johnl@ima.UUCP (08/16/85)
I have what I used to think was a simple, straightforward problem, and now
increasingly seems to be a big tough problem.
We have, in our office, about 40 IBM PCs and the like all hooked together
with an Ethernet. They share disk space and printers on two other PCs
running the 3Com EtherShare stuff. We have, for the PC world, a lot of
data -- one of the servers has a 470MB Fujitsu Eagle disk.
We need to have a multi-user data base, for keeping customer records and
things like that. So far, looking for something that will run on PCs over
an Ethernet hasn't turned up much. There's MDBS. There used to be Dbase II.
There will shortly be the Britton-Lee RS 310 backend server machine.
Has anybody any experience with something like this? What we need is, roughly:
-- allow 10 or so users to retrieve and update information
-- imbed database calls in an application, so I don't have to teach
people how to write in SQL or something like it
I don't have any strong opinions on whether the data base would run
distributed on the PCs or on a back-end server. I wouldn't mind ditching
the 3Com software if I found something else that would support 40 users
(Novell, otherwise great, limits you to 20.)
John Levine, Javelin Software, Cambridge MA 617-494-1400
{ decvax!cca | think | ihnp4 | cbosgd }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.ARPA
The opinions above are solely those of a 12 year old hacker who has broken
into my account, and not those of my employer or any other organization.jerry@uwmcsd1.UUCP (Jerry Lieberthal) (08/18/85)
> > We have, in our office, about 40 IBM PCs and the like all hooked together > with an Ethernet. They share disk space and printers on two other PCs > > We need to have a multi-user data base, for keeping customer records and We looked at getting ORACLE, which claims to be (or will be) a networked database. I suspect it is far off from becoming networked. In the meantime, we will probably be using UNIFY in a distributed environment, where a user can get on any machine, update a database, and have the change propagated to the other machines. Sending it over the ETHERNET seems to be the fastest way at the moment. Unfortunately, most of these databases run under UNIX, rather than the so-called PC standards. I would be interested if any one has a networked database that also runs under non-UNIX systems .. -jerry ihnp4!uwmcsd1!jerry University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
rhoads@oasys.UUCP (08/21/85)
> > > > We have, in our office, about 40 IBM PCs and the like all hooked together > > with an Ethernet. They share disk space and printers on two other PCs > > > > We need to have a multi-user data base, for keeping customer records and > > We looked at getting ORACLE, which claims to be (or will be) a networked > database. I suspect it is far off from becoming networked. In the meantime, > we will probably be using UNIFY in a distributed environment, where a user > can get on any machine, update a database, and have the change propagated to > the other machines. Sending it over the ETHERNET seems to be the fastest > way at the moment. > > Unfortunately, most of these databases run under UNIX, rather than the > so-called PC standards. I would be interested if any one has a networked > database that also runs under non-UNIX systems .. > > -jerry ihnp4!uwmcsd1!jerry > University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Some folks around here have been using Team-Up (tm) for PC's on a LAN, and seem to like it quite a bit. It comes from Unlimited Processing, Inc, 8382 Baymeadows Rd., Suite 8, Jacksonville, FLA 32216. Of course, nobody has anything to do with these statements but me. "I knew I shoulda made that left turn at Alburqurque" --B. Bunny
mvh@cbnap.UUCP (M.L. Vonder Haar x4126 3E257) (08/21/85)
We are developing a system the uses the IDM 500.
I think the relational model is a very high level modeling environment
for solving (and then re-solving) data modeling problems.
As a system developer who likes to prototype, the IDM is fantastic.
Of course, there are other database systems that support the relational
model, but I only have experience with this one.
Our system is:
- several 3b20 connected to several IDM 500 via rs232 @ 9600 BAUD
The IDM 500 already supports ethernet, but we can't use it yet.
- brand new, our users have not really used the system.
- We currently support application program with embedded
relational (QUEL) commands
- We expect the database administrator for our field system
to use the interactive realtional query process.
Uncertainities about the IDM xxx
- It may be difficult to justify spending money for a backend
database machine for an application with 10 PCs
- Britton-Lee still needs to work on efficiency, they are trying
and we haven't really learned about what is available
Be sure you check this out.
Mark Vonder Haar
{ihnp4|cbosgd}!cbnap!mvhbc@cyb-eng.UUCP (Bill Crews) (08/25/85)
> Some folks around here have been using Team-Up (tm) for PC's on a LAN, and > seem to like it quite a bit. It comes from Unlimited Processing, Inc, > 8382 Baymeadows Rd., Suite 8, Jacksonville, FLA 32216. OK, I'll bite. What's Team-Up? -- / \ Bill Crews ( bc ) Cyb Systems, Inc \__/ Austin, Texas [ gatech | ihnp4 | nbires | seismo | ucbvax ] ! ut-sally ! cyb-eng ! bc
skip@gitpyr.UUCP (Skip Addison) (08/28/85)
In article <121200003@ima.UUCP> johnl@ima.UUCP writes: .... >We have, in our office, about 40 IBM PCs and the like all hooked together >with an Ethernet. They share disk space and printers on two other PCs >running the 3Com EtherShare stuff. We have, for the PC world, a lot of >data -- one of the servers has a 470MB Fujitsu Eagle disk. > >We need to have a multi-user data base, for keeping customer records and >things like that. > >Has anybody any experience with something like this? > ... > >John Levine, Javelin Software, Cambridge MA 617-494-1400 >{ decvax!cca | think | ihnp4 | cbosgd }!ima!johnl, Levine@YALE.ARPA We've been looking at distributed database packages for IBM PCs using Microsoft's MS-Net or IBM's PC-Net interface. So far packages we've gotten demonstration diskettes for are LAN:datastore from Software Connections and DATAFLEX from Data Access Corp. A year or two ago, we purchased a single-user version of Revelation from COSMOS; it is also available in a networking version. All of these packages are designed to provide multi-user access to a database with locking at the record level. Except for Revelation, they provide a programming interface (C-callable functions) in addition to an ad hoc query interface. Revelation provides an enhanced (sic) BASIC interpreter with their package. Another package that approaches the problem from a different perspective, but has now come up with a similar package is the Btrieve/N library from SoftCraft. They originally developed B-tree and ISAM routines for application programmers to use on a stand alone PC. They made it distributed and network-oriented. Then they added a report writer and ad hoc query language. All these are available as seperate packages. I don't have the phone numbers or addresses for these companies handy. If you'd like more information, send me mail. ------------------ "Here I stand, for I can do no other" -- Martin Luther Skip Addison Office of Telecommunications and Networking, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332 CSNet: Skip @ GATech ARPA: Skip%GATech.CSNet @ CSNet-Relay.ARPA uucp: ...!{akgua,allegra,hplabs,ihnp4,linus,seismo,ulysses}!gatech!skip
rhoads@oasys.UUCP (08/29/85)
> > OK, I'll bite. What's Team-Up? > -- > / \ Bill Crews > ( bc ) Cyb Systems, Inc > \__/ Austin, Texas > Team-Up is a shared database for IBM PC's on a local area network. -- Rhoads Hollowell {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires![oasys!]rhoads "I knew I shoulda made dat left turn at Alburqurque!!" --B. Bunny