How Notes to ODBC Works
The Sentinel can move data created or updated in Notes back to an ODBC data source. This data synchronization ability allows you to fully integrate your Notes application with the rest of the organization's data.
Points to Remember
1. Selected Fields: Not all Notes documents contain all of the same fields. Sentinel ignores missing fields. This eliminates the problem of exactly matching source Notes file with destination ODBC file.
2. Only those fields that already exist in the ODBC destination are updated. Any fields not found in the ODBC table are ignored. Sentinel does NOT perform table modifications. This is an intentional design. There are many Notes fields that you may not want in the ODBC destination, and we did not want to automatically change the table structure.
3. Using a select clause or Notes view allows a "fire wall" to the rest of the records in the SQL table. Select Country = "US" will only alter records whose country code is "US".
4. If you do not have write access to the SQL table, the Sentinel will be unable to proceed, and will return an error message. If this occurs, talk with your database administrator to find if you can be given write access.
Sample Task Form for Notes to ODBC
Performance Statistics
The following statistics are based on using a Pentium 100 processor.
1. Adds run at the rate of 100,000 per hour (Standard Test results available on request. Your times may vary).
2. Comparison with No Updates: If you re-run a Notes to ODBC task that needs no updates, performance in MayFlower laboratory tests exceeded 70,000 comparisons per hour.
3. Updates with Index on Key Field: Updates take longer than adds. Sentinel can update 30,000 records, when an index is present on the key field, and where the Sentinel actually changes each record, in 28 minutes.
4. Updates with No Index on Key Field: This time is a function of the number of records in the database. If there are over 10,000 records in the SQL table, and index is highly recommended. Without an index, the update via ODBC is a sequential operation, and can be too slow for large production systems.
5. Mixed Updates: A mixture of Comparisons and Updates, where you compare 30,000 records but only update 10% (3,000), will take about 5 minutes. (This is using an Index on the Key field).
Sample Uses
1. Many uses of this feature initially move data to Notes using ODBC to Notes. Users add additional information to this core information, which is sent back to the SQL table using Notes to ODBC. For example, Customers can be synchronized with a Notes database. Sales staffers can add a classification to the customer, which is sent back to the SQL database.
Tips and Techniques
1. This example requires the correct installation of the Microsoft Access ODBC Drivers. If you are unclear about the correct installation of the Microsoft Access ODBC Drivers, consult the ODBC Drivers Section of the Microsoft Windows Manual or read the On-Line Help Documentation provided with Windows.
2. Prior to loading an entire data set, we recommend making a copy of the SQL Destination Database and a small subset (20 to 30 records) of the actual file information. Run a test load and check your results prior to loading the actual Destination Database with the complete file.