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frequently asked questions
Technical questions
1. How do I start the installation of the XML Starter Kit?
The CD of the Starter Kit and the Download contains a README.TXT file which will assist you in getting started. Amongst other issues, the README.TXT file discusses the contents of the CD, Software / Hardware prerequisites and space prerequisites as well as the first installation steps.
Before you install this XML Starterkit,
ensure that your Apache 2.0 Web server is running as a service
("automatic"), in case you have already installed Apache on your PC!
Read the README.TXT file carefully for details about the installation procedure.
2. What is the most common installation
error?
The most common error is installing Tamino without first installing and starting a
Web server (eg. Apache). Often, when the Web server has been installed, people forget to ensure that it is actually up and running before installing Tamino. An installation of Tamino without a running
Web server cannot succeed!!!
For the Linux versions of Tamino, ensure that your Apache Web server has been compiled with the DSO option as described in the installation documentation.
3. Can I install Tamino without a Web server?
NO! Tamino requires an HTTP server
(Web server). If you intend to use the Apache or Microsoft IIS HTTP server, please ensure that it is installed before you install Tamino, because the Tamino installation procedure automatically modifies the HTTP server's configuration file for optimal use with Tamino. For Apache, ensure that it is installed as a service. Note that the
Starter Kit contains a copy of the Apache Web server.
Before you install this XML Starterkit,
ensure that your Apache 2.0 Web server is running as a service
("automatic"), in case you have already installed Apache on your PC!
Read the README.TXT file carefully for details about the installation procedure.
4. What User ID/password do I use to logon to the Tamino Manager?
To logon to the Tamino Manager, you should use the same User ID/password combination that you use to log onto your PC in Administrator mode.
Your user ID can take the format domain/userID, where domain is the domain name within your local network and userID your user ID.
To check for the domain name, execute on your desktop:
Start > Settings > Control Panel
double-click on "Network" and look in the Domain field of the Identification tab.
By default the user that initially installs the Tamino Software also obtains administration rights for Tamino.
If you are uncertain which user did the installation, please log on to the System Management Hub and navigate to:
Managed Hosts -> <your host> -> Administrators -> Tamino
There you should find the proper user id. This user can not only log on to the System Management Hub and fully manipulate Tamino Databases (create, start, administer, stop, remove), but can additionally add other users as Tamino Administrators.
So, either log on with these user credentials, or ask that user to add your user-id in the above place in the System Management Hub.
When you attempt to log into the System Management Hub, authentication of the user-id and password are done using operating system means. Thus, the password used in the System Management Hub is always the same password used to log on to your workstation.
5. How do I get a new License Key when the old one has expired?
Please contact your local Software AG office or fill the form "Request for a
Tamino XML Server License". However, the software has a built in expiry date after which you may
not renew the license key.
6. What are the hardware and software
prerequisites for the Starter Kit?
Hardware Prerequisites
For the installation of Tamino, the following hardware requirements apply:
| Prerequisites |
for Windows |
| |
|
| Processor |
Intel Pentium-class
processor or compatible, 1.5 GHz (recommended) |
| RAM |
512 MB recommended |
| Disk
space |
The
installation of all components requires approximately 600 MB
on an NTFS-formatted disk, 1.2 GB spare are required during
installation. |
| Display |
SVGA and
17 inch monitor are recommended. |
Software Prerequisites
For the installation of Tamino, the following software requirements apply:
| Prerequisites |
for Windows |
| Operating
System |
Windows 2000 Professional Server and Advanced Server (with service pack
4)
Windows XP Professional (with service pack 2)
Windows 2003 Server Standard Edition and Enterprise
Edition
|
| Web Server |
Windows:
- Apache 2.0.54 or higher (required for WebDAV) |
| Web Browser |
Tamino
requires recent CSS-, Jave-, JavaScript- and an XML-capable browser such as
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5
with Java Virtual Machine 5.0.0.3810 or newer, alternatively Mozilla 1.5
or Firefox v1.0.4. |
| Microsoft Visual Studio |
To develop Tamino Server Extensions using Visual C++
or VB, you require Microsoft Visual Studio version
6. If you use Microsoft Visual Studio for development of
server extensions, please make sure it is installed prior to the
installation of this XML Starterkit. Then, Visual Studio will be
automatically and appropriately configured. |
.NET
Framework
Runtime |
For
using the Tamino API for .Net, the Framework Runtime is
required. It can be obtained at Microsoft's Windows update Web
site.
|
7. What are the space requirements?
The full installation of the Tamino XML Server and client side components requires approximately
600 MB on an NTFS-formatted disk.
8. Who do I contact for support with XML Starter Kit issues?
I need assistance with the installation of the XML Starter Kit?
