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Embarcadero Technologies Inc. aims to make it easier to manage computing environments that run databases from several vendors.
Upgrades to the companys DBArtisan and SQL Debugger tools, to be announced this week, will let database administrators manage and develop applications across IBM, Oracle Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Sybase Inc. databases, even if they have expertise in only one of those platforms.
By providing this single point of control, the Embarcadero tools could reduce the cost of operating in an enterprise with multiple databases, said officials of the San Francisco company.
One early user, Netwave Corp., is testing a beta version of DBArtisan 7.0 to see if it can distribute the workload more equitably. Netwave typically has hired DBAs with specific skills for each of the four major DBMSes it runs and lets each administer his or her own domain, said John Baker, database consultant at the Columbus, Ohio, company. “This has worked well, except for when one platform is overwhelmed with work and another platform is not. This leaves us with very busy DBAs and not-so-busy DBAs,” Baker said.
“The idea is to take advantage of the DBAs that have less workload on a foreign platform instead of hiring more platform-specific consultants,” Baker said.
DBArtisan 7.0 can be used to store, retrieve, view and edit XML and other data types within the common user interface. Among the more than 30 enhancements are a graphical tablespace map, facilities for estimating the size of tables and indexes, and utilities for enhancing performance or eliminating bottlenecks. The built-in explorer adds the ability to navigate through IBMs DB2 Universal Database and create DB2 databases with a wizard.
DBArtisan 7.0 has a new SQL editor that replaces 4-year-old technology. New functions in this updated editor include the ability to record macros, which saves time.
Version 7.0s new UI editor and formatter provide syntax highlighting for PL/SQL, HTML, XML, Java and other languages.
Baker said he particularly likes DBArtisan 7.0s enhanced capability to alter tables.
SQL Debugger principally adds support for DB2 so that developers will experience the same look and feel when working with IBM databases as with Oracle, Microsoft and Sybase databases. Embarcaderos debugger has a new code- profiling interface that tells DBAs how long it takes each piece of code to execute and shows the dependencies to each line of code.
“Organizations often find they need to purchase or enhance applications that do not run on certain platforms, which opens the door for multiple databases,” Baker said. “As time marches on, the number of supported platforms tends to grow. When a new project comes up, it becomes a dilemma of which DBMS [to] choose for this new project, since we have them all.”
This story was edited to provide the correct name of Embarcadero Technologies.
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