About this book

Sybase® IQ is a high-performance decision support server designed specifically for data warehouses and data marts. This book, Sybase IQ System Administration Guide, presents the concepts and procedures necessary for the administration of Sybase IQ, plus performance tuning recommendations.

Audience

This guide is for system and database administrators and for anyone who needs to set up or manage Sybase IQ or understand performance issues. Familiarity with relational database systems and introductory user-level experience with Sybase IQ is assumed. Use this guide in conjunction with other manuals in the documentation set.

How to use this book

The following table shows which chapters fit a particular interest or need.

**Table 1: Guide to using this book**
To learn how to...	Read this chapter...
Understand the role of an Sybase IQ administrator	Chapter 1, “Overview of Sybase IQ System Administration”
Start and stop an IQ database server, and set up user connections	Chapter 2, “Running Sybase IQ”
Set up user connections	Chapter 3, “Sybase IQ Connections” and Chapter 4, “Connection and Communication Parameters”
Create an Sybase IQ database	Chapter 5, “Working with Database Objects”
Select Sybase IQ indexes	Chapter 6, “Using Sybase IQ Indexes”
Load data into your database	Chapter 7, “Moving Data In and Out of Databases”
Create procedures and batches	Chapter 8, “Using Procedures and Batches”
Specify constraints on the data in your tables	Chapter 9, “Ensuring Data Integrity”
Understand how transactions work	Chapter 10, “Transactions and Versioning”
Set up your database for the language you work in	Chapter 11, “International Languages and Character Sets”
Add users and assign them privileges	Chapter 12, “Managing User IDs and Permissions”
Protect the confidentiality and integrity of data passing between a client and the Sybase IQ server	Chapter 13, “Transport-Layer Security”
Back up and restore databases	Chapter 14, “Backup and Data Recovery”
Set up IQ for use as an Open Server™	Chapter 15, “Sybase IQ as a Data Server”
Configure Sybase IQ to access remote data	Chapter 16, “Accessing Remote Data” Chapter 17, “Server Classes for Remote Data Access”
Automate database administration tasks using scheduling and event handling	Chapter 18, “Automating Tasks Using Schedules and Events”
Use Java tools to access XML documents in Sybase IQ	Appendix A, “XML in the Database”
Use JDBC to access data.	Appendix B, “Data Access Using JDBC”
Use the Sybase debugger	Appendix C, “Debugging Logic in the Database”

Other sources of information

Use the Sybase Getting Started CD, the SyBooks CD, and the Sybase Product Manuals Web site to learn more about your product:

The Getting Started CD contains release bulletins and installation guides in PDF format, and may also contain other documents or updated information not included on the SyBooks CD. It is included with your software. To read or print documents on the Getting Started CD, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download at no charge from the Adobe Web site using a link provided on the CD.

The SyBooks CD contains product manuals and is included with your software. The Eclipse-based SyBooks browser allows you to access the manuals in an easy-to-use, HTML-based format.

Some documentation may be provided in PDF format, which you can access through the PDF directory on the SyBooks CD. To read or print the PDF files, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Refer to the SyBooks Installation Guide on the Getting Started CD, or the README.txt file on the SyBooks CD for instructions on installing and starting SyBooks.

The Sybase Product Manuals Web site is an online version of the SyBooks CD that you can access using a standard Web browser. In addition to product manuals, you will find links to EBFs/Maintenance, Technical Documents, Case Management, Solved Cases, newsgroups, and the Sybase Developer Network.

To access the Sybase Product Manuals Web site, go to Product Manuals.

Sybase certifications on the Web

Technical documentation at the Sybase Web site is updated frequently.

Finding the latest information on product certifications

Point your Web browser to Technical Documents.
Select Products from the navigation bar on the left.
Select a product name from the product list and click Go.
Select the Certification Report filter, specify a time frame, and click Go.
Click a Certification Report title to display the report.

Creating a personalized view of the Sybase Web site (including support pages)

Set up a MySybase profile. MySybase is a free service that allows you to create a personalized view of Sybase Web pages.

Point your Web browser to Technical Documents.
Click MySybase and create a MySybase profile.