Should you require technical assistance with XML Starter Kit issues NOT related to the installation, contact the Professional Services department of your
local Software AG office to arrange a 'full support'
license agreement. For further information about our products, please contact the Marketing Department of your local Software AG office.
For assistance with installation and usage of the free downloaded Tamino XML Server, please use the Discussion Forums at the
Tamino Developer Community.
9. Can I install the Tamino XML Server on a compressed drive?
Yes and no. Whilst Tamino XML Server may be installed on and running off a compressed drive, Tamino's database containers shall not be defined on compressed drives.
10. Can I use a SVGA Monitor with a resolution of only 1024 x 768?
Yes! The Starter Kit packaging recommends a resolution of 1280x1024 for optimal viewing, but a resolution of 1024 x 768 is quite acceptable.
11. How do I test to see if Apache Web Server is running?
Type http://localhost/ in your browser. You will see a screen like this:
12. How do I test to see if JServ works?
Type http://localhost/jserv/ in the address field of your browser. (Don't forget the final slash!) You will see
the following JServ Status Page:
13. Can I transfer my data from a Starter Kit based on a Tamino XML Server 2.3.1 or 3.1.1
or 4.1.4 or 4.2 to a Tamino XML Server 4.4 ?
A migration from earlier versions e.g. XML Starter Kit 3rd Edition is not
supported with the XML Starter Kit 4th Edition Version 4.
A backup/restore is intended only for the same Tamino version on the same hardware platform from and to a database with the same name.
14. Where can I find more information about Apache?
Apache is maintained by The Apache Foundation, go to http://www.apache.org/
for more information.
At http://java.apache.org/
you will find details about the Apache JServ project.
15. Which Application Servers are supported by the current version of the XML Starter Kit?
- BEA Weblogic
- IBM Websphere
- SUN ONE Application Server
16. Tamino XML Server is designed to store any type of data. How can I insert an audio file or a picture (GIF, JPG, TIFF, etc.) ? Are external (unparsed) entities a way to realize this?
Tamino XML Server can store arbitrary binary files (e.g. images in .GIF, .TIF, .JPG, and other binary formats) as non-XML documents. In XML documents, this data may be referenced to via embedded URLs.
17. Can Tamino XML Server process the style sheet linked to a
document and send the result (that is, an HTML page) to a browser,
so that even an old browser can be used (in other words,
server-side versus client-side XSL processing)?
Yes. Tamino XML Server supports Dynamic
XSL Processing for (Web) server-side reformatting of XML into HTML
pages at the moment when data is passed through the Web server.
18. Is it possible to disable checking against the DTD when
inserting a document in order to gain even more speed?
Documents are not checked against the DTD or XML Schema, but against the data-mapping image of the DTD or XML Schema which is stored in Tamino Schema Definition format (TSD). At the time of document insertion, the corresponding TSD has to be consulted anyway in order to decide how to store and index the content of the element in question. Therefore, disabling such checking would not gain any significant amount of speed.
19. Is it possible for programmers to access XML data stored in Tamino from within their development environments and applications, and without the need for direct programming at the DOM level?
Yes, there are several possibilities.
Tamino XML Server data can be accessed using HTTP connections via standard DOM APIs provided on the Tamino CD or along with the XML Starter Kit file, such as the ones for Java, JScript, and ActiveX. The Tamino HTTP Client API for ActiveX provides access to Tamino objects from within Visual Basic or Software AG's Natural 5 development environment for Windows.
The Tamino API for Java provides access to Tamino data via DOM2, JDOM, SAX2, as well as stream-based methods.
