For systems that do not have the xterm libraries installed, please install these to use xterm, or set the DB_TERM environment variable to start Recital from a terminal:
DB_TERM=gnome-terminal; export DB_TERM
This setting can be added to the /opt/recital/conf/recital.conf (text) file to make it available system-wide.
Please note that the Recital ODBC Driver for Linux requires a 32 bit ODBC Driver Manager.
Centos 6:
sudo yum install zlib-devel.i686 pam-devel.i686(and accept dependencies)
Then run the installer in text mode
sudo ./recital-10.0.3-linux32.bin --mode textRun Recital with sudo the first time, to set the system filetype compatiblity settings.
sudo recitalAfter saving the compatibility settings, quit to exit, then run Recital as your preferred user.
> quit
$ recital
RedHat / Fedora family:
sudo yum install zlib-devel.i686 pam.i686(and accept dependencies)
Then run the installer in text mode
sudo ./recital-10.0.3-linux32.bin --mode textRun Recital with sudo the first time, to set the system filetype compatiblity settings.
sudo recitalAfter saving the compatibility settings, quit to exit, then run Recital as your preferred user.
> quit
$ recital
Ubuntu family:
sudo apt-get install ia32-libsIn later versions of Ubuntu, ia32-libs is obsolete. The following package should be installed:
sudo apt-get install lib32z1Ubuntu 12.04 and above also require the following:
sudo apt-get install libpam0g:i386Then run the installer in text mode
sudo ./recital-10.0.3-linux32.bin --mode textRun Recital with sudo the first time, to set the system filetype compatiblity settings.
sudo recitalAfter saving the compatibility settings, quit to exit, then run Recital as your preferred user.
> quit
$ recital
// determine how many Recital users are on the system nusers = pipetostr("ps -ef | grep db.exe | wc -l")
The best way to learn Recital is to build some applications. The developers of Recital have written a book "Recital Essentials" which you can read here.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc351024(VS.85).aspx
Here's how to set up field validation based on dynamic values from another table.
Using the products.dbf table from the southwind sample database, validation can be added to the categoryid field to ensure it matches an existing categoryid from the categories.dbf table.
open database southwindThe rlookup() function checks whether an expression exists in the index (master or specified) of the specified table . An attempt to update categoryid with a value not in the list will give an error: Validation on field 'CATEGORYID' failed.
alter table products add constraint;
(categoryid set check rlookup(products.categoryid,categories))
If you have access to the Recital Workbench, you can use the modify structure worksurface to add and alter your dictionary entries, including a customized error message if required.

// the click event handler private function onclick_sourcetree(e:Event):void { yourTree.editable = false; } // the doubleclick event handler private function ondoubleclick_sourcetree(e:Event):void { yourTree.editable = true; yourTree.editedItemPosition = {columnIndex:0, rowIndex:sourceTree.selectedIndex}; }
In this article Barry Mavin, CEO and Chief Software Architect for Recital, details on how to use the Client Drivers provided with the Recital Database Server to work with local or remote server-side JDBC data sources.
Overview
The Recital Universal .NET Data Provider provides connectivity to the Recital Database Server running on any supported platform (Windows, Linux, Unix, OpenVMS) using the RecitalConnection object.
The Recital Universal JDBC Driver provides the same functionality for java applications.
The Recital Universal ODBC Driver provides the same functionality for applications that use ODBC.
Each of the above Client Drivers use a connection string to describe connections parameters.
The basic format of a connection string consists of a series of keyword/value pairs separated by semicolons. The equals sign (=) connects each keyword and its value.
The following table lists the valid names for keyword/values.
