U.S. Army database tracks everything from tanks to ping pong balls

By John Cox
Network World, 03/14/00

The latest release of Sybase's mobile database has an array of new features that let programmers tuck it into an application and then forget about it, according to one beta tester working for the U.S. Army.

Sybase SQL Anywhere Studio 7.0 was released two weeks ago. It includes the SQL Anywhere database, which is synchronization software to copy data between SQL Anywhere Studio, server databases, and development tools.

The main changes in the new release include:

Support for MS-DOS, WindRiver VXWorks real-time operating system and the Epoch operating system found in Psion handheld devices.

Automatic adjustment of the size of the data cache and indexing for faster performance and less manual tuning.

An OLE DB driver for accessing databases.

Support for the Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator.

A debugger for faster checking of Java stored procedures, which are like small applications stored in the database itself.

The automatic cache adjustment, called dynamic caching, is a big hit with Eric Murchie-Beyma, technical director at Stanley Associates in Alexandria, Va. "In the past, the cache was a static setting that had to be retuned manually, by trial and error," he says. "Now it automatically sets the memory cache, depending on what the server is doing."

That automation is important for the Army War Reserve Deployment System, which Stanley created for the U.S. Army. The system tracks 1.2 million items, from battle tanks to ping pong balls, in 21 databases spread over 11 countries. The new version will improve overall performance and be easier to administer.

Stanley chose SQL Anywhere as the data store because it was inexpensive, well suited for small sites, and supports a range of data copying (or "replication") techniques. "We're replicating these databases via FTP file transfers, which is better able to handle large amounts of traffic, and is much easier to set up than direct database connections over a WAN," Murchie-Beyma says.

Version 7.0 also offers event-handling and scheduling, so administrators can program the database to respond automatically to a new entry, and trigger new processes. In the past, administrators had to run database jobs like replicating data then backing it up as separate, manual batch processes. "Now, I don't have to guess when one process is finished: the database will tell me," Murchie-Beyma says.

The OLE DB interface should make database access much faster, he predicts, as should the new indexing features. In the past, SQL Anywhere had a one-size-fits-all indexing scheme, which could bog down if the database was indexing wide data fields. Now, an administrator can set up a special index for such fields, and it will be executed quickly.

"The product was extremely stable in beta test," Murchie-Beyma says. "I had a hard time getting anything to break."

In the future, his team will deploy at some of the Army sites new PalmOS handheld computers, equipped with the Sybase UltraLight software, which is a stripped down data manager that coordinates with SQL Anywhere on a PC or server.

"Users will work with the Palm devices as data input devices," Murchie-Beyma says. "It will eliminate mountains of paperwork."

Sybase: www.sybase.com/products/anywhere/