20. Why does Tamino XML Server need more hard drive space to store XML documents that already carry a lot of overhead?
A similar criticism could be made for any database system, since databases are almost always much larger than the raw data they contain, due to their storage strategies, indexes, full-text indexes, and the like. People want to use high-performance databases for their index-related speed advantages in finding and retrieving stored documents. Hence, they are willing to pay the cost in raw data size. Storing native XML in Tamino is not any less space-efficient than decomposing the same data and storing it in a traditional database, but it offers the desired high-speed retireval of complete XML documents or just parts thereof.
21. Is the data stored in Tamino XML Server compressed in any way?
Yes and no - depending on the system settings you apply.
Tamino's compression factors typically range from between 2-3 to 10, depending on the data and the associated file size. Compression in Tamino is adjustable in three ways. With "smart" compression activated, Tamino checks the data to be stored and finds the best compromise between speed and storage space. Furthermore, compression can generally be switched on ("always") or off ("none"). This way, users can select whether they prefer smallest space consumption while sacrificing system performance (on) or vice versa (off).
22. When attempting to install the new XML starter kit I get an error during the System Management Hub installation.
Error: 0x80040705 in one dialog and then 1628: Failed to Complete install of System Management Hub in another dialog.
Reason is an error reading the "<WINSYS32>\drivers\etc\services" file during installation. The file is only read, but not altered, so it can be removed during installation.
Here is the workaround:
- Move "<WINSYS32>\drivers\etc\services" somewhere else (or rename)
- Install Tamino
- Move "<WINSYS32>\drivers\etc\services" back(or re-rename)
23. I have successfully logged on to the System Management Hub.
Now when I try to navigate to the Tamino branch, I receive the following error message:
(ARG2007) "The user has not enough rights to execute this command".
By default the user that initially installs the Tamino Software also obtains administration rights for Tamino.
If you are uncertain which user did the installation, please log on to the System Management Hub and navigate to:
Managed Hosts -> <your host> -> Administrators -> Tamino
There you should find the proper user id. This user can not only log on to the System Management Hub and fully manipulate Tamino Databases (create, start, administer, stop, remove), but can additionally add other users as Tamino Administrators.
XML Starter Kit related
questions and conceptual questions
0. I have downloaded the XML Starter Kit and do not have a maintenance contract.
No maintenance contract with Software AG? Then read this...
Please note that if you are using the XML Starter Kit and do NOT have a current maintenance contract with Software AG, the Customer Support Center is unfortunately not permitted to assist you. Our Customer Support Center is well-known for its competence and quick response. To keep up this high level of service, they must remain a team dedicated to serving our valued customers first and foremost.
Are you evaluating Tamino for your company? Then read this...
However, if you are evaluating the Tamino XML Server by using the XML Starter Kit with a view to purchase and you experience technical difficulties, please contact your local Software AG office. They will be happy to assign an account manager to meet with you and to help and guide you through your evaluation project.
Need help with a specific XML Starter Kit installation or usage problem? Then read this...
For assistance with installation and usage of XML Starter Kit, please check the
new discussion forums at the Tamino Developer Community.
You will find the forums here:
http://developer.softwareag.com/tamino/discussions/discussionoverview.htm
(select the "Miscellaneous" Link in the Forums List 'Tamino XML
Server')
A question similar to yours may have been discussed in one of the older posts. Alternatively, simply ask your question in the appropriate forum.
1. I tested a previous Edition of the XML
Starter Kit. Can I upgrade just the Tamino Server with the new
version?
All components of the earlier editions use their own license keys and will stop regardless. Please de-install all Tamino related software from the earlier editions of the XML Starter Kit before installing the new version. And please make sure to unload or makes copies of the XML and Schema documents before de-installing.
2. Who needs Tamino XML Server and what is Tamino XML
Server?
A report from Gartner Group Inc. in Stamford, Conn., notes that "Tamino XML Server is especially well-suited for organizations to integrate information from many different platforms and formats and send it to business partners or customers."
Tamino is a commercial native-XML Server that is able to store and access XML data. Tamino XML Server has all the fixings, such as Unicode compliance, HTTP communications, and the ability to handle non-XML data. Since SQL can't handle queries to an arbitrary depth, Tamino has both straight XML and specially indexed search capabilities and provides an elegant query language that enables short but powerful queries on hierarchically structured XML documents.
3. What distinguishes Tamino XML Server from an
XML-enabled RDBMS?