Name | Default | Description |
---|---|---|
Data Source |
The name or network address of the instance of the Recital Database Server which to connect to. | |
Directory | The target directory on the remote server where data to be accessed resides. This is ignored when a Database is specified. | |
Encrypt |
false | When true, DES3 encryption is used for all data sent between the client and server. |
Initial Catalog -or- Database |
The name of the database on the remote server. | |
Password -or- Pwd |
The password used to authenticate access to the remote server. | |
User ID | The user name used to authenticate access to the remote server. | |
Connection Pooling |
false | Enable connection pooling to the server. This provides for one connection to be shared. |
Logging | false | Provides for the ability to log all server requests for debugging purposes |
Rowid | true | When Rowid is true (the default) a column will be post-fixed to each SELECT query that is a unique row identifier. This is used to provide optimised UPDATE and DELETE operations. If you use the RecitalSqlGrid, RecitalSqlForm, or RecitalSqlGridForm components then this column is not visible but is used to handle updates to the underlying data source. |
Logfile | The name of the logfile for logging | |
Gateway |
Opens an SQL gateway(Connection) to a foreign SQL data source on
the remote server.
servertype@nodename:username/password-database e.g. oracle@nodename:username/password-database mysql@nodename:username/password-database postgresql@nodename:username/password-database -or- odbc:odbc_data_source_name_on_server oledb:oledb_connection_string_on_server jdbc:jdbc_driver_path_on_server;jdbc:Recital:args |
To connect to a server-side JDBC data source, you ue the gateway=value key/value pair in the following way.
gateway=jdbc:jdbc_driver_path_on_server;jdbc:Recital:args
You can find examples of connection strings for most ODBC and OLE DB data sources by clicking here.
Example in C# using the Recital Universal .NET Data Provider:
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // include the references below using System.Data; using Recital.Data; //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // The following code example creates an instance of a DataAdapter that // uses a Connection to the Recital Database Server, and a gateway to // Recital Southwind database. It then populates a DataTable // in a DataSet with the list of customers via the JDBC driver. // The SQL statement and Connection arguments passed to the DataAdapter // constructor are used to create the SelectCommand property of the // DataAdapter. public DataSet SelectCustomers() { string gateway = "jdbc:/usr/java/lib/RecitalJDBC/Recital/sql/RecitalDriver;"+ "jdbc:Recital:Data Source=localhost;database=southwind"; RecitalConnection swindConn = new RecitalConnection("Data Source=localhost;gateway=\""+gateway+"\"); RecitalCommand selectCMD = new RecitalCommand("SELECT CustomerID, CompanyName FROM Customers", swindConn); selectCMD.CommandTimeout = 30; RecitalDataAdapter custDA = new RecitalDataAdapter(); custDA.SelectCommand = selectCMD; swindConn.Open(); DataSet custDS = new DataSet(); custDA.Fill(custDS, "Customers"); swindConn.Close(); return custDS; }
Example in Java using the Recital Universal JDBC Driver:
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// // standard imports required by the JDBC driver import java.sql.*; import java.io.*; import java.net.URL; import java.math.BigDecimal; import Recital.sql.*; ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// The following code example creates a Connection to the Recital // Database Server, and a gateway to the Recital Southwind database. // It then retrieves all the customers via the JDBC driver. public void SelectCustomers() { // setup the Connection URL for JDBC String gateway = "jdbc:/usr/java/lib/RecitalJDBC/Recital/sql/RecitalDriver;"+ "jdbc:Recital:Data Source=localhost;database=southwind"; String url = "jdbc:Recital:Data Source=localhost;gateway=\""+gateway+"\";
// load the Recital Universal JDBC Driver new RecitalDriver(); // create the connection Connection con = DriverManager.getConnection(url); // create the statement Statement stmt = con.createStatement(); // perform the SQL query ResultSet rs = stmt.executeQuery("SELECT CustomerID, CompanyName FROM Customers"); // fetch the data while (rs.next()) { String CompanyID = rs.getString("CustomerID"); String CompanyName = rs.getString("CompanyName"); // do something with the data... } // Release the statement stmt.close(); // Disconnect from the server con.close(); }
DRBD:
DRBD (Distributed Replicated Block Device) forms the storage redundancy portition of a HA cluster setup. Explained in basic terms DRBD provides a means of achieving RAID 1 behavoir over a network, where whole block devices are mirrored accross the network.
To start off you will need 2 indentically sized raw drives or partitions. Many how-to's on the internet assume the use of whole drives, of course this will be better performance, but if you are simply getting familar with the technology you can repartition existing drives to allow for two eqaully sized raw partitions, one on each of the systems you will be using.
