🚀 go-pugleaf

Rodrigo Kierulff wrote:

> The clause EXTERNAL FILE of CREATE TABLE commnad
> should accept a remote external file, ie:
> 
> CREATE TABLE ext_tab EXTERNAL FILE "rem_host:c:\temp\ext_file.txt"
> 
> What I mean is that now, in IB, the reference to a host
> other than the server ("rem_host:") is not allowed.

	Right now, the engine won't accept a remote host for any file (external
or "normal") due to locking concerns.  That is, if the engine only
accepts local files, and if by definition there can only be one IB
server process on a single machine, then there is a guarantee that it's
impossible for two server processes to attempt to access the same file
at the same time. 

	So your suggestion is not impossible, but it does pose an important
issue, which is how to prevent two different servers from attempting to
use the file at once.  Since many people use external files to transfer
data from one DB to another, this is not a minor consideration.

	Various solutions to the issue have been proposed, but I'm not an
expert on this subject.  Perhaps someone else can discuss it.

	-Craig

-- 
Craig Stuntz (TeamB)       Senior Developer, Vertex Systems Corp.
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