- On the one hand, Tamino XML Server stores XML objects without transformation to another data format. In this sense Tamino is a database. Native-XML servers like Tamino belong to a class of products that support XML deep in their internal architectures. These native-XML servers offer significant additional advantages over those that are merely XML-enabled. Many of these advantages boil down to scalability - as the volume and complexity of e-business transactions increases, overhead needed to convert back and forth between XML and some other data representation will seriously affect the speed, reliability, and functionality of XML-enabled systems. Native-XML servers that deliver not only the appearance but also the reality of XML architecture, will run faster, more reliably, and with less administration overhead.
- On the other hand, it can also process conventional data and context information (for example, origin and purpose). With XML, this context can easily be specified in the form of metadata. XML objects can consist of several components, such as text, images, sound and relational tables.
- Furthermore, Tamino XML Server supports access to external data sources, such as relational database systems (Oracle, DB2) or Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel). This makes Tamino an XML server for all types of information that enterprises require to support their business processes. Thus, Tamino XML Server far exceeds the scope of conventional databases. Please check the Tamino XML Server white paper for more details.
4. Is Tamino XML Server available on heterogeneous platforms?
In the present era of the Internet and e-business, the barriers between heterogeneous platforms must fall. This is why Tamino XML Server is also available for Windows XP, Windows 2000, and several Unix / Linux versions (including Linux on
z/Series mainframes). For the latest information, please have a look at the associated
Platform Web
page.
5. Do I have to migrate my existing
conventional databases to Tamino XML
Server?
No, not necessarily. Data residing in existing databases can be aggregated in XML format for a consolidated view using Tamino's external database service Tamino X-Node (optional). This means that users can continue working with existing applications, while accessing their data through Tamino XML Server, simultaneously converting it into XML objects.
Of course, storing up-to-date copies of this data in Tamino's native-XML data store frequently and accessing it from there, provides highest system performance with regard to the number of concurrent system users and the speed in returning results of rather complex queries.
6. How does Tamino XML Server perform?
Tamino XML Server is built on a native-XML kernel that does
not need to transform information into other physical data
structures. Rather, it stores the existing structures and makes
them available for further processing. This is the reason for the
outstanding performance of Tamino XML Server.
7. How secure is information that is stored in Tamino XML
Server?
Tamino provides security from an authentication and
authorization point of view and complies with current IT security
standards.
8. Does Tamino XML Server support transactions and Two-Phase-Commit?
Yes, without limitations. The Web-based HTTP protocol does not support transaction logic. This is why Tamino XML Server includes specific extensions supporting transaction logic on the object level.
Tamino XML Server’s core functionality also includes two-phase-commit functionality (2PC), which allows Tamino’s native-XML databases to participate in distributed transaction scenarios while providing client-controlled, session-based support for distributed transactions.
From Tamino XML Server Enterprise Edition v4.4 onwards 2PC is available on
Windows and all supported Unix platforms. With the 2 PC protocol, all systems involved in a single transaction wherein updates are made in multiple databases can be synchronized without additional effort. This saves enterprise resources and increases performance.
9. Does Tamino
XML Server support 24 x 7 operations?
Yes. Tamino supports High Availability in the following ways:
- Hardware-based backup/restore support for high-performance SAN systems, such as EMC Symmetrix and Network appliance, enabling faster backups while the applications continue to run. Furthermore, a general interface API is provided to let users adapt their proprietary hardware-based backup solutions to Tamino XML Server.
- Parallel backup support, enabling backups to be created on multiple storage devices simultaneously.
- Online backup, required create a data store backup while Tamino is online.
- Asynchronous, asymmetric replication capabilities for generating duplicate databases and maintaining them on remote servers. These duplicates can be used for read-only purposes or as a switchable standby in case of a failure. Replication ensures 24x7 availability of enterprise applications that rely on the data stored in a database. If the primary system fails, complete backups in the replicated databases can be made available rapidly, enabling prompt restoration of service.
- Clustering support for Veritas Clusters running on Solaris 9 (64-bit) platforms. This is essential for enterprise applications that require failover, high availability and data integrity. Multiple, redundant servers in a cluster provide interruption-free operation in the event of a hardware or software component failure, or during planned downtime for maintenance.
- Please check
available services here.
10. Could a group of Tamino XML Servers be coupled in
applications (2-phase commit)?
Yes, as long as the application takes over the control of the
various Tamino XML Servers.
