Eloquence's new fast indexes get explored
July 26, 2012
The FTS fast indexing power of Eloquence 8.20 has gone into full release this month. Up at MB Foster HQ, training is underway this week on using this enhancement, as well as others, while designing migrated databases.
This week's design and programming workshop helps people understand how fast indexes apply to a database, "and how they might do database architecture based on the kinds of retrievals they'd want to perform," said CEO Birket Foster. DBFINDs, DBGETs, and DBINFOs in the Eloquence IMAGE compatibility module have extra commands in 8.20. "If you have migrated and have this new database, we'll help you take advantage of new features" in the Marxmeier product Eloquence.
Inside the new Eloquence IMAGE3k library:
- DBFIND mode 1 may be used to ensure compatibility with existing applications
- New TPI DBGET modes obtain the Fast Text Seach results
- DBGET modes 5 and 6 help you check compatibility with existing applications
- A TPI DBINFO has enhanced 8xx modes to support FTS
- DBCONTROL's mode 800 and 801 specify the FTS DBFIND behavior if no records qualify
The workshop is also covering forward logging and recovery techniques, database auditing, and database server replication. MB Foster's UDALink series of connectivity software allows access to Eloquence (and its new fast features) over HP-UX as well as Linux platforms.
"If you or your users feel the need for speed, you can do fast retrievals built right into Eloquence, without a table scan," Foster said. Minor changes to architecture can produce big results, he added. One example is speeding the searches which would drive a call center.
The innovation in FTS is that its search engine is implemented in the database. A basic functionality level is included in the base product. Extended FTS is a licensing option.
This kind of fast indexing was once a third-party add-on speciality of companies like DISC, which sold Omnidex to speed TurboIMAGE performance. The 8.20 Eloquence even has a separate library to integrate four of the most common Omnidex ODX calls.
Other features being explored in the new version include database encryption and item masking. The latter masks or blanks sensitive information upon retrieval. Database managers can control user authorization for masking. These enhancements help secure sensitive information to help meet the credit card PCI DSS requirements.