Product Reviews

PocketDBA 2.0

Handy DBA tool for handhelds.

• By Mike Gunderloy
• 02/05/2003

PocketDBA is, as you might guess, a database administration tool for handheld platforms (either Palm or PocketPC). Depending on what you configure and install, it can support SQL Server, Oracle, or DB2. Expand Beyond installs its own Application Server on your network. The cliences communicate wirelessly, with SSL encryption and optional RSA SecurID protection, with the Application Server. The Application Server in turn talks to the databases. The Application Server itself runs on Solaris 8, Windows NT or 2000, or Red Hat Linux 7.2 or 7.3.

After you've installed the Application Server, the next step is to tell it which databases it's going to manage; it does not just let you prowl through the whole network. Once that's done, handheld devices simply connect to a specified URL to use the databases.

From the handheld, you can perform a variety of DBA tasks:

• View connected users
• Manage users
  
• View blocks
  
• Change permissions
  
• Rebuild indexes
  
• Execute arbitrary SQL statements

That's just a sampling. With the proper permissions, you can even start and stop the SQL Server itself and perform some on-the-fly tuning. The Expand Beyond interface is seriously stripped down to fit on the small screen, of course, but it makes good use of tabbed dialogs in the limited space to display information, and keeps the number of mouse clicks to a minimum.

If you're a DBA who's tethered to his computers, you might look at Expand Beyond as a way to break free.