11. Is Tamino XML Server suitable for non-Web applications?
In the future, all applications will be connected with the Web
and with e-business in one way or another. Increasing acceptance
of XML will also give rise to a new generation of applications
that make use of XML independent of the Internet. Of course,
Tamino XML Server can also be used for these application types.
12. Does
XML usher in the end of relational database management systems?
Not at all. The market for RDBMSs will continue to grow,
because there will still be large amounts of structured data in
the future. Yet there will also be an increasing need for data in
formats that go beyond RDBMSs. Web sites will be based on
hierarchical documents. The growth of e-business will result in an
increase in information of that type, which, in turn, will result
in an increasing demand for native XML information storage systems
like Tamino.
13. Couldn't XML
objects be stored in relational databases and mapped to XML
structures using a simple tool?
XML allows information to be organized as hierarchical
structures using as many levels as required. In this respect it
differs considerably from relational schemas. Mapping such XML
structures to relational databases not only requires the overhead
of setting up multiple-table joins, but also their administration.
In practice, this significantly degrades performance even if there
are only a few hierarchical levels. This is because it is
necessary to perform complex join operations to make the
information available in its original form. Moreover, relational
databases do not support locking strategies on the document or
object level. In order to update an XML document mapped to an
RDBMS, several locking operations must be controlled in multiple
tables. And finally, the typical document structure of many
information objects modeled using XML cannot be displayed directly
using relational methods. This applies, for example, to long text
elements, graphics, and complex cross references.
14. Wouldn't
OODBMS be the perfect choice for storing XML data?
This only appears true at first glance and indeed, some of these systems provide XML-standards-based schema and data retrieval support that makes them appear as falling into the category of native XML databases. Although OODBMSs are well suited to present the hierarchical structures of XML documents, they do not provide the performance, scalability, and transaction security required by e-business applications, that involve a large number of users and high transaction rates. In addition, traditional databases are difficult to integrate with OODBMSs, which is a prerequisite for enabling existing applications for e-business. Tamino XML Server is designed to meet precisely these performance requirements.
15. Couldn't a database with advanced text-retrieval functionality
do the job of an XML server?
Yes, provided that there is no need to support transactions,
nor to deliver high performance. Tamino XML Server features an
integrated text retrieval technology that allows fast,
comprehensive retrieval operations. These text retrieval functions
can even be combined with XQuery searches.
16. A parser is
required to validate XML documents, and analyze them for storage
in any type of internal database format. Where
does Tamino XML Server's speed advantage come from when it uses
a conversion layer that is also required on top of other database
types?
A parser cannot be seen as the conversion layer that slows
down the access process, since parsing an XML file is very fast.
You can test this for yourself by running an XML parser on some
XML files. But storing XML in a traditional database is slow.
Accessing data stored in Tamino XML Server is much faster. The
best answer to this question would be to make the results of
benchmarks that have been conducted against products offered by
vendors of relational database management systems available, but
their licensing agreements strictly prohibit us from releasing
this type of information to the public. Since we can't release
these results, here's a simple explanation of why Tamino XML Server
is faster:
Anybody who has optimized programs for data access knows that
minimizing the movement of data, minimizing the number of physical
reads and writes to the disk, and keeping the information as local
as possible have the biggest impact on the response performance of
the DBMS.
Since XML parsers are very fast, the overhead of parsing is
negligible compared to the overhead required to break a document
up into many pieces and store it in many places in a database.
When a document is read back, it is much faster to simply read one
XML instance, rather than doing expensive database joins to
reconstruct the structure that the document had when it was stored
in the first place.
The best way to validate this is to run your own benchmarks with
the XML data you intend to use.
17. A final W3C XML query language recommendation does not yet exist.
In how far does Tamino already support W3C's current XQuery draft proposal?
Since the release of its version 4.1, Tamino XML Server supports an XML database relevant subset of W3C's XQuery proposal besides its earlier implemented own query mechanism, named Tamino X-Query. The latter is based on the familiar XML Path Language (XPath) and is tailored exactly to the singularities of the native XML format. It combines native XML technology with sophisticated indexing technologies and full-text retrieval capabilities to provide Tamino with the industry's highest "find speed" on XML-encoded documents with minimal hardware and software investments involved.
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