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From: jensen@skinfaxe.diku.dk (J|rgen Jensen)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Share table between databases in Informix?
Keywords: Informix, shared table, multiuser
Message-ID: <1990Aug29.165603.15697@diku.dk>
Date: 29 Aug 90 16:56:03 GMT
Sender: news@diku.dk (The Netnews System)
Distribution: comp
Organization: Department Of Computer Science, University Of Copenhagen
Lines: 55


I remember seeing out of the corner of the eye in this group
someone mentioning a problem with an Informix database where some
of the files (tables?) were not physically located with the rest
of the stuff in the usual place, but in some other directory
somewhere else.

In order for Informix to know about these somewhere-else files
you apparently specified the (full?) path of "somewhere-else" in
connection with the CREATE TABLE operation, and this path was
then saved in a system table.

Now, I'm not looking for what the problem was, but rather I would
like to know which versions of Informix support this feature (or
hack) of beeing able to specify individual pathnames for tables.

I'm asking on behalf of a friend (don't they all say that:-) who
is running a Sinix *) incarnation of Informix's products, version
numbers around 2.x as far as I remember.

Now the questions (taken for granted that there *is* such a
feature):

   + from which version is this feature supported?

   + is it documented?  -- If not: how to use?

   + Might this feature be utilized in a set-up where several
     users with each their personalized database wants to do
     look-ups in a large shared table located somewhere else?

   + If so, is there any way to enforce readonly-access to this
     shared table as seen from the individual databases?  File
     access rights, e.g.?  (If this is in TFM we'll find it - but
     it's a year ago I did anything with Informix's things and I
     don't remember.)

   + Any drawbacks to this scheme?  As compared to the
     alternatives - which are: Copying the large file to all the
     personalized databases on regular basis, *or* incorporating
     the personalized databases into one aggregate monster
     mulituser database.

Any pointers to this would be appreciated.  Please mail me - I'll
summarize.

*) correct spelling might be "Sienix"? anyway it is *not* "The
   Singapore UNIX Association" in this context, but rather
   Siemens' variant of the well-known operating system.

   
Yours,
(if no .sig see From:-line)
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . j e n s e n
(jensen@diku.dk)