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Process documentation Use of SAPDBA with UNIX and NT  Locate the document in its SAP Library structure

Purpose

You can use SAPDBA with both UNIX and Microsoft Windows NT operating systems. However, be sure to take note of the differences between them. NT version has standard Microsoft Windows features

The NT version of SAPDBA has the standard Microsoft windows features. For example, you can access the help file which you are now reading directly from SAPDBA. Furthermore, SAPDBA for NT has a toolbar and a status line, which can be turned on or off. You can easily print SAPDBA reports by choosing File ® Print.

Process Flow

  1. If using SAPDBA with NT, you familiarize yourself with the following options, which are not available with UNIX:

Menu option

Explanation

Toolbar and Status Bar

Using these toggle options, you can modify the appearance of SAPDBA for NT, in the same way as with any other standard Microsoft Windows application. You can, for example, toggle the toolbar or the status line to appear or disappear.

Clear report

Using this function, you can clear the report area (this is the large central box where data is dynamically displayed by SAPDBA according to actions you take).

Refresh Info

Using this function, you can refresh the information appearing in the four heading lines at the top of all menu screens (for more information about the contents of these lines, see "Heading Lines in SAPDBA"). This is useful, for example, if you want to see how many users are currently connected to the R/3 System.

Language

Using this function, you can dynamically change the SAPDBA language to English or German.

  1. You familiarize yourself with the user interface for your platform. Whereas the UNIX interface is character-based, NT has a graphical user interface (GUI). This means that the menus appear in a different format for each operating system.
  1. When getting started with SAPDBA, you do not need to initialize screen handling for NT, although this is necessary with UNIX. Furthermore, with NT you can alter the language directly from within SAPDBA. See SAPDBA Setup.
  2. If you need to add chunks to extend dbspaces, you recognize that, due to environment differences in the operating system, chunks are assigned to drives with NT but to devices with UNIX. Refer to Listing Chunks with SAPDBA. For similar reasons, the report available under Listing Devices with SAPDBA has a different appearance with NT.

    3. However, the process of adding a chunk or a dbspace is similar and is very easy to understand with both operating systems. Refer to Adding a Chunk with SAPDBA and Adding a Dbspace with SAPDBA.

  3. If you are using NT, you recognize that the recovery reports are not available. This is because these reports assume that you are using ON-Archive , which is incompatible with NT. Refer to Recovery Report with SAPDBA.
  4. You read the documentation noting that it covers minor technical differences between SAPDBA-relevant functionality with the two operating systems.

Example

The Informix directory is referenced differently in UNIX and NT, $INFORMIXDIR with UNIX and %INFORMIXDIR% with NT.

Result

You can use SAPDBA successfully on both operating system platforms and are aware of the differences.