Focus on Disaster Recovery
Synergy/DE customer AFS Technologies enhances disaster recovery solution, obtains peace of mind

Using wireless connectivity? How secure is your data? Check out Roger Andrews’ latest blog entry.

Exploring OO: What’s the difference between a virtual method and a nonvirtual method?

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SQL Server 2005 and VTX12_2000

VisualSmart, Synergex’s newest product offering, provides business intelligence solution for RestaurantLink, satisfies analysis and reporting needs

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Synergy/DE customer AFS Technologies enhances disaster recovery solution, obtains peace of mind

Recently AFS Technologies, a leading provider of fully integrated, end-to-end business software solutions specifically engineered for the food and beverage industry, decided to add a Synergy/DE Backup License to their disaster recovery solution for their Synergy/DE-based Eagle application on Windows. The Eagle application is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution for distribution and is in use 24-7 at several sites. Orders come in during the day, are processed in the warehouse at night, and are delivered the next morning. If the application goes down, customers don’t receive their orders.

The Synergy/DE Backup License enabled AFS to configure a backup license server that the application can switch to automatically for Synergy/DE license management should a crash occur on the primary license server.

“Hardware prices made it feasible to obtain a spare machine to use should the production machine fail,” explains AFS R&D manager Dan Ellis. “The implementation was simple—we just ordered the Synergy/DE Backup License and configured the backup license server on our Windows Server 2003 machine.” AFS recently shut off their live system to test the new backup license server, and everything worked without interruption.

AFS’s disaster recovery solution also includes a data backup process that uses the synbackup utility. This utility (released in Synergy/DE 8.3) enables developers to freeze update I/O (STOREs, WRITEs, and DELETEs) in order to back up Synergy DBMS data without requiring exclusive access to the data files. AFS created a Synergy program that pauses I/O and allows transactions to be flushed out of the system. They also added code to their posting programs to prevent posting from commencing when a backup is pending. They then back up all of the transaction files to the backup server and, when the backup is finished, unfreeze the I/O so the pending postings can post. They perform their data backup every hour, and the entire process takes an average of 90 seconds.

The Synergy/DE Backup License, coupled with the use of synbackup, give AFS peace of mind. They know that they would be able to start processing with minimal data loss almost immediately should their main machine fail. Ellis concludes, “If you can afford an additional machine, the effort is minimal, and it will help you sleep better at night.”

Note: The license fees for a Synergy/DE Backup License are 50% of the license fees for the primary license. A Synergy/DE Backup License is also available for Unix. On Unix it enables you to install a set of licenses on a second machine. (There is no automatic switching to the backup machine as there is on Windows.) The synbackup utility is supported on Unix and Windows.

How many of you have a home wireless router with no encryption or a weak 56-bit key that can be hacked in minutes? At this year’s SPC we had enabled WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) encryption, considered the minimum standard for reliable wireless encryption, but over half the attendees did not have wireless cards capable of that level of encryption. What does this mean to you, and what can you do to protect yourself?

Read more in Roger Andrews’ latest blog posting regarding data encryption.

Prior to Synergy/DE 9, subroutines and functions were resolved at compile/link time. Now, with the introduction of methods in version 9, you can specify the VIRTUAL modifier on a method to denote that the method will be resolved at runtime. A nonvirtual method is resolved at compile time. The best way to describe the difference between virtual and nonvirtual methods is to look at a simple example. The following class declarations define two classes, each of which implements a nonvirtual method (DeclaredName) and a virtual method (RuntimeName).

namespace ns1
            class Employee
                public method DeclaredName, a
                proc
                        mreturn "Employee"
                endmethod
                public virtual method RuntimeName, a
                proc
                        mreturn "Employee"
                endmethod
            endclass
            class Manager extends Employee
                public new method DeclaredName, a
                proc
                        mreturn "Manager"
                endmethod
                public override method RuntimeName, a
                proc
                        mreturn "Manager"
                endmethod
            endclass
endnamespace

Now we declare a couple of object variables to use these classes:

main
record
    c1, @Employee
    c2, @Manager
    str, a30

If we assign an instance of Employee to c1 and then call the two methods, we get the expected results:

    c1 = new Employee()
    str = c1.DeclaredName()        ;Returns Employee
    str = c1.RuntimeName()         ;Returns Employee