Sybase EBFs and software maintenance

Finding the latest information on EBFs and software maintenance

Point your Web browser to the Sybase Support Page.
Select EBFs/Maintenance. If prompted, enter your MySybase user name and password.
Select a product.
Specify a time frame and click Go. A list of EBF/Maintenance releases is displayed.

Padlock icons indicate that you do not have download authorization for certain EBF/Maintenance releases because you are not registered as a Technical Support Contact. If you have not registered, but have valid information provided by your Sybase representative or through your support contract, click Edit Roles to add the “Technical Support Contact” role to your MySybase profile.
Click the Info icon to display the EBF/Maintenance report, or click the product description to download the software.

Syntax conventions

This documentation uses the following syntax conventions in syntax descriptions:

Keywords SQL keywords are shown in UPPER CASE. However, SQL keywords are case insensitive, so you can enter keywords in any case you wish; SELECT is the same as Select which is the same as select.

Placeholders Items that must be replaced with appropriate identifiers or expressions are shown in italics.

Continuation Lines beginning with ... are a continuation of the statements from the previous line.

Repeating items Lists of repeating items are shown with an element of the list followed by an ellipsis (three dots). One or more list elements are allowed. If more than one is specified, they must be separated by commas.

Optional portions Optional portions of a statement are enclosed by square brackets. For example:
```
RELEASE SAVEPOINT [ savepoint-name ] 
```
It indicates that the savepoint-name is optional. The square brackets should not be typed.

Options When none or only one of a list of items must be chosen, the items are separated by vertical bars and the list enclosed in square brackets. For example:
```
[ ASC | DESC ]
```
It indicates that you can choose one of ASC, DESC, or neither. The square brackets should not be typed.

Alternatives When precisely one of the options must be chosen, the alternatives are enclosed in curly braces. For example:
```
QUOTES { ON | OFF }
```
It indicates that exactly one of ON or OFF must be provided. The braces should not be typed.

Typographic conventions

Table 2 lists the typographic conventions used in this documentation.

**Table 2: Typographic conventions**
Item	Description
`Code`	SQL and program code is displayed in a mono-spaced (fixed-width) font.
`User entry`	Text entered by the user is shown in bold serif type.
emphasis	Emphasized words are shown in italic.
file names	File names are shown in italic.
database objects	Names of database objects, such as tables and procedures, are shown in bold, san-serif type in print, and in italic online.

The sample database

Sybase IQ includes a sample database, which many of the examples in the IQ documentation use.

The sample database represents a small company. It contains internal information about the company (employees, departments, and financial data), as well as product information (products), sales information (sales orders, customers, and contacts), and financial information (fin_code, fin_data).

The sample database is held in a file named asiqdemo.db, located in the directory $ASDIR/demo on UNIX systems and %ASDIR%\demo on Windows systems.

Accessibility features

This document is available in an HTML version that is specialized for accessibility. You can navigate the HTML with an adaptive technology such as a screen reader, or view it with a screen enlarger.

Sybase IQ 12.6 and the HTML documentation have been tested for compliance with U.S. government Section 508 Accessibility requirements. Documents that comply with Section 508 generally also meet non-U.S. accessibility guidelines, such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) guidelines for Web sites.

For information about accessibility support in the Sybase IQ plug-in for Sybase Central, see “Using accessibility features” in Introduction to Sybase IQ. The online help for this product, which you can navigate using a screen reader, also describes accessibility features, including Sybase Central keyboard shortcuts.

You might need to configure your accessibility tool for optimal use. Some screen readers pronounce text based on its case; for example, they pronounce ALL UPPERCASE TEXT as initials, and MixedCase Text as words. You might find it helpful to configure your tool to announce syntax conventions. Consult the documentation for your tool and see “Using screen readers” in Introduction to Sybase IQ.

For information about how Sybase supports accessibility, see Sybase Accessibility. The Sybase Accessibility site includes links to information on Section 508 and W3C standards.

For a Section 508 compliance statement for Sybase IQ, go to Sybase Accessibility.

If you need help

Each Sybase installation that has purchased a support contract has one or more designated people who are authorized to contact Sybase Technical Support. If you cannot resolve a problem using the manuals or online help, please have the designated person contact Sybase Technical Support or the Sybase subsidiary in your area.