There are 3 DRBD replication modes:
• Protocol A: Write I/O is reported as completed as soon as it reached local disk and local TCP send buffer
• Protocol B: Write I/O is reported as completed as soon as it reached local disk and remote TCP buffer cache
• Protocol C: Write I/O is reported as completed as soon as it reached both local and remote disks.
If we were installing the HA cluster on a slow LAN or if the geogrphical seperation of the systems involved was great, then I recommend you opt for asyncronous mirroring (Protocol A) where the notifcation of a completed write operation occurs as soon as the local disk write is performed. This will greatly improve performance.
As we are setting up our HA cluster connected via a fast LAN, we will be using DRBD in fully syncronous mode, protocol C.
Protocol C involves the file system on the active node only being notified that the write operation was finished when the block is written to both disks of the cluster. Protocol C is the most commonly used mode of DRBD.
/etc/drbd.conf
global { usage-count yes; }
common { syncer { rate 10M; } }
resource r0 {
protocol C;
net {
max-buffers 2048;
ko-count 4;
}
on bailey {
device /dev/drbd0;
disk /dev/sda4;
address 192.168.1.125:7789;
meta-disk internal;
}
on giskard {
device /dev/drbd0;
disk /dev/sda3;
address 192.168.1.127:7789;
meta-disk internal;
}
}
drbd.conf explained:
Global section, usage-count. The DRBD project keeps statistics about the usage of DRBD versions. They do this by contacting a HTTP server each time a new DRBD version is installed on a system. This can be disabled by setting usage-count no;.
The common seciton contains configurations inhereted by all resources defined.
Setting the syncronisation rate, this is accoimplished by going to the syncer section and then assigning a value to the rate setting. The syncronisation rate refers to rate in which the data is being mirrored in the background. The best setting for the syncronsation rate is related to the speed of the network with which the DRBD systems are communicating on. 100Mbps ethernet supports around 12MBps, Giggabit ethernet somewhere around 125MBps.
in the configuration above, we have a resource defined as r0, the nodes are configured in the "on" host subsections.
"Device" configures the path of the logical block device that will be created by DRBD
"Disk" configures the block device that will be used to store the data.
"Address" configures the IP address and port number of the host that will hold this DRBD device.
"Meta-disk" configures the location where the metadata about the DRBD device will be stored.
You can set this to internal and DRBD will use the physical block device to store the information, by recording the metadata within the last sections of the disk.
Once you have created your configuration file, you must conduct the following steps on both the nodes.
Create device metadata.
$ drbdadm create-md r0
v08 Magic number not found
Writing meta data...
initialising activity log
NOT initialized bitmap
New drbd meta data block sucessfully created.
success
Attach the backing device.
$ drbdadm attach r0
Set the syncronisation parameters.
$ drbdadm syncer r0
Connect it to the peer.
$ drbdadm connect r0
Run the service.
$ service drbd start
Heartbeat:
Heartbeat provides the IP redundancy and the service HA functionailty.
On the failure of the primary node the VIP is assigned to the secondary node and the services configured to be HA are started on the secondary node.
Heartbeat configuration:
/etc/ha/ha.conf
## /etc/ha.d/ha.cf on node1
## This configuration is to be the same on both machines
## This example is made for version 2, comment out crm if using version 1
// replace the node variables with the names of your nodes.
crm no
keepalive 1
deadtime 5
warntime 3
initdead 20
bcast eth0
auto_failback yes
node bailey
node giskard
/etc/ha.d/authkeys
// The configuration below set authentication off, and encryption off for the authentication of nodes and their packets.
//Note make sure the authkeys file has the correct permisisions chmod 600
## /etc/ha.d/authkeys
auth 1
1 crc
/etc/ha.d/haresources
//192.168.1.40 is the VIP (Virtual IP) assigned to the cluster.
//the "smb" in the configuration line represents the service we wish to make HA
// /devdrbd0 represents the resource name you configured in the drbd.conf
## /etc/ha.d/haresources
## This configuration is to be the same on both nodes
bailey 192.168.1.40 drbddisk Filesystem::/dev/drbd0::/drbdData::ext3 smb