Hello all. I have a client with a SQL Anywhere 5.5 DB file
that is used by a proprietary application. The vendor no
longer supports the application, and the client wants to
migrate the complete DB contents into another system.

I have no experience with SQL Anywhere. Is there any easy
way to connect to and dump the DB file that doesn't require
SQL Anywhere server to be running? I've tried using SQL
Anywhere 9.0 developer edition but I couldn't connect
directly to the 5.5 file, and I couldn't find any earlier
developer versions available.

Thanks
David

David wrote:

No.

Use command line tools instead of GUI. It is certainly possible.

They are neither available nor required.

Dmitri.

Thanks for your reply. Which command line util should I
use? In GUI I tried the Unload Wizard but it would not
connect to the 5.5 DB file. Won't I have the same
connection problem if I use dbunload?

David wrote:

dbunload

IIRC I've posted an example some time ago. And, believe it or not, I
actially test my stuff before posting .

Dmitri.

PS. In ASA world, you do not connect to file. It is an SQL server, not
Access .

Yes I understand that this is a SQL server. I noticed there
are no Sybase services running on my XP machine with the Dev
edition installed, though. And when I try to connect to the
5.5 DB file in Sybase Central, it says I need to put in a
database server name but the list is blank and it doesn't
find any on the network. So how exactly is SQL Anywhere
server running on my XP machine?

I am working with the DB file alone because there are no
utilities available on the server that is running the
proprietary app.

Hi David,

Minimally to do this, you will need the user name and password for the
database to log in to the database server. This may or may not be
possible if this is an OEM application and they no longer provide
support for the product.

---

As Dmitri mentioned, you need to start the database file on a database
server, then connect to it.

Possibly the simplest way to unload the 5.5 data (with the SQL Anywhere
9.0 developer edition installed) is with the following command:

dbunload -c
"UID=userid;PWD=password;ENG=unload_engine;DBF=C:\ path\to\my\database.db"
c:\unloaddirectory

This will:

1) Attempt to auto-start "C:\path\to\my\database.db" on a server named
"unload_engine"
2) Connect
3) Unload all of the data to "C:\unloaddirectory" to .dat (plain-text)
files with a "reload.sql" that contains the database schema information.

---

You should unload the database using a database user that has DBA
privileges.

If this doesn't work, try just starting the database on a server from
the command-line:

=====
dbsrv9 -z -o dbsrv9.txt -n test_engine "C:\path\to\my\database.db"
=====

If there are any errors, please make note of them and copy the contents
of "dbsrv9.txt" back to the newsgroup so we can help.

Regards,

David wrote:
--
Jeff Albion, Sybase iAnywhere

iAnywhere Developer Community :
http://www.sybase.com/developer/libr...ere-techcorner
iAnywhere Documentation : http://www.ianywhere.com/developer/product_manuals
SQL Anywhere Patches and EBFs :
http://downloads.sybase.com/swd/summ...&timeframe =0
Report a Bug/Open a Case : http://case-express.sybase.com/cx/

Hi Jeff, thanks for you detailed reply. I'm used to MS SQL
and MySQL where there's generally a single named server and
I didn't understand why there weren't any Windows services
associated with SQL Anywhere. Now I understand how SQL
Anywhere defines a server and a server name.

I was able to start the database but the user ID that I was
given is not a DBA so it's time for more detective work with
the proprietary app.

Thanks
David

user that

David wrote:

Because you have not configured any (the fact that you are using
developer edition is irrelevant).

You can try default dba/sql. They may have changed it, though.

Dmitri.