As a long time (satisfied) user of Caché I'll try to answer some of
the points raised.
First of all a few brief comments on the nature of the beast, what it
is and isn't. It's not your typical RDBMS like Oracle or SqlServer.
Caché is described by Intersystems as being "post-relational" which is
a marketing term supposed to convey modernness (I guess) but in
technical terms this is wishy washy and doesn't really tell you
anything. Caché is based on a multidimensional database engine which,
historically speaking, is derived from the M(umps) DBMS. On top of it
sits an object layer that turns Caché into an OODBMS (think classes,
properties, instance methods, class methods, relationships,
inheritance, polymorphism etc pp). Additionally, Caché will offer a
relational projection of object definitions. Every class is projected
into one or more tables. The relational projection allows for querying
via Sql. Obviously, methods will not be available via the relational
view (but class methods can be projected as stored procedures). The
projection works both ways. You can create tables via DDL and Caché
will create classes from that. They call this process "Unified Data
Architecture". You don't have to use the object features of Caché and
treat it purely as an RDBMS but in my opionon you would lose some of
the more stronger features, like encapsulation of business logic.
Interfaces / Languages
Sql, Odbc, Jdbc, Java, Ejb, C++, Com, Soap, Xml
Caché has its own server side scripting languages, Caché ObjectScript
(COS) and Caché Basic (syntactically derived from VBScript).
Particularly COS is a fully fledged and very flexible programming
language that goes way way beyond what you can do with your typical
RDBMS stored procedure languages like Transact Sql.
Also, Caché has its own web development platform, Caché Server Pages
(CSP) which, in much simplified terms, can be viewed as a cross
between ASP and ASP.Net (but the business logic resides on the
back-end not on the web server).
Standards
Sql 92 Intermediate
Jdbc Type 4
COS is backwards compatible with ISO M(umps).
Operational Tools
Online Backup and Restore
Journalling: Before Image, After Image, Shadow (i.e. near-instant
cross-system replication)
Database Repair (the physical db layer is based on B-trees), although
you are unlikely to ever use them. While Caché as a product / brand
name is around 6 years old the underlying database engine has evolved
from its pre-decessor products over the last 25 years (Intersystems
has been in the dbms market since 1978) and is rock solid.
Front-end tools
Any you like as long as they support one of the interfaces into Caché
mentioned above. If you take our company as an example, we have
developed terminal based applications, moved to C++ front-ends with a
low-level COM interface into the Caché multidimensional database,
moved to VB6 with COM interface into Caché Objects, moved to web
applications using Caché's own CSP and, most recently, ASP.Net via
Soap to Caché (i.e. Caché providing web services).
Platforms
Windows, Linux, Unix (HP, AIX, Solaris) and OpenVMS
Performance
One of the big strengths of Caché. Scales excellently while not being
very resource hungry.
Flexibility
Schema Migrations do not require db rebuild
Resources
There is a newsgroup intersystems.public.cache on
news.intersystems.com
Best regards
Wolf Koelling
Ed Prochak <ed********@magicinterface.com> wrote in message news:<Oq*******************@fe39.usenetserver.com> ...
Alex wrote:
Hi all,
We're looking at a vendor who uses the InterSystems Cache Database
Platform, but our IT department has zero experience with this system.
This software package will have a pivotal and mission critical roll in
our organization, so I'd like some comments on what others think of
this database platform.
Mainly I'm curious how easy/difficult it is to query a Cache Database,
and does it use standard SQL calls like Oracle and MS SQL? What about
ODBC connections into the database from Crystal, MS Access, and OLAP
tools? Any other caviets (backup, maintenance, etc)?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions or comments Cache.
Sam
Won't they let you test drive it?
I've never used Cache, but I have gone thru DB evaluations before. I would
only suggest you set out some clear DB requirements (testable if at all
possible). Their sales rep should be able to answer questions about its flavor
of SQL, ODBC support and such. If they cannot (or worse, will not), answer
those simple questions, then run away.
Your post here is not a bad start:
Interfaces/Languages supported - SQL, ODBC, JAVA(JDBC), Special libraries
Standards supported - like SQL, and at what level?
Tool availability - does it have custom Back up/restore programs or is it only
a data file? (
Front end support - Do you have to use their GUI development tools or can you
program using others?
Platforms supported - If next year you no longer want to pay MS for an OS
update license, can you switch to LINUX?
Programmers available? If few people know/use the DB, is training inexpensive?
Are other resources available (e.g. books, usenet discussion groups)?
Performance - run some benchmarks
Flexibility - does the DB adapt easily? (e.g., does adding a column to a table
force you to rebuild the DB? Does it force you to rebuild your applications?
Bottom line is that you need to watch your bottom line. IOW, what is the total
bang for the buck?
Good luck.
--
Ed Prochak
running http://www.faqs.org/faqs/running-faq/
netiquette http://www.psg.com/emily.html