This is the README file for SQLXPress 3.07. IMPORTANT: The SQLXPress 3.xx server components are not compatible with version 2.xx clients. Likewise, the 3.xx client cannot be used with the 2.xx server. You must install the 3.xx version of both client and server components. System Requirements PC * Windows XP, or Windows Vista, or Windows Seven, or Windows 2000 Professional (SP2 or later), Requires MDAC 2.8 SP1, available here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/details.aspx?familyid=78CAC895-EFC2-4F8E-A9E0-3A1AFBD5922E&displaylang=en * Internet Explorer version 4, or later. * A TCP/IP connection to an HP NonStop system. * A monitor that supports a resolution of 1024 x 768 or higher is recommended. NonStop Server * HP NonStop server running G06.26 or later, or H06.03 or later, or J06.04 or later. * NonStop SQL/MX release 2.1 or later. * NonStop SQL/MP, release 350 or later. * TCP/IP. Downloading The Installer Download the installer as follows: 1. Go to the Merlon web page at: www.merlon.com 2. On the right hand side of the page, click on the link to Downloads 3. Click the SQLXPress link near the top of the page. Your browser will ask if you wish to run the program, or save it to disk. You want to save the program to disk. The Save As dialog box will appear. Select a directory on your PC's hard drive in which to save the file. You can use any directory. Click Save to save the file. The program will be saved with the name SQLXxxx.EXE. (Note: xxx is the SQLXPress version number, for example, for version 3.07, the file is called SQLX307.EXE.) Special note: The other download option is: SQLXPress Client This link allows you to download the client (PC) code only. You can use this version if SQLXPress is already installed on the NonStop system. Install SQLXPress To Install SQLXPress you will need a LICENSE file. Contact us at sales@merlon.com to request a license. If SQLXPress is already installed on your PC, you have two choices: Either Keep the previous version, and install this version. Or Replace the previous version with this version. If you wish to keep the previous version, install this version in a different directory, and use a different Start Menu folder. To replace the previous version, install this version in the same directory as the existing version. The previous version will be uninstalled automatically. You can manually uninstall SQLXPress as described below under Uninstall. Once the installation program has been downloaded, run it as follows: 1. Select Run from the Start Menu 2. Enter the program name, including the path of the directory, for example: C:\TEMP\SQLX307.EXE 3. The program will ask for a setup password, enter the password supplied to you by Merlon. If you don’t have the password, contact us at sales@merlon.com. The setup program installs the SQLXPress client, follow the instructions on the screen. By default, the SQLXPress client is installed in: C:\Program Files\Merlon\SQLXPress You can choose another directory, but we recommend you use the default. The SQLXPress setup program adds a shortcut in the Windows Start menu. When the setup program has finished installing the client components, it gives you the option to launch the client. You should check this option. When the client program is started for the first time, it will prompt you for configuration information, and will optionally install the NonStop server components of SQLXPress. Configuration Information. Important Notes: If you are installing an upgrade to the server components to the same location as the existing version, we strongly advise you to delete all background tasks for all users before you proceed with the installation. The server setup program will attempt to delete all existing jobs, but this may fail due to security violation errors. This is particularly important for the standard background tasks which run every day. For SQL/MX versions prior to 2.3, the user id you choose must have permission to write to this OSS directory: /usr/tandem/sqlmx/USERMODULES This is where the SQL/MX module file is placed by the setup program. For release 2.3 and later, the module file is placed in the Guardian install subvolume. In order to configure SQLXPress, you will need to know the following: * A Guardian user name and password. This will be used when installing the NonStop server components * The name of a TCP/IP process running on the NonStop system that can be used to connect from your PC. The default is $ZB01C, you may use a different value on your system. Check with your system administrator. * The TCP/IP address used by this TCP/IP process, for example 192.168.1.2. (Use the SCF command INFO SUBNET $.* to display the IP address of the TCP/IP process.) * A TCP/IP port number which is available for use by SQLXPress. A port number is used to make a connection between a PC client and an SQLXPress server. Note that the port number you choose must not be used by any other applications that share the same TCP/IP process with SQLXPress. Port numbers that are less than 1024 are reserved for special services like FTP and TELNET. Therefore, you must use port numbers greater than 1023. (To find out which port numbers are in use, use the SCF STATUS PROCESS command for the TCP/IP process you plan to use.) If you are unsure about the TCP/IP configuration, contact your system administrator. * A home term name. This should be a permanent device or process name (like $ZHOME, or $VHS). Do not use a dynamic terminal name, for example a dynamic Telnet terminal name. * The name of an SQL/MP catalog in which to register the SQL/MP components of SQLXPress. * The name of an SQL MX catalog and schema for the SQLXPress database. You should set aside a schema for use by SQLXPress, it is not recommended that you share a schema with other