SMP support for high performance on multiple CPU systems including Dual/Quad-core CPUs.  InterBase is one of the fastest databases available  and through its built-in SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) it seamlessly scales to multiple CPUs. SMP support is included with no additional licensing required.

Interbase-XE3 combines performance benefits of a multi-generational architecture with peace of mind of log-based journaling and disaster recovery. Easy installation, small footprint, automatic crash recovery, self-tuning, Unicode, built-in SMP support, SQL 92 compliance, and near zero maintenance makes InterBase SMP the ideal database for embedded and business-critical small-to-medium enterprise server applications.

Journaling -

Journaling with Write Ahead Logging (WAL) technology improves VLDB management, and facilitates disaster recovery

Journals are short lived files that represent all of the changes required to complete all transactions that occur within their checkpoint timeframe. When you turn journaling on, you specify the checkpoint in terms of the number of changed pages and/or the amount of time that has passed, and also a file size (length).

Journals work like this:

• Forced writes are turned off to the database file, all writes are now asynchronous
• Forced writes are turned on to the journals, all writes are now synchronous
• As the pages are changed, they are written to the journals
• A separate thread is processing these page updates and applying them to the database in a more efficient manner than normally available (clustering page updates, etc)
• At Checkpoint, all changes are flushed to the database to ensure consistency in the database file
• At LENGTH, the journal files roll over to a new file. The old one is kept and reused for the next rollover (it is renamed and overwritten).
• If the server dies before the journal contents are written to the database file, on startup, a short term recovery is started and the database is bought up to date.

Journals increase performance as long as they are kept on a different disc from the main database because:

• The change to delayed writes for the database
• The greater level of intelligence available to the database when writing pages back to the disc - it is able to amalgamate consecutive pages perhaps from different transactions and write them sequentially
• All writes to journals are being done sequentially rather than randomly

Journaling provides a mechanism to increase performance with multiple discs. Journals provide a far greater performance improvement in situations where the database has been put into forced write mode because of reliability concerns. Typically this is done in small organizations where there is no battery backup or RAID set ups. Forced writes operate at ten times slower than delayed writes, thus making journaling an attractive option while retaining the same level of reliability.

Database and Column-level Encryption - 

Interbase-XE3 now supports the use of either weak (DES) or strong (AES) encryption to encrypt a Database and/or individual columns in a Database table, providing ultimate security for data and communications between Servers and Clients.

Over-the-Wire (OTW) Network Encryption -

Typically, data encrypted at the database (or column-level) is not encrypted during the transmission process.  OTW encryption, however, allows us to do just that: encrypt data as it is communicated over a network from a Client to a Server.  With OTW encryption, Abacus 21 can encrypt network transmissions with the same strength as was used to encrypt the database or columns.  You can use weak or strong encryption, though to use strong (AES) encryption, you must obtain an optional strong encryption license, available at no additional charge.

Encryption of Backup Files -

When we encrypt a Database and/or any of its columns, we also can encrypt the Backup files for that Database.   Then we decrypt the Backup files during the Restore process.  This adds an additional layer of protection to your data.

Interbase-XE3 To-Go Edition -

Abacus 21 also offers the new InterBase To-Go Edition -- a small, portable version of the Desktop Edition. Target applications for the To-Go Edition include small devices and public kiosks.  Used in the To-Go edition form, InterBase does not have to be separately installed on any Server or End-User Workstation.

Journal Archiving provides disaster recovery in the event a database becomes unavailable due to hardware or software failures that may make the primary database permanently inaccessible

Journals add to the reliability of your system when Journal Archiving is turned on. Journal archives are designed for long term recovery, and when activated do two things:

• They take a copy of your database as of the time you created the journal archive (a database dump, the same technology that is used for the incremental backups.
• When a journal hits its length, it is archived instead of being “deleted” (re-used). The journal is copied to the Journal Archive directory.

Journaling Summary

By using the new journaling capability, sites that use InterBase can dramatically increase their reliability - even in single server, single disc situations. Journaling is typically considered a VLDB capability, but it need not be.  Even small Servers with the addition of a cheap second disc can achieve dramatically greater reliability for their data where only catastrophic failures (such as destruction of the server) will result in data loss.

Point-in-Time Recovery -

Point-in-time-recovery allows journal based recovery based on timestamp for greater recovery flexibility.

Point-in-time recovery allows you to recover to a specific point in time if you wish - you just specify the time when recovering the database and it will apply all transactions up to that point.

On-Line Dump -

On-line Dump provides Backup for seamless incremental Backup.

The Incremental Backup (on-line dump) feature is a physical backup mechanism. It backs up the physical pages of the database to “dump” files.  The incremental backup feature ensures that the output dump files represent the on-disk state of the database as of the instant the online dump was started, so transaction and page consistency are maintained in the process.

You can use the incremental backup as a staging area from which a logical GBAK can be performed, so that your production database is not adversely affected.  To do this, send the on-line dump to a remote machine and do the logical GBAK backup on that remote machine. This will also allow you to run a database validation because validation requires exclusive database access, which cannot be obtained on a production database unless that database is shut down.

