Rocket U2 is a suite of

database management In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and ana ...

(DBMS) and supporting software now owned by

Rocket Software Rocket Software is a privately held software development firm founded in 1990. Using the IBM Z, IBM Power, and embedded database platforms, Rocket provides predictive analytics with deep data, develops AI and machine learning capabilities, and ...

. It includes two

MultiValue A MultiValue database is a type of NoSQL and multidimensional database. It is typically considered synonymous with PICK, a database originally developed as the Pick operating system. MultiValue databases include commercial products from Rocket ...

database platforms: ''UniData'' and ''UniVerse''.'U2 Product Family'
Rocket Software Both of these products are

operating environment In computer software, an operating environment or integrated applications environment is the environment in which users run application software. The environment consists of a user interface provided by an applications manager and usually an ap ...

s which run on current

Unix Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

and

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

s.'U2 Product Matrix'
Rocket Software'UniVerse System Description, Version 10.3'
page 1-3, Rocket Software They are both derivatives of the

Pick operating system The Pick Operating System, also known as the Pick System or simply Pick, is a demand-paged, multi-user, virtual memory, time-sharing computer operating system based around a MultiValue database. Pick is used primarily for business data processin ...

.'UniVerse Guide for Pick Users, Version 10.3'
page 1-3, Rocket Software The family also includes developer and web-enabling technologies including SB/XA (''sometimes known as'' SB+ or SystemBuilder), ''U2 Web Development Environment'' (WebDE), ''UniObjects'' connectivity

API An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...

and ''wIntegrate'' terminal emulation software.

History

UniVerse was originally developed by VMark Software and UniData was originally developed by the Unidata Corporation. Both Universe and Unidata are used for vertical application development and are embedded into the vertical software applications. In 1997, the Unidata Corporation merged with VMark Systems to form Ardent Software.'Ardent Definition'
PC Magazine In March 2000, Ardent Software was acquired by

Informix Informix is a product family within IBM's Information Management division that is centered on several relational database management system (RDBMS) and multi-model database offerings. The Informix products were originally developed by Inform ...

. IBM subsequently acquired the database division of Informix in April 2001,'Informix Definition'
PC Magazine making UniVerse and UniData part of IBM's DB2 product family. IBM subsequently created the Information Management group of which Data Management is one of the sub-areas under which the IBM U2 family comprised UniData and UniVerse along with the tools, SystemBuilder Extensible Architecture (SB/XA), U2 Web Development Environment (U2 Web DE) and wIntegrate. On 1 October 2009 it was announced that Rocket Software had purchased the entire U2 portfolio from IBM.'Rocket Software to purchase U2 from IBM'
International Spectrum The U2 portfolio is grouped under the name RocketU2.

System structure

Accounts

Systems are made of one or more accounts. Accounts are directories stored on the host operating system that initially contain the set of

files File or filing may refer to: Mechanical tools and processes * File (tool), a tool used to remove fine amounts of material from a workpiece. **Filing (metalworking), a material removal process in manufacturing ** Nail file, a tool used to gentl ...

needed for the system to function properly. This includes the system's VOC (

vocabulary A vocabulary (also known as a lexicon) is a set of words, typically the set in a language or the set known to an individual. The word ''vocabulary'' originated from the Latin , meaning "a word, name". It forms an essential component of languag ...

) file that contains every

command Command may refer to: Computing * Command (computing), a statement in a computer language * command (Unix), a Unix command * COMMAND.COM, the default operating system shell and command-line interpreter for DOS * Command key, a modifier key on A ...

filename A filename or file name is a name used to uniquely identify a computer file in a file system. Different file systems impose different restrictions on filename lengths. A filename may (depending on the file system) include: * name – base ...

, keyword, alias,

script Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...

, and other

pointers Pointer may refer to: People with the name * Pointer (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Pointer Williams (born 1974), American former basketball player Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Pointer'' (journal), the ...

. Each of these classes of VOC entries can also be created by a

user Ancient Egyptian roles * User (ancient Egyptian official), an ancient Egyptian nomarch (governor) of the Eighth Dynasty * Useramen, an ancient Egyptian vizier also called "User" Other uses * User (computing), a person (or software) using an ...

Files

Files are similar to tables in a

relational database A relational database (RDB) is a database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a type of database management system that stores data in a structured for ...

in that each file has a unique name to distinguish it from other files and zero to multiple unique records that are logically related to each other. Files are made of two parts: a data file and a file dictionary (DICT). The data file contains records that store the actual data. The file dictionary may contain

metadata Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data itself, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive ...

to describe the contents or to output the contents of a file.

