Advanced Transaction Processing Features

Data integrity is one of the keys to FairCom’s longevity in the crowded database market. We consider your data to be a valuable resource and, hence, do everything possible to guarantee its safe storage. FairCom’s c-tree Server has for many years supported several advanced transaction processing features often found only in high-end (expen$$ive) database systems. Savepoints and Roll-forward are two powerful features used in Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) environments to guarantee the safety of your data.

The FairCom c-tree Server supports several advanced transaction processing features that are often found only in other high-end (expen$$ive) database systems, such as Savepoint and Roll-forward features.

SAVEPOINTS

One advanced OLTP feature FairCom has supported for many years is Savepoints. This feature allows a portion of a transaction to be aborted, instead of the entire transaction.

Consider processing several optional paths of a program, following one branch, then backing out and attempting another branch. It is possible for none of the updates to occur until the program pathway is completed, however, you need the flexibility to back out a portion of the updates.

Or imagine you encounter an update error, such as a failed AddRecord() due to a duplicate key. You need to revert to a prior point in time, correct the problem, and continue. Savepoints provide this powerful flexibility, and are available within the c-tree ISAM level API and all APIs above it in our hierarchy of APIs.

For a complete description of Savepoints, see the section “Savepoints” in the c-tree Plus Programmer’s Reference Guide.

ROLL FORWARD

A second advanced OLTP feature found in the c-tree Server is "roll forward." This is used routinely as part of the Dynamic Dump backup feature of the server to play back any transactions that took place during a backup. In case of a catastrophic failure, a utility (ctfdmp) is provided that allows a full roll forward from the archived transaction logs. This allows a server administrator to restore a file and then play back the transactions that took place after the backup.

Details on how to use this powerful feature are described in the section “System Roll Forward” of the c-tree Server Administrator’s Guide.