To support continuous operation and high availability, OpenEdge provides the following ways to manage physical databases online:

Before-image space reclamation utility

Over time, the before-image (BI) file can grow to become very large because of long-running transactions, errors in the application code, or issues with client login. Use the PROBIM command to start a before-image manager (BIM) process that recycles the BI clusters that are not in use.
probim db-name
db-name
Specifies the database where you want to start a BIM.

For more information, see PROBIM command.

Additionally, use the Before-image Scan Time (-biscantime) startup parameter to scan the before-image cluster ring for clusters that contain the recovery log notes only for committed transactions.

For more information, see Before-image scan time (-biscantime).

Before-image truncation on replication target database

OpenEdge supports the offline truncation of BI files on both the source database and the replication target database.

For more information on steps to truncate the BI file, see Manage before-image file growth.

Changing default storage area for newly-created database objects

You can change the default storage area for newly-created tables, indexes, or LOB objects online with the following restrictions:
  • The default area assigned must be a Type II area.
  • The database must not be multi-tenant or schema-holder.
  • The default area assigned must not be an encryption area.

You can use the PROUTIL utility, SQL statements (ALTER TABLE, CREATE INDEX, and CREATE TABLE), or the Data Dictionary tool to configure or display the default storage areas. For more information, see Change default storage areas for created objects while the database is running.

Table reorganization or defragmentation

Use the PROUTIL TABLEREORG qualifier to reorganize a table within its current storage area while the application continues to run. The table defragmentation operation does not require offline dump and load, index rebuild, or replication rebase. Applications can access the table records while reorganizing, which improves the performance of the sequential table scans.

For more information, see PROUTIL TABLEREORG qualifier.

Table truncate and move

With time, user tables may grow to become undesirably large, and it becomes important to remove the data and regain the used space. Use the PROUTIL TABLEMOVE qualifier to truncate and optionally move a table while the database is running without having to recreate the schema.

For more information, see PROUTIL TABLEMOVE qualifier.

Remove data storage areas

Use PROSTRCT REMOVEONLINE to remove storage areas without a production outage. For example, you may need to move data to a different storage area on another device and remove the old storage area. For operations in the cloud, customers can benefit from reducing their space needs without waiting for a scheduled maintenance window. For large database deployments, end users experience higher availability. The database remains online serving data while storage areas or their extents are removed from the database. All users and processes connected to the database may remain connected while the extents are removed.

For more information, see PROSTRCT REMOVEONLINE qualifier and OpenEdge Structure Remove Online utility.

Maintain variable-length extents

You may extend or pre-extend the variable-length database after-image (AI), before-image (BI), and data extents in a database structure (.st) file using PROSTRCT utilities while the database is running or stopped.

For more information, see Extend variable-length database extents.