Moving Adabas Data into a Relational Database
There are several ways to move Adabas data into a relational database:
The extract and load approach
Most relational databases have "bulk mode" import tools that will read data from a text or binary file and place it into the database. A program is written to extract the data into a text file (using the same formats as the relational schema) and transfer the text files from the Adabas system to the relational database system. The relational database table schemas are manually created and a database utility is run to load the files into the table(s). This was the common approach used in the past simply because there was no other way to accomplish the task. But there are several problems with this option:
There are many manual steps involved in the process.
You can move only a snapshot of the data into the relational database. Each time current data is required in the relational database, the process must be repeated.
Using the relational database vendors ETL tools
Many relational databases, such as Oracle, SQL Server, and DB2, have GUI-based tools that make it easy to move data from other sources into their database using an OLEDB or ODBC driver. SQL Server is an example of a relational database that comes with a set of powerful data management tools. When using SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) combined with an OLEDB Driver for Adabas (Adabas CONNX SQL Engine), it only takes a few clicks to move a snapshot of Adabas data into SQL Server.
These tools make the extraction and load of the data very easy in comparison to bulk loading data, but there are still problems:
It's a manual process.
It's a data snapshot. The process must be repeated every time current data is needed.
The real-time changed data capture approach
Change data capture detects changes to data on a "source" database and replicates those changes to a "target" database in real-time (sub-second replication). InstantdbSync can replicate data from one Adabas database to another Adabas database for backup or disaster recovery purposes. It can also replicate Adabas data to relational databases.
There are two advantages to this technology:
Once the replication has been established, no further effort or manual steps are required. The replication will continue to run in the background until directed otherwise.
The data in the Adabas target or the target relational database is not a one-time snapshot, but a living copy of the data that is kept in real-time synchronization with the source data in Adabas. This allows transactional applications to continue to benefit from Adabas high-speed performance and opens the door for using SQL-based data analysis and reporting tools against the relational copy.