[Zope] can I eliminate the data.fs file in favor of an relational database?

[Michel Pelletier]

Ron_Dagostino@SSGA.COM wrote:
> 
> I just installed Zope (on NT) and would like to have reasonable
> backup/recovery options.  One way to do this is to just make a copy of the
> data.fs file in the var directory, but I'm concerned that this file may not
> be in a consistent state when it gets copied somewhere.  Should I worry
> about this?

Nope.
 
> I'm thinking it would be better to eliminate this file in favor of an
> Oracle or Sybase database (I have access to both).  Can I do this? 

Yes.

> If it
> is possible, would I want to do it? 

Sure.

> If I should want to do it, how do I do
> it? 

Create an new kind of Storage module that stuffs database records into
table rows, instead of a file.  We've hypothisized on this, and it is
very possible (the 'fs' in Data.fs means 'FileStorage', which is the
kind of storage used by default on Zope.  Other storages include
DemoStorage, BerkeleyStorage etc.  There is no saying you couldn't have
a RelationalStorage).  Butdo you REALLY want this?  Consider:

1) Relational databases do not store previous revisions of record
information.  You will have no Undo capability.  I guess with some
extremely fancy SQL or if you engineered the Storage to do some kind of
mapping, you could emulate the storage of previous revisions.

2) One of the benefits of RDBMS is that they can be used by outside
applications.  The data Zope stores however will be record objects,
basicly python pickles, information which is useless to other apps.

However, it's really not a bad idea, except for the no Undo part.

-Michel