environments where users or developers have ad-hoc access to the
production database. This would also be a useful once-only feature for
legacy or inherited databases.
The sophisticated dataset capacity calculation supplied by Flexibase
may be most suitable for very active databases where the quantity of
data in some datasets is highly dependent upon the quantity of data in
other sets.
Flexibase's multiple language functionality is ideal for the European marketplace.
Flexibase has tier-based pricing, which may make it more economic for
use on smaller systems. Comparing the full function products at a
single-system site, Flexibase has the advantage over Adager up to the
series 937 size systems, and to DBGeneral on the smallest systems, such
as the 922.
Open Seas offers reduced prices for second and subsequent copies. Subsequent
copies are priced at 50% of the first-copy price.
Support is priced at 15% of the list price.
Owned by: Sally Blackwell, Hewlett-Packard Ltd.
Last updated: April 2000
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