Additionally, this feature allows you to create incremental dumps that write only those database pages to the dump files that have been modified since the last time a full/incremental dump was successfully completed. It also provides a means for you to move or copy a multi-file database to a different location. This was not possible previously because there was no way to modify the encoded file names stored on the primary and secondary header pages of the database files.

Batch Updates -

Batch Updates allow sending a group of SQL statements, reduces the network traffic resulting in improved performance, especially in LAN and WAN environments

Batch updates is a new feature in InterBase 2007 which allows you to put a large amount of DML together in one bundle (up to 2 GB) and send it to the InterBase server. The client then gets back an array of responses. The reason this is faster is that there is no back and forth for each statement between the client and the server, and the server is able to “look-ahead” to make better judgments about what the client wishes it to do.

Additional New Features -

Server Edition
Interbase-XE3 Server Edition features a scalable, portable, cross-platform database, ideal for mission critical enterprise or embedded applications.

Interbase-XE3 Server Edition delivers high performance for applications with complex business logic and high concurrent user levels through its symmetric multiple processing support and multi-threaded architecture.  Built-in SMP allows enterprises greater scalability with support for Dual/Quad-core and additional CPUs built-in, no additional licensing required.  Fast, easy installation, a small footprint, automatic crash recovery, self-tuning, and near-zero maintenance make InterBase SMP the ideal solution for embedded, turn-key applications such as Abacus 21's.  SQL-92 compliance, advanced data reliability and recovery, Unicode, numerous connectivity options, and support for Windows® make Interbase-XE3 perfect for high-powered, cost-effective business-critical Server application enterprises.

Desktop Edition
Interbase-XE3 Desktop Edition for Windows is a powerful, cost-effective deployment solution for standalone applications.

Through its integration with RAD Studio, Delphi®, C++Builder®, 3rdRail, and JBuilder® development tools, InterBase Desktop Edition enables the rapid development of sophisticated business applications.  With a small operational footprint, capabilities for automatic crash recovery and incremental Backup, InterBase SMP Desktop Edition is an ideal embedded database for broad, cost-effective deployments that lack IT support and administration resources.

To-Go Edition
The new Interbase-XE3 To-Go Edition is a completely embeddable, full-featured, zero-administration database that enables ISVs and OEMs to bring their applications and solutions to market faster. The To-Go Edition allows deployment of applications that utilize the InterBase engine DLLs. No separate database server process is running; the database engine is executing in the application process space. InterBase To-Go provides the benefits of InterBase in an extremely small footprint.

Developer Edition
Interbase-XE3 Developer Edition provides all developers the best cross-platform database to build and test database applications for embedded and SME segments. Developers are free to choose the standard connectivity they want, and make use of a mature SQL92 compliant database for their applications. Database performance monitoring allows the developer to streamline applications for optimal deployment.

Reasons to Upgrade to Interbase-XE3 -

Durability to protect data and sustain high availability:

To further improve availability, InterBase® SMP 2007 offers new enhancements for protection against failures and increased disaster recovery options through log-based journaling for short-term recovery, and journal archiving for long-term recovery in the occurrence of hardware system failures. In addition, InterBase SMP 2007 introduces Online Dump of database files and Point-in-Time Recovery from archives.

The portable, international, cross-platform database allows for growth and flexibility:

Interbase-XE3 Server Edition is certified to run without modification on Windows®, Linux, Solaris™, and Mac OS® X. This enables deployment to a wide variety of platforms without having to rewrite code. The database is fully portable between platforms, and also from InterBase SMP 2007 Desktop Edition to Interbase-XE3 Server Edition, allowing for flexible deployment. In addition, Interbase-XE3 supports international deployment for international character sets, including the latest Unicode, UTF-8 and UCS2.Framework components as well as other updates and enhanced documentation.

When performance matters:

Interbase-XE3 is one of the fastest native databases available, and through support for SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) it scales to multiple CPUs, including multi-core CPUs. Performance enhancements and optimizations have been added in a number of areas, such as batch updates, query optimizations, and OLTP improvement via journaling. InterBase implements a multi-generational architecture providing unique versioning capabilities that result in high data availability for transaction processing users and decision support users—simultaneously. Support for multiple simultaneous instances of InterBase on the same machine provides application isolation and load balancing.

Embed–Deploy–Relax:

Interbase-XE3 combines simple installation and automatic crash recovery, with a self-tuning engine that makes it well suited for embedding. It is ideal for ISVs, OEMs, and VARs who require a database that is very compact in memory and disk size without compromising sophisticated features to support high-powered, business-critical applications. And, unlike many other enterprise databases that require expensive ecosystems of support and maintenance, InterBase SMP 2007 is virtually maintenance free

Built for Developers:

Developers using CodeGear RAD Studio, which includes Delphi® and Delphi for .NET, and C++Builder®, as well as JBuilder®, 3rdRail and other tools can leverage a wide range of standard database connectivity options through ODBC, JDBC, ADO.NET, and IBX. Transaction monitoring facilities provide developers with granular database controls for viewing, starting, stopping, and rolling back transactions, processes, and queries. InterBase, compliant with SQL92 standards, offers developers everything they can expect from an SQL database: triggers, stored procedures, and views, as well as advanced concepts such as domains and event alerters.