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Conference rocks::dec_edi

Title:DEC/EDI
Notice:DEC/EDI V2.1 - see note 2002
Moderator:METSYS::BABER
Created:Wed Jun 06 1990
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:3150
Total number of notes:13466

2994.0. "data migration from vms to unix" by ABBEDI::GRIFFITHS () Tue Feb 04 1997 14:04

This note is similar to 2761. The customer has just migrated
from vms to Digital unix, and he needs a way of preserving his VMS audit data
for legal purposes => Turn VMS off, turn unix on.

It was mentioned in note 2761 that "Technically, it is not impossible ..."

This issue is of great importance to the customer and a solution needs to be for
him. What we need, I guess, is some
kind of rmu/unload on the vax followed by the informix equivalent of
rmu/load on the informix db (easier said than done).

Has any (will there) progress been made in this area ? 

regards,
Andrew
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
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2994.1problem is not Digital'sIJSAPL::DEWIJKGJ from the DutchlandsTue Feb 04 1997 14:359
    interesting question as well:
    
    what would be required if a customers changes not only the platform but
    also the EDI-solution. move from product 'abc' to 'xyz'
    would they also require some kind of compatability in these cases?
    
    I see this as a general problem/requirement
    Is there anything done in the EDI workgroups about this?
    GJ
2994.2Needs a feasability studyMETSYS::HELLIARhttp://samedi.reo.dec.com/Tue Feb 04 1997 16:3132
    Andrew,
    
    To transfer between vendors you should investigate flat table unloading
    and loading from the various vendors. It is my belief that Rdb now
    supports dumping of a table into a a flat file (either fixed length, or 
    delimiter separated), and that other database vendors could load this
    data into their database.
    
    However, watch out as the audit trails of the two products are not
    exactly the same (e.g. TLF USRREF_S has different sizes ).
    Also, the status's held in the VMS database are VMS Condition Codes,
    and will probably be different to the status values on Digital Unix, 
    so these wowuld also have to be converted. 
    
    The audit trail, also refers to objects in the store directories, and
    in these are different between the two platforms (DECEDI$STORE_1 versus
    /var/adm/decedi/store_1), and obviously the actual VMS files are VMS
    RMS files which if copied to Digital Unix would show their record
    control characters unless converted (which the customer might not like
    if its for 'legal' purposes).
    
    And of course, unless the user is a very low volume EDI user, the VMS 
    products archived information will be in VMS save-sets which Digital
    Unix will not understand and may be on a media that isnt supported by
    the Alpha boxes (or not by default e.g. TK50's).
    
    So, bottom line is anything is possible, AT A PRICE. The most risk is
    what changes to the data we would be allowed to do without compromising
    the 'legal audit' status. The biggest technical challenge would be
    dealing with a VMS save-set.
    
    Graham
2994.3A starting point on the save-setsMETSYS::HELLIARhttp://samedi.reo.dec.com/Tue Feb 04 1997 16:482
    Digital Unix Conference note 5289 suggests at least two possible
    solutions to Unix reading VMS save sets
2994.4a different approachABBEDI::GRIFFITHSWed Feb 05 1997 13:1821
    There is another way of approaching the problem.
    
    Rather concentrate on getting the data from the VAX and trying to load
    it into the unix informix database (and also transfer the transmission
    files from the store vax storage areas to unix /store1_ etc) ...
    
    another way could
    be to use a reporting tool (such as FOCUS) to unload the VAX Rdb data
    into extract files; copy these files to the unix environment;
    then use the reporting tool to query these extract files to satisfy
    legal requirements. My understanding is that the data somehow needs
    to be available for legal purposes (e.g to satisfy queries from
    previous transmissions).
    
    I mention FOCUS as a tool because I have used it for such purposes -
    and it also supports different file types from different vendors
    (ISAM on the IBM for example - as well as Digital's RDB product).
    
    Andrew