Goldstar Software Utilities: GSSync
PSQL-to-Any Replication and Data Exporting Tool
| License Type | Price (USD) | Links |
| Single User | $1500 | |
| Site License | $4000 | |
| 30-Day Trial | Free | |
GSSync is a Win32 command-line application that is designed to provide PSQL-To-Any replication capabilities, as well as a host of additional data extraction functionality.
The primary purpose of GSSync is to replicate data from an Actian Zen (formerly Actial PSQL, formerly Pervasive PSQL, formerly Btrieve) environment to ANY target environment. When configuring any replication environment, you need to have three basic elements -- the source data and the data definitions, the replication metadata, and the target data.
Source data for GSSync is always a PSQL database, but we have several options for defining the metadata that describes the data itself:
- Data Dictionary Files: DDF's are the most common source metadata, as they are included with many applications. Using DDF's is quick and easy.
- XML Files: Another metadata option is the XML File. For applications that do not provide DDF's, the XML file definition gives us not only the ability to understand the source data, but we can also support "non-standard" data types, such as 6-byte Floats.
- None: We can do a Btrieve-to-Btrieve replication with NO metadata!
Replication metadata is the second aspect that we must keep in mind. This is information that tells us which records have been changed on the source database, to make replication more efficient. GSSync supports the following replication metadata options:
- DataExchange: Actian's DataExchange tool provides PSQL-to-PSQL data replication only, but the metadata that it maintains is first-rate and is the most efficient way to track changes to the data. To use this, you must ensure that the application is compatible with DataExchange.
- Archive Files: Used only for very old database systems, PSQL Archive files can track changes to file sets as well. These are NOT a good candidate for replication, but it can make it possible to replicate some very old databases which are incompatible with DataExchange.
- GSSync Metadata: For moderate databases running at sites not willing to invest in DataExchange, we can track our own custom metadata by scanning all records during every replication cycle. This is a slower option, but it can be much cheaper and easier than replicating ALL records.
- None: We can also replicate all data every time!
The final aspect of replication is the target environment. GSSync can export data to the following target environments:
- Btrieve: GSSync can write data directly into a target Btrieve file, making a very simple (and incredibly fast) Btrieve-to-Btrieve replication environment.
- UNF Files: Similar to Btrieve files, the ubiquitous UNF file is commonly used by BUTIL to move data between environments.
- CSV Files: Comma-separated-value (also known as comma-delimited) files are commonly used for database imports and exports as well as through simple text files. Data from a CSV can be directly loaded into an Excel spreadsheet, too.
- VWL Files: If you are migrating data to Actian Vector as part of our Hybrid Data Strategy, then the VWLOAD format may provide the fastest data import solution on the Vector side, and you can export to multiple files simultaneously, useful for parallel loads into Vector. (Note that if you are going to move data to Vector, our DDF2XML tool will be invaluable in creating the Vector tables with the least fuss.)
- XML Files: GSSync can export data to one of two XML data formats, which can be helpful when working with replication to other targets that can accept the XML data as a source. XML files are like CSV files, but with some additional information embedded with the data.
- SQL Script Files: GSSync can create SQL statement scripts that replicate the changes. This allows you to export the data to a text file script, compress and transfer the script to the target server, and then execute the script in ANY SQL database.
- Direct to ODBC: GSSync can also send the SQL statements directly to any accessible ODBC data source, allowing for instantaneous Btrieve-to-Any replication!
GSSync also offers a number of data formatting options, including several output formats for boolean values, dates, times, and timestamp fields, as well as clean-up for bad text fields, handling of bad date fields, and more. It also offers an ability to filter the data being exported on a numeric expression, enabling you to limit what data is exported through a user-defined function. It even offers the ability to write data to multiple output files -- useful for migrating large data sets.
As a command line tool, GSSync can easily be scheduled by any command scheduler such as AT or SCHTASKS, included with most operating systems. This allows you to execute replication on whatever schedule you need. A scheduler (written in Powershell) is also provided that can handle most needs.
GSSync can be purchased as a single-user license or as a LAN site license. We can also provide licensing information for developers if you are interested in including GSSync with your application to enable replication for your customers. Click the links above, or contact us for more details!
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