Read Progress Database Backup
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A potential customer of mine has given me a backup file containing what I think is a progress database. It contains a .DB file, a .LG file and a .BI file. The machine was running it on has crashed - and he has no backup of the software - he has been running a mail order business since the early 1990's with this PC! (Seems incredible I know), but I'd like to help him out read the backup and get him onto some more modern equipment. Currently he's having to employ someone to re-key the data from print-outs - slow and costly. Does anyone know of any software that may be able to read an old Progress Database?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions
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"Does anyone know of any software that may be able to read an old Progress Database?"
If you are after software that can read a Progress database, why not get Progress software to read it
. Does he not have the installation disks from his Progress installation? If it is truely an OLD Progress database, odds are that Progress does not even sell that version any longer. You may try e-bay or something of that sort, but you'll need to know the Progress version. -
Yes the original software would certainly solve the problem, but it can't be found.
We don't even know if it is a Progress Database, I only think it may be because the 3 files in the backup have extensions .DB, .LG and .BI and the only references I can find which may fit are to Progress. - Confirmation that these files do come from a Progress Database would help. (Could it be something else? Ashton-Tate DataBase III perhaps? - I only have these 3 files to go on)
There is no clue as to the application in the files themselves. The machine is a museum piece - it was only used for printing labels for a mail order catalogue. It ran on MS-DOS - and didn't have Windows.
So this is more an appeal to the long-term memory of anyone who knew about the PC database scene in the early/mid 1990's - Do the file extensions .DB, .LG and .BI ring any bells in association with a PC database?
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This certainly looks like a Progress database. I worked on Progress from 1989 (v4.2) until 2001 (v9.1).
Progress themselves are still going strong. The other place you may be able to get help is the Progress Email Group (http://www.peg.com) or your local Progress User Group (linked through http://www.progress.com).
The backup sounds like it is a backup of an offline database taken using Operating System utilities. If these files can be restored to their original file path you should be ok just to restart the database.
To find the Progress executables, take a look for a folder named "dlc" or something like that.
If both of those can be restored it is POSSIBLE that you may be able to bet this server up for long enough to dump the data out into ASCII files...
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I would definitely agree that this is a Progress database. The lg file is a text file that can be read with any good text editor (Ultra Edit) is my choice. Most installs are of the Progress Engine are located in the /dlc folder or some variation of that. Other files that may exist are the .st and .lic files. The .st file which is the structure file can tell you where multiple extents of the database are located, if any.
The most likely versions of this database are 7.3, 8.1, or 8.3. Can you access the crashed drive at all? If so copy the dlc directories and the database directories to another machine. You can actually bring up those databases on another machine as long as you can get the binaries.
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I hate to nit-pick... but I'm going to anyway!
Given that this is not a multi-extent database (there is only a db and bi rather than db, d1, b1 etc), the early to mid 90's date and the MS-DOS parts, I would guess at either v4.? or v6.? v7 only became really stable at v7.3 which was about 1997. Anyway - You can confirm this from the .lg file which is (as Michael said) simply a text file.
Copying the files to another PC. They MUST go into the same folder name - fully qualified path. This is because Progress actually stores the location of the component files in the db. when you start it, it will check for these files and crash if they aren't exactly where it thinks they should be.
I'll re-iterate my advice here. Go to http://www.peg.com and sign up - It's free (or was last time I looked). A number of people who used to hang out there are long-time Progress users /developers. Someone may even have a copy of the relevant version! Ask questions nicely and someone will offer assistance (anecdotally, the responses are faster than Progress Tech Support!). It is the single most valuable Progress resource out there.
All in all, this is a typical Progress installation. Its sits there doing exactly what its told to, day in, day out. Not flashy. Not super-fast. Just does the job. *sigh* I miss those days!
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I have to agree with Toby and since it's the early 90's I would venture to say it will be Progress v6. I still have Progress 6, 7, 8 and 9, but unfortunately they are for UNIX/LINUX. As Toby suggested, someone on the PEG list might have the software version you are looking for and help you get a dump of your database. As a last resort, since the data is stored internally it might be possible to use some text utilities to extract the data from the .db file, but it would take some work and be much easier in a LINUX environment.
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I agree with above comments.. It definately sounds like a progress Database.. (My company still uses it!) You can find out the version of progress by reading the .lg file.. When the database starts up it usually places some version information in there.. It should be fairly easy to figure out..
Once you know the version it should not be too hard to find a copy..
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Hi,
If the backup where made by the "Data Protector for Progress OpenEdge 4GL using IBM Tivoli Storage Manager",
than this is backward compatible.
If not; use the progress utilities to restore the databases.
Regards Tomas
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Daleto,
Just a friendly note....before responding to a thread, look at the date the last post was made....you just responded to a thread that ended in 2007.
-SQLBill
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