License and No.of Users

[rajeev.babu]

Hi,

I had an interview last week and the questions asked that I was not able to answer is below. I am not able to find the answers anywhere in internet too.

1) We have got the license of 100 users. Is it possible to connect 110 users at a time.

2) How a bi file and ai file look like and asked me to explain about that file contents. how it is stored and all.

Regards,
R.Rajeev Babu

 

[RealHeavyDude]

You do not reveal your Progress/OpenEdge version.

1. With OpenEdge 10 Progress introduced a new licensing model ( registered client and named user ) but allowed customers to migrate their V9 licenses ( typically concurrent user ) to OpenEdge 10. You need to look at the license addendum to know what license we're are talking about. Apart from that, from a technical point of view, it is possible to connect more processes to the database as user licenses you've purchased from Progress. Whether it is a violation of your aggreement with Progress depends on the licensing model and what counts as a "user" in that context.
2. The usage of the BI and AI ( before image and after image, respectively ) is very well documented in the documentation that comes with the product. Have a look into the database administration guide. The BI is mandatory - without it the database is corrupt, whereas the AI is optional ( although I recommend anybody running a database of any value to make use of it ). Both of them are files which are stored on disk.

Heavy Regards, RealHeavyDude.

 

[MaximMonin]

Hi,
2) How a bi file and ai file look like and asked me to explain about that file contents. how it is stored and all.

bi - uncommited transaction in db. Used to roll back transactions if db crashed/process crashed or process/user applies end-key, end-error, stop events.
ai - commited db changes after last backup.

 

[rajeev.babu]

My doubt is that how can I assign to use a 110 users in a progress v9 of 100 users licensed software. what command or where I can set it. how can I find the details of my licenses. what are all the different licenses.

I have a knowledge about bi and ai files. my doubt is that I want to view the ai file. I want to study about the how the file and the datas are allinged inside AI file. I know how the ai file process and the need of the file. eg: I used to open jp2, dicom files in editplus and anlayse how the datas are alligned inside a jp2 image file. I use to do coding in C++ to extract the header part of the file.

Likewise I want to know how to read an AI file. Is it Possible.

Thanks in Advance.

 

[RealHeavyDude]

Progress does not have any license management built into the product. From a technical point of view only the workgroup database license has a technical limit of maximum 63 processes that can be connected to the database simultaneously. The enterprise database license ( which I suppose you use because otherwise you would not be able to connect 100 users simultaneously to the database ) does not have any restriction.

Next you need to define what's a user and what's a process that is connected to the database - which is not the same. For example, one human user can start the same application on the same client PC twice. In this scenario you'll wind up having two processes connected to the database on behalf of one user ...

Detailed information about the licenses installed can either be taken from the license addendum which was shipped with the installation media or can be downloaded from the download center, or you use the showcfg from the command line.

Other than that there is the infamous .lic file which you find in the same directory where the database ( .db ) resides. But it will only tell you how many processes are connected to that database at a certain time. Therefore it can't tell you anything about violating the installed license or not.

Is there any particular reason as to why you "need" to make the contents of the before image and after image visible. I don't see absolutely no sense in doing this with the before image - it's an integral part of the database which is used by the crash recovery, which is a process you can't influence whatsoever. Almost the same is true for the after image. It's an integral part of you disaster recovery strategy. The only influence on it you can have, is, when you roll forward an after image, you can supply a time stamp or a transaction number to which you want to roll forward.

Regards, RealHeavyDude.

 

[rajeev.babu]

Thanks....It explains all about licenses.

There is absolutely no reason to know about the contents of AI and BI file. It was my interview question that How an AI file look like. How the Notes are written to AI file. So just curious about the answer.

From where I can download the Fathom Management and Roundtable TSMS.

Thanks again.

 

[RealHeavyDude]

Short answer, the AI is stored in a proprietary vendor-chosen format which is not meant to be available to be viewed in an editor or interpreted by any process other than the database utilities provided by the vendor - like the database itself. Therefore it's exact format is not disclosed by Progress and the question is not applicable.

You can download the Fathom Management ( which is now called OpenEdge management ) and Roundtable from the download center. For these to be available to you in the download center you have two options:

1. Purchase the corresponding licenses from Progress
2. Order trial licenses for these products from Progress ( best is if you contact your local Progress sales rep - he should be able to provide you with trial licenses ).

Heavy Regards, RealHeavyDude.

 

[rajeev.babu]

thanks a lot

 

[SSuhaib]

There was an excellent explanation by Tom Boscom on this topic. I tried to search but couldn't find. Try searching all the archives and if found please paste the URL.

 

[tamhas]

For more explanation about licenses, you might see http://communities.progress.com/pcom/thread/34744?tstart=0

 

[TomBascom]

You may be thinking of this: License count -n setting watchdog and odbc connections

 

[SSuhaib]

Thank you both Tamhas & Tom.