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Information About

Maxdb




MaxDB is targeted for large MySAP Business Suite environments and other applications that require maximum enterprise-level database functionality.

The homepage of MaxDB by MySQL is http://www.mysql.com/products/maxdb/.


HISTORY


The database development started in 1977 as a research project at the Technical University Of Berlin . In the early 80s it became a database product that subsequently was owned by Nixdorf Computer , Siemens-Nixdorf , Software AG and today by SAP AG . Along this line it has been named VDN, Reflex, Supra 2, DDB/4, Entire SQL-DB-Server and ADABAS . In 1997 SAP took over the software from Software AG and renamed it to SAP DB. Since October 2000 SAP DB sources additionally were released as open source under the GNU General Public License. In 2003 SAP AG and MySQL AB joined a partnership and re-branded the database system to MaxDB.

In 2003, SAP and MySQL concluded a partnership and development cooperation agreement. As a result, SAP's database system SAP DB has been delivered under the name of MaxDB by MySQL since the release of version 7.5 in November 2003.

Version 7.5 of MaxDB is a direct advancement of the SAP DB 7.4 code base. Therefore, the MaxDB software version 7.5 can be used as a direct upgrade of previous SAP DB versions starting 7.2.04 and higher.

The former SAP DB development team at SAP AG is responsible, now as before, for developing and supporting MaxDB. MySQL AB cooperates closely with the MaxDB team at SAP around delivering improvements to the MaxDB product. Both SAP AG and MySQL AB handle the sale and distribution of MaxDB. The advancement of MaxDB and the MySQL Server leverages synergies that benefit both product lines.

MaxDB is subjected to SAP AG's complete quality assurance process before it is shipped with SAP solutions or provided as a download from the MySQL site.


TOOLS

MaxDB is delivered with a complete set of administration and development tools. Most tools are GUI based and have CLI ( Command Line Interface ) based counterparts.

Tools for the database administrator:


Tools for the database developer:


The MaxDB tools can be compared to the following MySQL tools:



PROGRAM SPECIFICATIONS



Platforms


MaxDB 7.6. has been release for the following platforms:

  • HP-UX (HP-PA, ia64)

  • IBM AIX (Power)

  • Linux (x86_32, x86_64, ia64, PPC_64)

  • Sun Solaris (SPARC, x86-64 support planned)

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 (x86_32)

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (x86_32, x86_64, ia64)

  • Microsoft Windows XP (x86_32)


SAP users should check the details of the platform availability on the SAP product pages for the product that will be used together with MaxDB.


The latest production version


The latest production version is 7.6.00. 7.6.00 was released November 1, 2005 as GA (General Availability). The predecessor version 7.5.00, which was released in 2003, is also tagged as GA.


Future releases


The next release will have the name MaxDB 7.7.00. Recent presentations
on the product contain hints what can be expected for the next major
release and/or is considered as a possible future feature.

One possible future feature for 7.7.00 the use of Multiversion Concurrency Control (MVCC) instead of the current lock based implementation.

See http://dev.mysql.com/doc/maxdb/presentation.html for more hints.


Distinguishing features


MaxDB is a mature product with 30 year history. The system offers built-in hot backup, does not need any online reorganizations and claims to be SQL 92 Entry-Level compatible. One current development goal is "zero administration" and by this "low TCO".

Over the last years MaxDB has been intensively be improved, especially for mySAP Business Suite environments. You can expect very good OLTP performance combined with relatively low hardware requirements.

Uninterrupted operations and stability is another strength of MaxDB.


Source code specifics


MaxDB is Free Software / Open Source . You can download the source of MaxDB and compile
it on your own. The manual has the details.

See also http://dev.mysql.com/doc/maxdb/develop/cvs.html


Programming interfaces


MaxDB supports the following Programming Interfaces.

  • JDBC

  • ODBC

  • SQLDBC (native C/C++ interface)

  • Precompiler (to be {Link without Title} released soon)

  • PHP

  • Perl

  • Python

  • WebDAV

  • OLE DB, ADO, DAO, RDO and .NET via ODBC

  • Delphi and TCL via Third Party Programming Interfaces



SUPPORT


MySQL AB and SAP both offer commercial support.

SAP offers support contracts for MaxDB in combination with SAP application contracts. You are entitled to SAP support through your maintenance contracts with SAP.

MySQL AB offers MaxDB support for all other cases. The level of support ranges from per incident to 24x7. More information is available on the webpage MySQL Technical Support .

There is a community mailing list where users can help each other. You can subscribe to it on lists.mysql.com. Many of the core developers are subscribed to the list and are doing an excellent job in helping users. However, note that this is not an official support channel; It is for users helping users.

Both SAP and MySQL offer a web forum. For questions not related to SAP applications, you can use the MySQL MaxDB forum on http://forums.mysql.com. The forum contained in the SAP Developer network is the correct place for MaxDB questions related to SAP applications.


LICENSING


MaxDB has been licensed under the GNU GPL since version 7.2, and is
Free for use with FOSS projects. Consult the GPL for
situations falling outside of use in the FOSS community. Programming interfaces are licensed under
the GPL with exceptions for projects released under Open Source licenses.

For any proprietary (non-FOSS) usage of MaxDB, commercial licenses may be acquired from SAP for SAP-related usage, or from MySQL AB for non-SAP usage. Check the MySQL Licensing Policy for details.

From version 7.5 onwards distribution of SapDB to the FOSS
community has been provided by MySQL AB, the same company that
develops the Free/Open Source Software database, MySQL .
Development is done by SAP AG, MySQL AB , and
the FOSS community.


PROMINENT USERS

  • SAP AG

  • --- Used by the software company SAP to act as the data repository for the SAP suite of applications.

  • MySQL AB



SEE ALSO



EXTERNAL LINKS



Forums



General overview

  • MaxDB FAQ

  • http://www.mysql.com/products/maxdb/

  • http://dev.mysql.com/doc/maxdb/maxdb_faq.html#maxdb-faq-question-21 - marketing

  • History

  • http://dev.mysql.com/doc/maxdb/maxdb_faq.html#maxdb-faq-question-21

  • http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/maxdb-history.html

  • Platforms

  • http://dev.mysql.com/doc/maxdb/maxdb_faq.html#maxdb-faq-question-21

  • Programming interfaces

  • http://dev.mysql.com/doc/maxdb/interfaces.html

  • Support

  • http://dev.mysql.com/doc/maxdb/maxdb_faq.html#maxdb-faq-question-35

  • http://dev.mysql.com/doc/maxdb/maxdb_faq.html#maxdb-faq-question-33

  • http://dev.mysql.com/doc/maxdb/maxdb_faq.html#maxdb-faq-question-34

  • Licensing

  • http://dev.mysql.com/doc/maxdb/maxdb_faq.html#maxdb-faq-question-25

  • http://www.mysql.com/company/legal/licensing/index.html

  • Source from CVS