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Oracle Rdb

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Oracle Rdb
Original author(s)Digital Equipment Corporation
Developer(s)Oracle Corporation
Initial release1984; 41 years ago (1984)
Stable release
7.4.1.1[1] / 2021-04-21[±]
Operating systemOpenVMS
Previously: Tru64, Windows NT, VAXELN
PlatformVAX, Alpha, IA-64 (Itanium), x86-64
TypeRelational database management system
LicenseProprietary
Websiteoracle.com/rdb Edit this on Wikidata

Oracle Rdb is a relational database management system (RDBMS) for the OpenVMS operating system. It was originally created by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1984[2] as part of the VMS Information Architecture, intended to be used for data storage and retrieval by high-level languages and/or other DEC products such as DATATRIEVE, RALLY, and TEAMDATA. The original name was VAX Rdb/VMS[3].

Product history

In 1994 DEC sold the Rdb division to Oracle Corporation where it was rebranded Oracle Rdb. As of 2020, Oracle is still actively developing Rdb, with over half of the codebase developed under Oracle's ownership.[4]. It currently runs on OpenVMS for VAX, Alpha and IA-64 (Itanium). It used to run on DEC Tru64 and Microsoft Windows NT. Demand for the Tru64 version was so low that support was dropped. The Windows NT port was never released as Oracle could not obtain support on the compilers necessary for this platform.

Rdb featured one of the first cost-based optimizers, and after acquisition Oracle introduced a cost-based optimizer in its regular Oracle RDBMS product.

On March 22, 2011, Oracle announced it has decided to end all software development on the Itanium, and that Oracle Rdb 7.3 would be the last major version released by Oracle. Due to a [filed by HP against Oracle], Oracle was ordered to continue porting its software to Itanium computers for as long as HP sells Itanium computers.[5] In August 2020, Oracle released the first 7.4 release of Rdb for both the Itanium and Alpha.[1]

In November 2020, Oracle announced that a port of Rdb 7.4 to the upcoming x86 release of OpenVMS is underway.[6]

Data access

Interactive access to the Oracle Rdb can be by SQL (Structured Query Language), RDO (Relational Database Operator), or both.

High level languages usually access Oracle-Rdb by:

  1. embedding RDO statements in the source file then running it through a precompiler
    (example: "file.RCO" is pre-compiled into "file.COB")
  2. embedding SQL statements in the source file then running it through a precompiler
    (example: "file.SCO" is pre-compiled into "file.COB")
  3. placing the SQL statements in a file external to the source code; this separate file is converted to object code by the "SQL Module Language" compiler, and the source code then references these SQL statements and, after compilation, the two are joined by the OpenVMS linker.
  example: $ SQL$MOD file_bas.sqlmod        -> file_bas.obj
           $ BASIC   file.bas               -> file.obj
           $ LINK    file.obj,file_bas.obj -> file.exe

A variation of example 3 allows "Dynamic SQL" to be created in the source code, and then used to communicate with Rdb via a structure known as SQLDA (SQL Descriptor Area).

On OpenVMS systems, Oracle Rdb is a popular (although expensive) upgrade path for applications written using Record Management Services (RMS) files.

References

  1. ^ a b "Oracle Rdb Product Family Compatibility Matrix". oracle.com.
  2. ^ Ian Smith, Rdb’s First 20 Years: Memories and Highlights // Oracle Rdb, 2003-2004
  3. ^ http://gordonbell.azurewebsites.net/digital/timeline/1984-1.htm
  4. ^ Oracle Rdb Statement of Direction // Oracle
  5. ^ Oracle Itanium
  6. ^ "Rdb/x86". group.google.com. 2020-11-12. Retrieved 2020-11-12.
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