applications. * The Task Manager uses a batch scheduling system to control the execution of background tasks. You can choose the batch system to use at setup time. The batch systems that can be used by the task manager are: * NetBatch. This is the standard HP batch scheduler. We recommend that you use NetBatch. * BM (Batch Monitor). This is a simple batch scheduler supplied by Merlon. Important Note: The full version of the Merlon batch monitor must be secured to run in privileged mode in order to be able to run background tasks for any user. To do this, you must be logged on as the SUPER ID. If you do not have access to the SUPER ID, you can use an evaluation copy of the batch monitor instead. It does not need to be secured by the super id. The difference between the full version and the evaluation version is that with the evaluation version, only the user who installed the server components will be able to submit batch jobs. How to Secure the Merlon Batch Monitor There are two versions of the batch monitor program file, BM, and BMP. The version of the batch monitor program file that you need to use, and how it needs to be secured depends on whether you wish to use the full or evaluation version, and the NonStop operating system version. Batch Monitor Operating System Program Secure Using Version Release File ------------- ---------------- ------- ------------ Full G06.xx, or H06.10 BMP FUP LICENSE and earlier Evaluation G06.xx, or H06.10 BM Not required and earlier Full H06.11 and later, BM Safeguard PRIV_LOGON or J06.xx Evaluation H06.11 and later, BM Not required or J06.xx Once SETUP has finished installing SQLXPress, you can secure the batch monitor as follows: 1 Stop any Batch Monitors 2 Check if either version is currently running as follows: Logon to TACL as the super id. VOLUME to the installation subvolume. STATUS *, PROG * 3 If there are any instances of either the BM or BMP programs, stop them now. 4 Secure the Batch Monitor for Privileged Mode. The method used to secure the batch monitor depends on the operating system release. H06.10 and earlier, or G06.xx License the BMP program as follows: FUP LICENSE BMP H06.11 and later, or J06.xx Set the Safeguard privileged logon flag for the BM program as follows: SAFECOM SET DISKFILE ACCESS *.* (r,w,e,p) SET DISKFILE PRIV-LOGON ON ADD DISKFILE BM, OWNER 100,1 This is an example, set the owner to the id of the user who installed SQLXPress. The batch monitor program will be started the next time you logon to SQLXPress. Uninstall To uninstall SQLXPress, select the Uninstall option from the Start Menu SQLXPress folder. Alternatively, you can use the Add / Remove Program option in the Windows control panel. Note however, that Add / Remove can only uninstall the most recently installed version. To use Add / Remove Program: 1. From the Windows Start menu, select Settings, Control Panel. 2. Double click on the Add/Remove Programs icon. 3. Select SQLXPress from the list of applications. 4. Click Add / Remove. Release Notes If the client program experiences an unrecoverable error it will create a problem report. You will be prompted to send the problem report to Merlon. Reports should be sent to support@merlon.com. If an SQLXPress server process abends, a SaveAbend file will be created. When the super user or the administrator (the user who installed the SQLXPress server components) logs on, the client program checks for new SaveAbend files. If it finds any, You will be prompted to send a problem report to Merlon. Reports should be sent to support@merlon.com. New in Version 3.07 * Bug fixes and minor improvements. New in Version 3.06 * Bug fixes and minor improvements. New in Version 3.05 * The Visual Query Builder now supports creating INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements, as well as SELECT statements. * The Visual Query Builder now supports importing query snapshots from the execution plans database, including snapshots created using the Query Planner. * The Query Planner now supports importing queries build using the Visual Query builder. * Various other minor improvements and bug fixes have been made. New in Version 3.04 * An SQL/MP version of the Query Advisor has been added. * Support has been added for 32K blocks for MX tables (requires SQL/MX version 2.3.3 or later). * The Export to NonStop SQL Table wizard, and the Repartition Wizard now support the use of the FASTCOPY utility in some situations (requires SQL/MX version 2.3.3 or later). * The Execution Plans Details page was enhance to support the multi-union operator in MX plans (requires SQL/MX version 2.3.3 or later). * A number of enhancements have been made to improve response times when dealing with very large databases. New in Version 3.03 * This is the third limited availability beta release * Copy Statistics and Backup / Restore statistics support has been added for SQL/MP tables. * The query advisor has been enhanced to support a number of new recommendations. * The LISTEN program has been fixed to handle SQLXPress server failures on connect. Previously, the client would wait forever trying to logon to the server process which had died. Now, an error is returned to the client. * Fixed various SQL/MX execution plan database queries which failed if the SQLXPress database was created using SQL/MP tables. * Fixed a problem in which multiple copies of the Task Manager could be started for the same SQLXPress session. * Fixed various other minor defects. New in Version 3.02 * This is the second limited availability beta release * Both the SQLXPress client and XPressEdit now have an Execute a Script command on the tools menu. This allows the user to submit a job to the Task Manager that runs a user-specified script. It is intended as a way to run MSL or TACL scripts. * The MX Query Advisor analyzes queries in the execution plans database and makes recommendations on how to improve query performance. * A number of problems have been fixed in the MX and MP DUP wizards. Previously, the generated scripts could contain MSL syntax errors. * A number of problems have been corrected in the various MX and MP partition management wizards. * Previously, the RECLAIM / NO RECLAIM options would generate invalid syntax for SQL/MX releases prior to 2.3. * For MP partitions, the generated script would not perform RELOADS on the appropriate partitions in some cases. * MX SPLIT / MOVE partition wizards would generated blank scripts. * For MP partition management wizards, the script generated to handle "shared access, commit by request" operations was incorrect. * A number of MSCRIPT problems were fixed, including: * A valid SET TRANSACTION statement incorrectly produced a syntax error. * A valid MX ALTER TABLE, ADD CONSTRAINT statement incorrectly produced a syntax error. * A valid MX CREATE VIEW statement incorrectly produced a syntax error. * A valid MX CREATE TRIGGER statement incorrectly produced a syntax error. * Built-in functions that start an external program (for example $CI, $RELOAD etc.) now set the $ERRORTEXT builtin with an error message if they fail to start the external program. * Quick Export to CSV. This function generated an exception condition and stoped the export when it tried to export a date/time field which has a NULL value. * The first key values generated from key analysis of MX tables and indexes could be incorrectly formatted for certain data types, including TIME, TIMESTAMP, NUMERIC, and DECIMAL. * Various other minor fixes are also included. New in Version 3.01 * This is the first limited availability beta release * All of the new features listed in the SQLXPress 3 section are included in this release. New in SQLXPress 3 * The XPressEdit program has been added. XPressEdit is a Windows-based text editor. It includes: * The ability to edit PC files, Guardian files, and OSS files. * Colour-coded syntax highlighting for many languages and file formats including MSL, SQL, C, C++, Cobol, Tal, Java, INI files, HTML, etc. * Auto-completion for SQL, including SQL embedded in MSL, C, C++, and Cobol. * Function parameter hints for SQL and MSL. * Code templates. * Multi-file editing. * Split-window editing. * Macros. * And more. * The XPressView program has been added. XPressView is a Windows-based program that provides a read-only browser for data in a NonStop SQL database. * The Visual Query Builder now supports syntax highlighting, auto-completion, and function parameter hints in the SQL text tab. * The performance of the Visual Query Builder has been improved for queries with a large number of columns. * The Visual Query Builder now supports the display of query execution plans. Plans can be optionally stored in the execution plans database. * A facility has been added to capture execution plans for SQL/MX ODBC and JDBC queries. The queries are extracted from an EMS collector or log file, and their plans are generated and stored in the execution plans database. * The user can now assign version labels to snapshots in the execution plans database. This allows you for example, to label the plans for a particular application version. Various functions like execution plan database queries, the compare plans report, database cleanup etc. are version-aware. * A new Query Planner page has been added. It supports displaying execution plans for queries. Plans can be viewed for one-off queries entered from the keyboard, or from MX modules, MP programs, Visual Query Builder queries, or captured ODBC/JDBC queries. * The display of execution plans has been greatly improved to make them more readable. * The execution plan reports (except compare plans) have been replaced by an online query facility. A wizard helps the user create a query against the execution plans database. The query is then executed and returns a list of plans matching the user-specified criteria. The user can then display the plan for any of the matching statements. * The compare execution plans report has been improved. * The Execute SQL Statements page now supports auto-completion and syntax highlighting. * The standard tasks for extracting MX and MP execution plans have been combined into a single task. * Data can now be exported from a NonStop SQL database to other databases via an OLE-DB data provider on the users PC. * Data can now be exported from a NonStop SQL database to XML documents on the users PC. * Data can now be imported to a NonStop SQL database from an OLE-DB data provider, an XML document, or a CSV file. * A new wizard is available to reload tables and indexes. (Both MP and MX are supported). * A new wizard is available to duplicate tables. (Both MP and MX are supported). * Superlinks are now supported. A superlink is a link in the navigation bar the opens a related set of pages with a single click. For example from the tables in a Schema page, clicking the superlink open these pages for the selected table: * Table properties * Table columns * Table Constraints * Table Triggers * Related Objects * Browse Data The superlink pages are all opened one page per tab in a new window. * A Quick Export to CSV command has been added to the Browse data page. It exports data to a PC CSV file, starting from the top row in the grid until the end of the data source. It does not recompile the SQL query for the data source which can save time for complex queries. * A compare table data feature has been added. * A new encryption algorithm is now used when the HIGH encryption option is selected. The new algorithm is more secure, and at the same time, provides much better response time. * Various other minor improvements and bug fixes have been made.