Caché 5.0 includes a number of new system-level features and enhancements.
Major New Features
The major new system features of this release are listed in the following sections.
System OREF Support
The Caché system code now manages the in-memory life cycle of objects and automatically closes objects when they are no longer referenced. By eliminating the need for developers to manually perform these housekeeping chores, this feature simplifies application development and increases application reliability.
For more information, refer to the Objects section of the Release Notes.
Enterprise Cache Protocol (ECP)
This release of Caché introduces a new distributed data management system: Enterprise Cache Protocol (ECP). Using ECP you can connect multiple Caché servers together to create a single, virtual database spanning multiple, heterogeneous systems. ECP is designed to let you easily configure (with no application change) systems that offer great scalability as well as high availability.
For more information on ECP, refer to the Distributed Data Management guide.
ECP is a completely redesigned successor to DCP (Distributed Cache Protocol). It offers the following features:
Interoperability
ECP is designed to interoperate with other ECP systems. ECP is heterogeneous; each server within an ECP configuration can run on a different platform or operating system.
To provide interoperability with older systems, Caché continues to support DCP. You can use DCP and ECP concurrently.
Major Enhancements
The major system enhancements included in this release are listed in the following sections.
Support for BMC Patrol
Caché now offers support for the BMC Patrol System Monitor.
New License Manager
Caché now includes a new license manager to provide a more accurate and efficient count of users and system usage.
Additional Support for Clusters
Caché now supports clusters within the Tru64 UNIX environment.
The Caché Cluster support now uses multiple lock trees to provide superior load balancing amongst cluster nodes.
Support for Large Memory Models
Caché now supports large memory models (for large database buffers) on OpenVMS, HP-UX, and IBM AIX.
Support for Additional 64 bit Platforms
Caché now supports the 64–bit versions of IBM AIX and HP-UX.
Greater Concurrency
In general, globally-shared resources have been made more granular resulting in much higher concurrency (number of users per system). This is especially true on multi-CPU systems.
Additional Dynamic Structures
Some resources that were previously managed using a static (fixed) structures now make use of dynamic structures to reduce configuration work. For example, the maximum number of users is now determined dynamically at run time.
Routine Index
The system now maintains an index of routines and class definitions to make searches for application components faster and more efficient.
JOB Command Improvements
The JOB command is much faster on most platforms.
Additional DSM Compatibility Functions
The are additional DSM compatibility functions (additional ZCALL emulation).
New System Class to Schedule Tasks
There is a new %SYSTEM.Task class which allows users to schedule tasks to run at different times of the day. See the class documentation for more information.