Hashed files

For hashed files, a U2 system uses a

hashing algorithm A hash function is any function that can be used to map data of arbitrary size to fixed-size values, though there are some hash functions that support variable-length output. The values returned by a hash function are called ''hash values'', ...

to allocate the file's records into groups based on the record IDs. When searching for data in a hashed file, the system only searches the group where the record ID is stored, making the search process more efficient and quicker than searching through the whole file.

Nonhashed files

Nonhashed files are used to store data with little or no logical structure such as program

source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing data. It defines a set of rules for encoding electronic document, documents in a format that is both human-readable and Machine-r ...

plain text In computing, plain text is a loose term for data (e.g. file contents) that represent only characters of readable material but not its graphical representation nor other objects ( floating-point numbers, images, etc.). It may also include a lim ...

. This type of file is stored as a subdirectory within the account directory on the host operating system and may be read or edited using appropriate tools.

Records

Files are made of records, which are similar to rows within tables of a relational database. Each record has a unique key (called a "record ID") to distinguish it from other records in the file. These record IDs are typically hashed so that data can be retrieved quickly and efficiently. Records (including record IDs) store the actual data as pure

ASCII ASCII ( ), an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for representing a particular set of 95 (English language focused) printable character, printable and 33 control character, control c ...

strings; there is no binary data stored in U2. For example, the hardware representation of a floating-point number would be converted to its ASCII equivalent before being stored. Usually these records are divided into

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

s (which are sometimes called "attributes" in U2). Each field is separated by a "field mark" (hexadecimal character FE). Thus this string: : might represent a record in the EMPLOYEE file with 123-45-6789 as the Record ID, JOHN JONES as the first field, jjones@example.com as the second field and $4321.00 as a monthly salary stored in the third field. (The up-arrow (^) above is the standard Pick notation of a field mark; that is, xFE). Thus the first three fields of this record, including the record ID and trailing field mark, would use 49 bytes of storage. A given value uses only as many bytes as needed. For example, in another record of the same file, JOHN JONES (10 bytes) may be replaced by MARJORIE Q. HUMPERDINK (21 bytes) yet each name uses only as much storage as it needs, plus one for the field mark. Fields may be broken down into values and even subvalues. Values are separated by value marks (character xFD); subvalues are separated by subvalue marks (character xFC). Thus, if John Jones happened to get a second email address, the record may be updated to: : where the close bracket (]) represents a value mark. Since each email address can be the ID of a record in separate file (in SQL terms, an join (SQL)#Outer join, outer join; in U2 terms, a "translate"), this provides the reason why U2 may be classified as a

d database.

Data

Raw information is called Data. A record is a set of logical grouped data. e.g. an employee record will have data stored in the form of fields/attributes like his name, address etc.

Programmability

Both UniVerse and UniData have a structured BASIC language (UniVerse Basic and UniBasic, respectively), similar to Pick/BASIC which naturally operates on the structures of the MultiValue database. They also have a structured database query language (RetrieVe and UniQuery) used to select records for further processing and for ad hoc queries and reports. RocketU2 provides a set of Client Tools to allow software developers to access U2 databases from other software languages.'Client Tools'
Rocket Corporation Client Tool interfaces include: * ODBC / JDBC * Intercall (C/C++) * UniOLEDB - OLEDB Driver * UniObjects (COM) * UniObjects (.NET) * UniObjects (Java) * Native XML * U2 Web Services * JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) * Python (available as of UniVerse 11.3 and UniData 8.2)

Security

Both UniVerse and UniData support TLS transport level data encryption and record and file level encryption of data at rest using OpenSSL. Additional API encryption functionality is also available to allow custom solutions or meet specific regulatory requirements.

Professional certification

RocketU2 offers three

professional certification Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply ''certification'' or ''qualification'', is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Not all certifications ...

designations related to the U2 product family.'U2 Certifications'
Rocket Software *Rocket U2 Application Developer *Rocket UniVerse Administration *Rocket UniData Administration

Web-based applications for U2 data

Rocket Software Universe and Unidata have limited ability to create web-based front-ends to Universe/UniData content. Since Rocket Software provides SQL access to its database products, a SQL-based product can be used to build a web-based UI to the databases; regardless of using Files or Tables in U2. A third-party application framework, can be used to build such web interfaces.

Notes

External links

*
U2UG
a recognized international user group {{Rocket Software Proprietary database management systems 1990s software NoSQL companies Big data companies Database companies Data companies NoSQL Divested IBM products