What's the big deal with the Raima database tool?

[mikeporter]

Like the title says, they made a big deal about this at NIWeek, but frankly I don't understand what the fuss is about. Is it just that it can run on the RT systems? Weren't there already other solutions that would do that (I'm thinking SQLite)?

Mike...

[Sanjay_C.]

Hey Mike,

While there are a few solutions that do exist with respect to databases and NI embedded hardware, there are a few reasons we're particularly excited about the Raima database.

1. Raima is the only real solution for running a database on a cRIO today. Now, to your point, there is a toolkit from SAPHIR that allows users to communicate from a cRIO target to a MySQL database running on a host computer; however, the MySQL solution from SAPIR doesn't run the database itself on the cRIO - it simplly allows the cRIO to write to a database hosted elsewhere. Also, SAPHIR used to support a toolkit that did run a SQLite database on a cRIO, but that support has since been deprecated, and is something that SAPHIR is considering adding back at some point.

But being the only real database solution on a cRIO isn't all... even if there were SQLite and MySQL solutions, we're particularly excited by Raima's technology because:

2. It's a database that's been designed and optimzed embedded use. It has a low footprint, and has low CPU and memory use, it offers real-time response, it's multi-core optimized, and it has boht in-memory and hybrid operation modes (for embedded environments in which a stable power supply ins't a guarantee). While it's not as fast as a flat file structure solution (ex: TDMS), it offers significantly more, and operates much faster than alternatives (such as MySQL and SQLite, etc.).

3. It's has features tailored to the solutions that users build with NI's embedded platforms. One fo the most exciting features is that the Raima LabVIEW API allows users to conduct a single query across multiple targets, and on the back end, the software does the proper unions and joins and returns data. For those working on strucutral health, machine condition monitoring, or smart grid solutions, the ability to treat all the device on the edge as one device and to be able to make one query to return information is incredibly valuable. Devices can also share data between each other, allowing distributed application to push intelligence closer to the edge. Lastly, Raima has implemented circular buffer implementations among other features in the API to better cater to use cases typical with a cRIO.

4. It's cross platform -- their database runs on both VxWorks and on NI Linux Real-Time, so you can scale between your current cRIO solution and the cRIO solution you build tomorrow. It is also supported on Windows and Linux desktop environments, and has connectivity for SCADA solutions.

Overall, we're excited by Raima's technology because we think that it is this type of technolgy that will further accelerate the productivity of our users and assist them in building better solutions faster. Hopefully that sheds some insight into our excitement?

[WWarren]

Mike,

Raima is new to LabVIEW, but our database engine, RDM, has been around for almost 30 years.

As a new offering on the LabVIEW Tools Network, we are very interested in getting off on the right foot. It has been our goal for several years now to provide database management for embedded and real-time computers, but we have not gotten much traction until now. Adding a DBMS API to LabVIEW that runs first on Windows and then moves over to cRIO makes embedded database development SO much easier. We feel that LabVIEW solves many of the ease-of-use issues in embedded/real-time development, so it is now a major thrust at Raima to leverage it.

I'm going to join in the discussions here about databases in LabVIEW. I promise not to just hype our product (but I'm the developer of the LabVIEW API to RDM, so I am proud of it), because I am also very interested in data and database requirements in embedded applications. We are still defining requirements for the next version, and I expect to learn a lot here in this forum.

I can be contacted directly at quickstart@raima.com.

[ShaunR]

->Sanjay_C.

1. Raima is the only real solution for running a database on a cRIO today. Now, to your point, there is a toolkit from SAPHIR that allows users to communicate from a cRIO target to a MySQL database running on a host computer; however, the MySQL solution from SAPIR doesn't run the database itself on the cRIO - it simplly allows the cRIO to write to a database hosted elsewhere. Also, SAPHIR used to support a toolkit that did run a SQLite database on a cRIO, but that support has since been deprecated, and is something that SAPHIR is considering adding back at some point.

But being the only real database solution on a cRIO isn't all

There is another LabVIEW toolkit that supports Sqlite on almost all NI platforms including VxWorks targets. So not "the only real solution for running a database on a cRIO today" (maybe the only one on the Tools Network)