If we assign an instance of Manager to c2 and then call the two methods, we also get the expected results:

    c2 = new Manager()
    str = c2.DeclaredName()        ;Returns Manager
    str = c2.RuntimeName()         ;Returns Manager
   
But what happens if we create an instance of Manager and assign it to c1?  Here are the results:

    c1 = new Manager()
    str = c1.DeclaredName()        ;Returns Employee
    str = c1.RuntimeName()         ;Returns Manager

Note that calling the nonvirtual method uses the declared type of c1, which is Employee, to resolve the method call. So, c1.DeclaredName() runs Employee’s method DeclaredName(), which returns “Employee”. Calling the virtual method, however, uses the instantiated object’s type, which is Manager, to resolve the method call. So even though c1 is of type Employee, c1.RuntimeName() runs Manager’s method RuntimeName(), which returns “Manager”. This runtime resolution of virtual methods makes these types of methods very powerful and enables you to write APIs using the base class and pass in instantiated objects of different class descendants, thus providing different results.

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SQL Server 2005 and VTX12_2000

When I try to use VTX12_2000 to connect to a SQL Server database (we’re using SQL Server 2005), I get the error “dllload error on VTX12_2000”. I’ve run dltest, and it returns the error “ntwdblib.dll not found”. What could be causing this?

The SQL Connection driver VTX12_2000 is based on the DB-Library API. SQL Server 2005 does not support DB-Library and does not include the DB-Library DLL, ntwdblib.dll. For this and other reasons, we recommend that you use VTX12_ODBC or VTX12_SQLNATIVE instead. (VTX12_ODBC is based on the MDAC ODBC API, and VTX12_SQLNATIVE uses the Microsoft SQL Native Client ODBC driver.) See the SQL Connection Reference Manual* for more information on these drivers and the reasons for our recommendations.

*Attention HelpDesk Support customers: After clicking on the above link, log into the Resource Center. You'll then be redirected to the appropriate page. Not yet on HelpDesk Support? Contact your SynergyDE account manager to sign up.

RestaurantLink, one of the nation’s largest and most innovative service providers to restaurant operators, provides a wide range of supplier services, specializing in contract purchasing, operational management, financial support, rebate tracking, reporting, and technology services. Clients include independent, multi-unit, multi-concept, regional franchise restaurants; family owned restaurants; and publicly traded suppliers.

The Challenge
RestaurantLink relies on multiple remote data-gathering systems to furnish up-to-the minute competitive pricing. The data arrives via various non-compatible sources, so processing it is cumbersome and time-consuming. The company requires complex reporting capabilities to segment the data, generate custom reports accessible by sales staff, and furnish proposals to clients.

The Solution
RestaurantLink selected VisualSmart to streamline its data collection and reporting workload. VisualSmart automatically collects and aggregates data from various offsite sources and adds it to the data warehouse. VisualSmart uses the data to build and deliver an array of specialty on-demand reports and customer proposals.

The Bottom Line
No more tedious by-hand data comparisons for RestaurantLink—VisualSmart does it all. By integrating VisualSmart into an existing salesforce.com implementation, RestaurantLink enabled its users to access VisualSmart reports from within salesforce.com and instantly generate client proposals. And thus, clients can make critical buying decisions based on up-to-the-minute pricing.

For more information, visit www.visualsmart.com.

Microsoft
Microsoft to partners: It’s time to change
July 10, 2007

Microsoft preps six patches for next week
July 5, 2007

Microsoft promises more Ultimate ‘Extras’
July 2, 2007

Linux
Linux 2.6.22 released
July 9, 2007

Under the Linux 2.6.22 hood
July 9, 2007

Red Hat to MS: Let’s talk interoperability
July 3, 2007

HP OpenVMS
HP OpenVMS CIFS field test
June 30, 2007

cURL 7.16.3 available
June 27, 2007

July 19, 2007 - 8AM PDT - Workbench Highlights* - At your desk
*All attendees receive a free t-shirt!

August 20-24, 2007 -  Synergy Language Essentials - Gold River, CA

Congratulations, Andrew! You are the winner of the HelpDesk Support survey, and the recipient of this quarter’s $100 gift check.

All customers who return a HelpDesk Support Survey throughout the third quarter will be entered into the next drawing.

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