New Products, September 2005

BACKUP AND RECOVERY

Use Image Backups to Recover from Disaster

UltraBac Software released a significant update to the Pro and Gold editions of its UltraBac Disaster Recovery (UBDR) 2.0 software. UBDR Pro and Gold use image-based backup and disaster-recovery technology to provide fast recovery for Windows servers and workstations. The software uses image backups with a Windows-based universal boot CD environment to restore one or more disk partitions even when no OS is available. With this new release, the software can now restore the image of a failed server to a virtual environment. This new physical-to-virtual (P2V) capability gives organizations the ability to quickly recover a machine's image and emulate the restored hardware configuration virtually. Administrators can also use the software to restore a physical server to a VMware virtual server by creating a virtual environment on a host server, then using the software to boot into the recovery wizard. After restoring to a virtual environment, administrators can plan a physical migration to a new hardware configuration if and when it's needed. P2V capability means customers can reduce their need for extra hardware for disaster recovery. Pricing for UBDR Pro starts at $595 per server and includes the ability to back up an unlimited number of workstations. For other pricing and information, contact UltraBac Software at 425-644-6000, [email protected], or http://www.ultrabac.com.

JOB SCHEDULING TOOL

Improve SQL Server Auditing and Scalability

Cybermation announced ESP Espresso 4.4, a distributed enterprise job-scheduling solution that provides single-point control across OSs, platforms, and applications. The product, which supports all ERP solutions, lets you efficiently manage job scheduling in very large data centers in heterogeneous environments so that you can tightly control crucial data. ESP Espresso automates background processes, creates dependencies among those processes, and integrates management of your whole environment. The product lets you centralize audit logs so that you can easily track and report job changes to find out who made the changes and when. And with ESP Espresso, you can use traditional SQL Server job-scheduling or set up event-driven or workload automation, which triggers automated jobs based on database activity. For pricing and other information, contact Cybermation at 800-268-3338, 905-707-4400, or http://www.cybermation.com.

DATA-INTEGRATION TOOL

Use XQuery for Data Integration

DataDirect Technologies announced the beta of DataDirect XQuery, an embeddable XQuery implementation for XML applications that need to process both XML and relational data sources. XQuery is a W3C standard native XML query and transformation language. Because most types of data can be represented as XML, you can use XQuery to query other types of data—such as relational data—by using an XML view of a relational database. This ability is important because many Web applications need to integrate information from multiple sources, including data found in Web messages, relational data, and various XML sources. DataDirect XQuery simplifies working with XML and relational data together, allowing Java developers to programmatically invoke and process XQuery expressions against any major relational database, including SQL Server, Oracle, and IBM DB2, directly from within their Java applications. DataDirect XQuery installs easily; doesn't require its own server infrastructure, and is scalable from desktop to enterprise applications. To register to participate in the DataDirect XQuery beta program or for more information, contact DataDirect at 800-876-3101, 919-461-4200, or http://www.datadirect.com/products/xquery.

DATA-TRANSFORMATION TOOL

Transfer XML Data

HiT Software announced Allora 4.1, software that enables bi-directional data transformation between XML and any database. Allora's graphical mapping tool, extensive APIs, runtime middleware engine, and GUI offer a convenient way to export data from any relational database to XML or map and transform XML data to relational data. The main enhancement in the latest release is the multiple SELECT feature. Previous releases of the product could perform complex database-to-XML transformations by using a single SQL query. The new release offers an option to work with multiple sub-maps that join in realtime with XSL, a W3C language for transforming XML documents. With the multiple SQL query approach, Allora 4.1 can enable heterogeneous database migration. Rather than using database-specific SQL dumps or flat files that can't contain table relationships or constraints, you can persist your complete database structure and data into XML for easy access or transport and recreate the database on any other database platform at a minimum cost. Other enhancements in the Allora 4.1 Mapper include support for namespace definitions, complex database expressions, NetBeans 4.1, and stored procedures in Oracle packages. Allora 4.1 works with more than 20 different databases, including SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DB2, Sybase, and MySQL. A fully operational trial version of the software is available from the vendor's Web site. For pricing and other information, contact HiT Software at 408-345-4001, [email protected], or http://www.hitsw.com.

HIGH AVAILABILITY

Provide Server Availability

Xlink announced ClusterReplica MSSQL Edition 2.1, clustering software that uses data replication to provide high server availability. The product uses snapshot technology to provide realtime, open-file data replication, including replication of SQL Server database files and Windows registry files. This resource-efficient solution replicates only the bytes that change and uses minimum network bandwidth and hard-drive resources. New features in this release include a special tool that lets you extract system configurations for effective problem solving; improved performance of the cluster system's internal communication and data replication for better data protection and availability; and back-tracking of database files to solve problems associated with corrupt files and ensure successful SQL Server failover. Pricing for ClusterReplica MSSQL Edition starts at $799. For more information, contact Xlink at 408-263-8201, [email protected], or http://www.xlink.com.

SECURITY

Capture User Behavior

IPLocks announced IPLocks Information Risk Management Platform 5.0, a solution that detects vulnerabilities and suspicious data changes and automatically sends alerts. Designed for high-volume environments, IPLocks provides a non-intrusive, heterogeneous database-monitoring, assessment, audit-analysis, and reporting platform that addresses all key database security layers and helps you ensure data security, confidentiality, integrity, and availability for regulatory compliance. The software protects against abused valid user permissions, automates database-vulnerability assessments, proactively monitors for inappropriate READ, SELECT, and WRITE statements, and audits negligent and malicious user behavior. New features in IPLocks 5.0 include a high-speed data collector, which captures full SQL statements that define user activity and pinpoints when the activity took place. The new release also features a command-line interface that lets administrators use an external program or scheduler to create, schedule, and scan databases, automating large deployments of the IPLocks platform. For more information, contact IPLocks at 408-383-1037, [email protected], or http://www.iplocks.com.

TECHNICAL RESOURCE

Learn Practical Database Theory

O'Reilly announced Database in Depth, a book by Chris Date, who was a colleague of E. F. Codd and is a pioneer of database technology. In Database in Depth, Date writes for experienced database practitioners or other database professionals who "are honest enough to admit they don't understand the theory underlying their own field as well as they might, or should." The Fundamental ideas of the theory are simple, according to Date, but they're also frequently misrepresented or under appreciated. Date dispels many commonly held misconceptions about the relational model, explaining that: The term "relational" has nothing to do with relating two tables on a common set of columns; relations are multidimensional, not flat or two-dimensional; nulls are not values, even though the SQL standard calls them so; attributes of a relation can contain values of arbitrary complexity, including such things as arrays, XML documents, and even other relations; base relations don't necessarily have to be physically stored; and SQL is not a set-oriented language, but rather bag-oriented. Database in Depth is 208 pages long and costs $29.95. For more information, contact O'Reilly at 800-998-9938, 707-827-7000, or http://www.oreilly.com.