1. Scaleout User's Guide
  2. Overview of TimesTen Scaleout
  3. Comparison Between TimesTen Scaleout and TimesTen Classic

Comparison Between TimesTen Scaleout and TimesTen Classic

The term TimesTen alone, without TimesTen Scaleout or Classic, typically applies to both single-instance and multiple-instance, such as in references to TimesTen utilities, releases, distributions, installations, actions taken by the database, and functionality within the database.

  • TimesTen Scaleout refers to TimesTen In-Memory Database in grid mode. TimesTen Scaleout is a multiple-instance environment that contains distributed databases.

  • TimesTen Classic refers to TimesTen In-Memory Database in classic mode. Classic mode is a single-instance environment and databases as in previous releases.

    • Cache combines the responsiveness of the TimesTen Classic with the ability to cache subsets of an Oracle database for improved response time in the application tier.

TimesTen Scaleout supports and includes most of the features of TimesTen Classic; it supports only a single cache group type for cache operations. The following list describes what features are and are not supported in TimesTen Scaleout from TimesTen Classic:

Note:

For more information about TimesTen Classic features, see the Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Operations Guide.

Table 1-9 TimesTen Classic Features That Are Unsupported in TimesTen Scaleout

TimesTen Classic feature Supported in TimesTen Scaleout (Y/N) Description

Caching data from the Oracle database

Y

TimesTen Scaleout supports only static read-only cache groups with incremental autorefresh. See Using Cache Groups in TimesTen Scaleout and Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Cache Guide.

Replication: both active standby pair and classic replication schemes

N

Data protection and fault tolerance can be provided through the K-safety feature of TimesTen Scaleout. Thus, none of the features documented in Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Replication Guide are supported for TimesTen Scaleout. See K-Safety.

Bitmap indexes

N

LOB support

N

TimesTen Scaleout does not support LOB columns in tables.

Column-based compression

N

Column-based compression within tables

Aging policy for tables

N

RAM policy

N

TimesTen Scaleout supports the manually loading and unloading of the database through the ttGridAdmin utility by system administrators.

X/Open XA standard and the Java Transaction API (JTA)

N

TimesTen Classic Transaction Log API (XLA) and the JMS/XLA Java API

N

Oracle Clusterware

N

Index Advisor

N

Online upgrade

Y

TimesTen Scaleout supports online upgrades to patch-compatible releases. Upgrades from one major release to another are considered patch incompatible and are offline only. See Upgrading a Grid.

PL/SQL

Y

TimesTen Scaleout supports all PL/SQL features as in TimesTen Classic, except for:

  • SQL statements that alter functions, packages, or procedures.

  • DDL statements using the EXECUTE INMEDIATE statement.

  • DDL statements that invoke functions or call procedures from the DBMS_SQL package.

SQL statements

Y

TimesTen Scaleout does not support:

  • MERGE

  • Since the Cache Connect feature, active standby pair replication scheme, and classic replication schemes are not supported, neither are the data definition language (DDL) statements that create these objects.

TimesTen Scaleout partially supports:

  • ROWID data type

    The semantics of ROWID are different in TimesTen Classic than in TimesTen Scaleout. For details, see Using SQL in TimesTen Scaleout and ROWID Data Type in Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database SQL Reference.

  • CREATE [ASYNCHRONOUS] MATERIALIZED VIEW

    The CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW statement is supported in a limited capacity. See CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW in Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database SQL Reference.

  • Global temporary tables do not support any form of distribution. When you create a global temporary table, you cannot use any of the DISTRIBUTE BY clauses. Global temporary tables are materialized only in the element where the connection is established.

How Supported TimesTen Features Are Documented in This Guide

Throughout Oracle TimesTen In-Memory Database Scaleout User's Guide, the TimesTen Classic features that are included within TimesTen Scaleout are documented as follows: