About this Manual

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This manual describes how to establish, manage and maintain a Mimer SQL database. It is a general handbook for system administrators, describing in detail the various areas of responsibility and procedures to use when administering a Mimer SQL database system.

The information contained in this handbook generally applies to all the platforms supported by Mimer SQL.

From time to time platform-specific notes appear in the general description, presented as follows:

UNIX: Denotes information that applies specifically to UNIX/Linux and Mac OS X platforms.

VMS: Denotes information that applies specifically to OpenVMS platforms.

Win: Denotes information that applies specifically to Windows platforms.

There are also some appendices at the end of this handbook which contain information that applies to specific platforms.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for users of this manual. However, it is advisable for the reader to be familiar with, and have a working knowledge of, the host computer operating system.

Related Mimer SQL Publications

• Mimer SQL Engine Reference Manual

  contains a complete description of the syntax and usage of all statements in Mimer SQL and is a necessary complement to this manual.

• Mimer SQL Engine User's Manual

  contains a description of the BSQL facilities. A user-oriented guide to the SQL statements is also included, which may provide help for less experienced users in formulating statements correctly (particularly the SELECT statement, which can be quite complex).

• Mimer SQL Engine Programmer's Manual

  describes the usage of SQL embedded in application programs.

• Mimer SQL Platform-specific Documents

  contain platform-specific information. A set of one or more documents is provided, where required, for each platform on which Mimer SQL is supplied.

• Mimer SQL Engine Release Notes

  contain general and platform-specific information relating to the Mimer SQL Engine release for which they are supplied.

Acronyms, Terms and Trademarks

Term	Description
API	Application Programming Interface.
BSQL	Facility for using SQL interactively or by running a command file.
Data source	ODBC term for a database.
Databank	A databank corresponds to a physical file in the host file system and is used to store tables. A databank may contain several tables.
Database	A Mimer SQL database consists of the system databanks and a number of user databanks.
Database home directory	The directory where the system databank file containing the data dictionary and some other files that form part of the database are located.
DCL	Digital Command Language.
Embedded SQL	The term used for SQL statements when they are embedded in a traditional host programming language.
JDBC	Database connectivity for Java.
MULTIDEFS	A file, on UNIX and OpenVMS, containing parameters for controlling the database server for a Mimer SQL database.
ODBC	Open Database Connectivity, a specification for a database API in the C language, independent of any specific DBMS or operating system.
PSM	Persistent Stored Modules (i.e. Stored Procedures).
Shadow	A Mimer SQL databank may have one or more shadows. A shadow is a copy of the original (master) databank and is continuously updated by Mimer SQL.
SQL	Structured Query Language.
SQLHOSTS	A file, on UNIX and OpenVMS, containing lookup information for all Mimer SQL databases accessible from the current node.
UNIX	UNIX is a trademark registered by the Open Group.
VMS	VMS is a trademark registered by Hewlett-Packard.
Windows	Windows is a trademark registered by Microsoft.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

Mimer Information Technology AB Voice: +46 18 780 92 00 Fax: +46 18 780 92 40 info@mimer.se