ADABAS
ADABAS (an acronym for Adaptable DAta BAse System[1]) is Software AG’s primary database management system.
History
Initially released in 1971[2] on IBM mainframe systems using DOS/360, OS/MFT or OS/MVT, ADABAS, as of 2014, is available on a range of other systems including zVSE, zOS, Unix, Linux, and Microsoft Windows servers.[3] ADABAS has Parallel Sysplex support, real-time replication capability, and SQL and XML access. Historically, ADABAS was used in conjunction with Software AG's programming language NATURAL, so that many legacy applications that use ADABAS as a data base on the back-end are developed with NATURAL.
Technical information
ADABAS is an inverted list data base, with the following characteristics or terminology:
- Files, not tables, as the major organizational unit
- Records, not rows, as content unit within the organizational unit
- Fields, not columns, as components of a content unit
- No embedded SQL engine. SQL or another external query mechanism must be provided. SQL access is provided by the ADABAS SQL gateway. It provides ODBC, JDBC and OLE DB access to ADABAS and enables SQL access to ADABAS using COBOL programs.
- Search facilities may use indexed fields or non indexed fields or both.
- Does not natively enforce referential integrity constraints, i.e. parent-child relations must be maintained by application code.
- Supports two methods of denormalization: repeating groups in a record ("periodic groups"); and multiple value fields in a record ("multi-value fields").
ADABAS is typically used in applications that require high volumes of data processing or in high transaction online analytical processing environments.
ADABAS access is normally via direct calls, which Natural or and SQL Solutions perform under the covers. Much the same as Oracle data bases do.
See also
References
Bibliography
- Pratt, Philip J.; Adamski, Joseph J. (1987). DATABASE SYSTEMS: Management and Design. Boston: Boyd & Fraser Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87835-227-9.