From: Richard David 
Subject: Re: Complete NewBie

Hi Joep,

Joep Leurs wrote:

> I am searching for information about the basics of Ingres. Specially I
> am searching for information about the Ingres Database File Format.

- You don't need to know the database file format. The Ingres DBMS Engine
  has all the tools you need to manipulate your database.

> - Is Ingres something like "MS Access", or does it contains more
> elements ?

- No, not really! ;-)

> - What sort of file format a Ingres database consist of ?

- Historically, Ingres has used 'cooked' (O/S files) for storing data. Log
  files can be 'cooked' or 'raw'.
- Each database has one root data location called 'ii_database'
- Subsequent data locations can be defined using accessdb (use infodb
   to see how a database is laid out)
- Each data location can store table files
- Most tables can be 'striped' over multiple location
- Each database has a system catalogue called 'iifile_info' which will give
  you a clue as to how ingres maps its tables to O/S files.
- The binary data held within each O/S file is NOT easy to understand and
  becomes even more difficult when high compression is used.

> - Is every data received, stored in only one database file, or are there
> multiple files when storing data on a system ?

  I think that that question has already been answered.

> - Searching information (to start) on internet is difficult, but are
> there links where I can start at ?

  Try the following URLs:-

  http://www.naiua.org/faqs.html
  http://www.cai.com/ingres/
  http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/2731/   (a bit slow at times)

> I hope somebody can answer the questions I mentioned here above

  I hope that I have.