RE: Need technical advise on switching Mfg/Pro to Oracle DB
From: Tammy Lonsberry
Date: 7 Mar 2007
Real,
I'll pipe in from the developer perspective. I've gone through an Mfg/Pro
implementation on Oracle with lots of custom code, but this was a while ago
(Mfg/Pro 8.6e), so my knowledge could be outdated.
In a nutshell, I agree with everything that Bruce & Geoff have said. You
will not be eliminating anything; you'll still need a Progress DBA (albeit
part time and this is easily outsourced, as was mentioned).
You'll be adding complexity and cost, not removing it. Both in terms of DBA
skills and programming skills. There are a few special programming rules,
mostly due to the fact that Oracle commits data to the database at different
times than Progress, but these have been well documented by QAD in their
programming guidelines.
I'd say that your company needs to prove a strong business case for this
change to make the headaches worth it!
Good Luck,
Tammy Lonsberry
Sr. Programmer/Analyst
Sungate Solutions, Inc.
8b4a52fe-9ac3-7dbb-de11-b201cc897b3e
Office: 847.628.4796 - Fax: 847.608.0552 - Cell: 630-370-8897
http://www.sungate-solutions.com
-----Original Message-----
From: [mailto:] On Behalf Of Bruce
McIntyre
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 11:28 AM
To:
Subject: RE: Need technical advise on switching Mfg/Pro to Oracle DB
I would agree with Geoff.. This will probably raise your costs and
complexity. Unless it is a religious requirement, you are probably better
off keeping Progress for many of the reasons already defined.
Again, using available proactive monitoring tools, one of the existing
Progress partners such as Geoff or PICS can remotely monitor your Progress
environment, and provide proactive support when needed. You should be able
to outsource virtually all of your Progress requirements if it becomes an
availability problem, whereas that becomes more difficult for Oracle (unless
you have lots of money to spend.)
Work with a Progress partner to develop a support plan to fit your
requirements.
Bruce McIntyre
-----Original Message-----
From: [mailto:] On Behalf Of
ae0b643c-b939-8280-de11-7203ef9c7ff9
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 11:20 AM
To:
Subject: Re: Need technical advise on switching Mfg/Pro to Oracle DB
Thank you very much for the precious advise Bruce and Geoff.
The main goal of this conversion is to get rid of the Progress Database
Administration side. We already have some Oracle systems but only one person
who assumes the role of both Progress and Oracle DBA. This person has a
crucial role and becomes very difficult to replace. The question is: will
the conversion and system maintenance and development costs be cheaper, in
the mid to long-term run, than keeping and supporting both environments.
I would also realy like to hear from developers and managers out there who
have gone through this process. If any of you would be willing to give us
some of your time for a phone discussion with a few of our developers, this
would be so helpful.
Please don't be shy. Write to me directly if you wish. Whatever useful
information I learn, I will share with the rest of the Peg community without
identifying you, if this is your wish.
Thanks again!
R�al Morin
ae0b643c-b939-8280-de11-7203ef9c7ff9
-----Original Message-----
From: "Bruce McIntyre" <ae0b643c-b939-8280-de11-7003e487f4c5>
To:
Date: 2007-03-07 10:29:46
Subject: RE: Need technical advise on switching Mfg/Pro to Oracle DB Thanks
Geoff, and since it has been quite a while since I worked on the conversions
with QAD, things have changed. Again it points out why bringing in someone
with direct experience in working with the combination of Progress and
Oracle.
-----Original Message-----
From: [mailto:] On Behalf Of Geoff
Crawford
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 10:25 AM
To:
Subject: Re: Need technical advise on switching Mfg/Pro to Oracle DB
At 09:53 AM 3/7/2007, ae0b643c-b939-8280-de11-7203ef9c7ff9 wrote:
>Bonjour Peggers,
>
>Mfg/Pro eB2.1 SP3, HP UX, OpenEdge
>Add-ons: Vertex, Trax, Eagle Bar code
>
>My company is seriously considering converting our MFG/Pro system
>from Progress to Oracle database and I would like to hear from
>people who have gone through the conversion process.
>
>My questions are mostly on the programming side. I heard there are
>very few program changes required to the vanilla QAD code. Is this
>true? What about the custom programs - what type of
>incompatibilities should we expect there? We use schema and session
>triggers for many of our customizations. Will these be a problem?
>
>Any reading suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
>
Bruce is right about a lot of things. In particular
that QAD has done the work in their software.
But it's also true that the DataServer quirks have
changed since the time that work was first done,
and it may not be as difficult dealing with
them compared to when QAD had to.
That said, your customizations could be a big problem,
there isn't a way to know without someone who really
has that DataServer experience go through them.
I don't think the fact that there are session triggers
will compound anything. But database triggers could
be a huge issue. I don't want to be overly alarmist
but unless there are just some non-cross trable
transactions for things like audit trails, the db
triggers could well be a huge issue not only in
an Oracle conversion, but even in the every day
running of the system if you don't. It's an area
requiring a great deal of caution.
You may want to go over more details to that effect.
=====================================================================
Geoff Crawford Phone: (973) 361 - 4224
Innov8 Computer Solutions, LLC FAX: (973) 537 - 6946
711 Route 10 East, Suite 204 Email: b21b0721-86d0-328b-de11-69013e0103b7
Randolph NJ 07869 Web: http://www.innov8cs.com
Progress Blog: http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/database/progress/
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