Availability Guide for Application Design

Improving Availability on the Internet
Availability Guide for Application Design—525637-004
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Standards and the Database
NonStop SQL/MP Database was originally introduced in 1987; NonStop SQL/MX
Database, introduced in 2001, supports the Core SQL:2003 standard.
All the advantages provided by the NonStop system and data encapsulation within the
Data Access Manager are provided while using a standard ANSI SQL interface:
•
Scalability, because there is no need for a distributed lock/cache manager
•
Availability through online management capabilities provided within the database
•
Data integrity by integration with NonStop TMF Software and fault isolation
through all layers
Database connectivity standards, Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) and Java
Database Connectivity (JDBC), also play an important role in portability by providing an
open, standards-based connection to your database.
With NonStop SQL Database, you can conveniently make your database accessible to
users and tools on other platforms (for example, UNIX, Linux, and Windows systems)
by using the standard database connectivity interfaces, ODBC and JDBC.
NonStop SQL/MX Software is supplemented with enhanced connectivity products that
provide it with on-platform and off-platform connectivity. NonStop ODBC/MX Software
has been enhanced to provide multiple nonblocking connections in the same
application as well as rowset support for improved performance. It is currently
compliant with ODBC 3.5 standards. For tighter integration with Java, a Type 2 JDBC
Driver is provided, both for NonStop SQL MP and MX table types. The product offers a
JDBC Type 4 Driver that provides direct connectivity to NonStop SQL/MX Software for
off-platform access. These JDBC drivers are compliant with the JDBC 3.0 standards.
Database and database connectivity standards are important because:
•
You can more easily port applications written for other databases to NonStop
SQL/MX Software and get all the advantages of the NonStop platform such as
database-reliability, scalability, and availability, including the online database
management operations such as adding a new partition or splitting a partition.
•
You can rapidly develop your application using off-the-shelf and open source tools
that connect to the database through ODBC and JDBC, such as Hibernate
(www.hibernate.org) and Eclipse (www.eclipse.org).
•
You can more easily transfer skills across different database products when
developing database applications. Because NonStop SQL Software supports
common standards, developers need to be less aware of the underlying database
engine.
•
You can easily extend your standards-based application to take advantage of the
unique capabilities provided by NonStop SQL/MX Software, such as
publish/subscribe, rowsets, and compound statements.