Administration: Omnidex Fundamentals

Omnidex Environments

Overview

Omnidex Environments

An Omnidex Environment is a term that describes all the aspects an Omnidex database. This includes:

  • The Omnidex Environment File, an XML file containing selective metadata about the database and the Omnidex indexing.
  • The database, consisting of a relational database, a series of raw datafiles, a series of delimited files, or all three.
  • The Omnidex indexes and support files for the database.

Typically, an Omnidex Environment is a directory with subdirectories that contain all of these elements. This is often the most convenient approach since whole directories are easy to move and back up. In many cases, however, the database and indexes are large enough that they must span multiple disk drives or even machines. In that case, the Omnidex Environment refers to the entire collection, even though it is disbursed.

Omnidex Environment Files

An Omnidex Environment File is an XML file that contains all of the metadata about the database and the Omnidex indexing. It is created interactively using the Omnidex Administrator, or using SQL statements such as CREATE ENVIRONMENT, CREATE DATABASE, CREATE TABLE and CREATE INDEX. The metadata contained in an Omnidex Environment File includes:

  • Connection information for one or more databases or data files.
  • Schema layouts for tables and columns within the databases.
  • Constraint definitions establishing parent-child relationships between tables.
  • Omnidex indexing for the tables and columns within the databases.
  • Configuration information about the entire environment.

Omnidex Environments that connect to relational databases can be selective about which tables and columns are included. This can be helpful in that it can greatly reduce the number of tables and columns seen by the Omnidex application. This can also reduce maintenance on the Omnidex Environment since it will only have to be updated for changes to the tables it includes.

Omnidex Environment Files also serve an important role in connections. An Omnidex Connection String points to an Omnidex Environment File. This means that the Omnidex Environment File is the starting point for nearly every Omnidex operation.

Organizing an Omnidex Environment

An Omnidex Environment can be organized in any fashion to reflect the standards of an organization. If no overriding standards exist, Omnidex recommends the following directory structure for an Omnidex Environment. This example presumes a database named “simple”.*

Directory Description
/simple Root directory containing Omnidex Environment File
/simple/dat Directory containing any data files, such as raw data files or delimited files
/simple/idx Directory containing Omnidex indexes
/simple/sql Directory containing SQL files used in this environment
/simple/log Directory containing log files generated in this environment

* Note that this directory structure is not required, and any structure may be used.

Additional Resources

See also:

 
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admin/basics/environments/home.txt · Last modified: 2016/06/28 22:38 (external edit)