The integration of other Databases and Datasets is possible through three approaches in order of performance attainable:
- B1 DataImport allows us to import existing data into B1 Backend
- This would be an initial bulk import or a migration from existing backend, this is normally only helpful for PoCs or for green field setup.
- B1 Backend is Progress OpenEdge, this supports
- Integration via Progress DataServer
- B1 Leverages DataDirect which has a very broad support of data sources like SAP, Salesforce or MS Navision and Databases and Web Services (like Oracle, MongoDB, MySQL) that can be connected, see https://www.progress.com/connectors
With all approaches, the use cases and its need to fetch large sets of data from the existing datasource will impact the performance. As a rule of thumb, the more queries it takes to build a screen, the closer the application code execution needs to be to the database. Application Integration architecture between the application layer and the data tier normally needs optimization and the hosting and deployment can majorly impact what architecture patterns are available. In short if you can deploy B1 on the same host as your data, performance will be best, as you move away, different optimizations will become more and more important to retain the performance you need.
Internal only
The challenge of integrating other data sources for high volume queries is a known industry issue, medium term we aim to:
- abandon Progress OpenEdge for Postgres an OSS DBMS to stay with a reliable relational database for SWAT, which is adopted at scale, available for any cloud vendor as managed service and has a great ecosystem around it
- leverage technology like Microsoft Azure Data Factory that enables an intelligent middle tier that can be deployed next to your business application to intelligently fetch, cache and performance optimize with minimal operational overhead.
- The effort if high for all integration approaches above, future work in this area is tracked in https://agile.build.one/browse/SWAT-6555 ERD Modeller, Database Updates and Creation
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