Yosef Rosenblatt, wrote:

>As Alfredo said you can't have your cake and eat it too. You have to choose
>whom you wish to make happy. I would recommend doing having a duplicate
>HEALTHDB but I work for a company that sells disk so you can't trust my
>opinion on that subject. ;-^)

Why not?  Disc is a relatively inexpensive price to pay nowadays.  In
fact, Yosef's comment about a duplicate DATABASE reminded me that
many MPE-IMAGE sites use shadow (mirror, or whatever you wan to call
them) hp3000 systems.  You can then have the master database with
the SERVICE dataset repacked to optimize the MEMBER# path and you
can refer all online inquiries from members to that database.  The
slave (or copy, or shadow) database can then have the SERVICE dataset
repacked to optimize the CLAIM# path and you can refer all online
inquiries that could benefit from this performance boost to the slave
database.

As a bonus, you would spread the load on more than one database.  And,
of course, there are myriad other possibilities.  It all depends on
WHOM you want to please and on HOW MUCH you are willing to pay in
terms of disc space, extra hp3000 systems, extra programming effort,
database-mirroring software, and so on.

This is all very interesting and very exciting.  I love engineering
challenges, whose tradeoffs are challenges to our intelligence (my
online Mac dictionary defines "tradeoff" as "An exchange of one
thing in return for another, especially a giving up of something
desirable, as a benefit or advantage, for another regarded as more
desirable.)

Please keep in mind that my comments apply to ANY and ALL database
management systems.  In the end, all information is kept as a bunch
of bits somewhere (usually on disc, but I am sure Yosef & Co. are
working on other more advanced technologies).  Pete Vickers mentioned
that DB2 is "certainly worth a look" and I agree.  In fact, ALL DBMSs
are worth a look.  We just happen to focus on IMAGE/SQL (and on its
underlying MPE/iX OS) on this particular discussion list, whose
name is "hp3000-L" after all.

Now, if we can only find that elusive "something" which people claim
to be "regarded as more desirable" than MPE-IMAGE so that we can
happily proceed to a "giving up of something desirable, as a
benefit or advantage, for another regarded as more desirable" :-)


Still searching,

   _______________
  |               |
  |               |
  |            r  |  Alfredo                     [log in to unmask]
  |          e    |                           http://www.adager.com
  |        g      |  F. Alfredo Rego
  |      a        |  Manager, R & D Labs
  |    d          |  Adager Corporation
  |  A            |  Sun Valley, Idaho 83353-3000            U.S.A.
  |               |
  |_______________|

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