| Title: | DEC Rdb against the World |
| Moderator: | HERON::GODFRIND |
| Created: | Fri Jun 12 1987 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Feb 23 1995 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1348 |
| Total number of notes: | 5438 |
Hi Everyone.
I hope that the combined expertise in this file can help me out.
I am a librarian working as a researcher in an engineering group.
I have experience as a skilled database end-user, but I am not a
programmer, software specialist, or technical database designer.
The head of my group as asked me to serve as project manager
for a database project which will break DEC products into components
specified by the group, and will search across the products
and map trends and technological developments. Eventually, the database
will include competitive products as well.
The givens for the project are that the software be VAX-based,
relational (we will want to add fields to records as the project
develops and search horizontally across records), and well supported.
The FIRST PRIORITY of the group is that this database get up as
soon as possible. They want as a deliverable that the software
be chosen and ordered before Christmas. Four-level security is
a must, and query is extremely important. It must have programming
capability in FORTRAN, C, or BASIC, but also be very user-friendly
because it will be used by high-level management who will not be
trained in complex query procedures. On the output level, there
must be applications including graphing, spreadsheet, and report
functions.
Basically, we need this yesterday. We met with some RDB people
last week, who explained that we would need a pretty intensive
programming effort at the outset to get this up and design a
user-friendly query at for the occasional user. The group wants
to investigate products which may have a more highly developed
query function for requesting data from the database built into
it. Specifically, we want to compare INGRES, ORACLE, FOCUS, to
RDB and make a decision within 10 days. I know this sounds tight,
but they want to be using the database in a preliminary form by
the end of January. Immediacy is a top priority.
Well, that's my story. I'd appreciate any help from any of you
experts out there. We will need help with record design, but
hopefully won't need an intensive and complex programming effort
right now. Any information is helpful, names, phone numbers,
reference sources. Send me mail on MILRAT::KALLOCK or call
me at DTN 223-1663, or reply to this note to get in touch.
Thanks in advance!
Ann
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 57.1 | well, there's this vendor called DEC... | BISTRO::WATSON | le blues - pourquoi singulier? | Fri Dec 11 1987 09:37 | 17 |
Ann,
As has been said before in this conference, make sure that comparisions
you make are valid. Example of an invalid comparision for your project:
Rdb/VMS vs ORACLE
Example of an valid comparision for your project:
Rdb/VMS + other tools vs ORACLE
Where other tools might include RALLY, TEAMDATA or DTR.
Maybe you or someone else could explain to me what 4-level security
is?
I personally think that DEC projects should use DEC products unless
there are very strong reasons for not doing so. If we don't use
what we sell, why should anyone else?
Andrew.
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| 57.2 | Some thoughts | CREDIT::HIGGS | Festooned with DMLs | Fri Dec 11 1987 16:39 | 26 |
RE: .-1
I personally think that DEC projects should use DEC products unless
there are very strong reasons for not doing so. If we don't use
what we sell, why should anyone else?
I completely agree. I wish there were an official corporate policy regarding
that, but I don't think there is.
Given what .0 describes, Datatrieve would seem to be the most obvious way to
go (it can access RMS, Rdb/VMS and DBMS, has forms and graphing capabilities,
you can do Datatrieve queries and/or canned procedures to allow for the simple
user interface, and I believe that DECcalc has an interface with it, too).
Rdb/VMS has ALL of VAX FORTRAN, VAX C, VAX BASIC, VAX COBOL, VAX Pascal, ( and
VAX Ada in the latest FT version ) support. Teamdata and Rally and the VAX COBOL
generator work with Rdb/VMS, and there are several 3rd-party products that layer
on top of Rdb/VMS if you really want to go 4GL (whatever that means) and simple
user interface.
Don't forget that, especially if you're with Digital, you will likely get MUCH
better support than you are likely to get from INGRES, ORACLE, etc. There is
a lot of technical and application level expertise in the company that you can
tap into, including notes conferences like this. Not only is the support level
likely to be better, but also the response time.
Bryan
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| 57.3 | Do it in DTR/RDB | ALBANY::MULLER | Sat Dec 12 1987 03:21 | 8 | |
Ann,
Add my vote for DTR/RDB to Bryan's. I do these in the field
for customers and your application, at first glance, sounds simple
but you will need someone to do it for you if you need to get it
done before the end of January. It looks do-able in that time frame
and you would have the ability to semi-prototype to see what you
really want.
Fred
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| 57.4 | and FMS or TDMS too! | ALBANY::MULLER | Sat Dec 12 1987 03:22 | 1 | |
| 57.5 | Try SMARTSTAR and Rdb | DIXIE1::NUHFER | Tue Mar 08 1988 03:10 | 11 | |
Ann,
Many of the features that you request are available through the
use of Rdb and SMARTSTAR. Not to knock our own product set, but
the choice of Signal Technology as a CMP is a good one. They have
an excellent product set that is DSRI compliant and is a good 4GL front
end for Rdb applications, ad hoc reports and queries.
Joe
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