Benefits of Net
Ingres Net provides many benefits in your computing environment. With Ingres Net, you can do the following:
• Improve total system performance
Ingres Net lets you dedicate each node in a network to specific applications, tools, or databases. By doing so, you can optimize each node for a primary function and avoid the problem of designing for conflicting requirements.
• Build larger applications
When you are working with Ingres installed on just one machine, the number of users and applications you can support is limited by the capacity of the machine. With Ingres Net you can connect multiple machines and instances in a network to support larger applications and to handle more users.
• Simplify expansion
With Ingres Net, the network serves as a vehicle for expanding the computer environment. When more computing power is needed, add smaller, less expensive machines instead of replacing existing computers with larger, more costly machines. This preserves the existing hardware investment and allows expansion without disrupting productivity.
• Minimize data communication costs
Ingres Net uses the network efficiently. Together, the following features minimize the number of messages and the amount of data sent, thus minimizing data communication costs.
– The local Ingres program communicates with its remote data manager using the SQL language. Built on the relational model, SQL manipulates sets of records rather than a single record at a time. This allows the use of more compact commands and queries.
– The remote data manager carries out database access functions entirely on the remote node. Only data requested by the user is transmitted over the network to the local application. For example, in update operations, users are not requesting to see any data; they simply want to change some existing data. The remote data manager, therefore, carries out all the work.
• Improve resource sharing
Consider a company headquarters that must support a number of sales offices across the country. Although each sales office needs only a small on-site computer to support its few users, it must have access to the data stored in the large corporate database.
With Ingres Net, local data can remain on the local nodes, providing fast response to users in the local sales offices. These same users also have the advantage of sharing the large database maintained on the central computer at corporate headquarters when necessary without being required to house a copy of it on their local machine.
By connecting databases and applications on different machines, you can balance computer resources, promote data sharing, and improve access to an organization’s information.