InterBase XE7 Update 2 Readme

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Release Date: April, 2015

This release introduces multiple updates and enhancements. See New Features for a complete list and explanation of each feature.

This file contains important information that may not appear in the online Help. Please read this file in its entirety.

Important: For the latest version of this document, please visit http://docs.embarcadero.com/products/interbase/.

This Readme covers the following sections:

New Features

InterBase XE7 Update 2:

  • Click here for a list of resolved issues.

InterBase XE7 Update 1: Contains the following new features and enhancements to existing features.

  • Click here for a list of resolved issues.

InterBase XE7: Contains the following new features and enhancements to existing features.

  • Click here for a list of resolved issues.
Note: Click Previous Releases for all releases prior to InterBase XE7.

Sandboxing with InterBase ToGo for Mac OS X

You can sandbox your RAD Studio Delphi/C++ database applications for Mac OS X. See App Sandboxing with InterBase ToGo for Mac OS X for more information about sandboxing of InterBase applications with RAD Studio.


Updated Workflow for ToGo Edition

This release includes a ToGo Trial Edition that will expire 30 days after registration. See InterBase ToGo Trial Licenses for licensing information.

Change View Updates

With this release, Change Views now includes the following updates:

DROP SUBSCRIPTION
SQL Extensions
Known Constraints

DROP SUBSCRIPTION

The ability to drop a subscription was added to Change Views. The syntax for DROP SUBSCRIPTION is:

DROP SUBSCRIPTION <subscription_name> [RESTRICT | CASCADE];

To eliminate interest in observing a set of change views, a subscription must be dropped.

  • If RESTRICT is specified, then a check of existing subscribers is performed.
  • If there are subscribers, then an error is returned without dropping the subscription.
  • If CASCADE is specified, then all subscribers of this subscription are also dropped.
  • If neither RESTRICT nor CASCADE is specified, then RESTRICT is assumed.

SQL Extensions

InterBase SQL provides support for Change Views with the IS [NOT] {CHANGED | INSERTED | UPDATED | DELETED} clause.

SET SUBSCRIPTION sub_employee_changes ACTIVE;
SELECT EMP_NO, DEPT_NO, SALARY FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE SALARY IS UPDATED;
EMP_NO     DEPT_NO           SALARY
--------   ----------        ----------
109        600               75000

In the example above we see that EMP_NO=37 employee's department reassignment is not returned since he received no compensation adjustment for a lateral move. The IS CHANGED clause will detect the modification of a column due to any kind of SQL operation.

Known Constraints

  • Starting with InterBase XE7 Update 1, there is a new requirement on FOR EXECUTE STATEMENT to match every item in the SELECT list with a corresponding item in the INTO list.
  • CREATE SUBSCRIPTION syntax is limited to base tables.
  • CREATE SUBSCRIPTION can be applied to tables only by table owner.

IBConsole Updates

This release includes several significant updates for the IBConsole feature:

Start Here Tab

A "Start Here" tab opens when IBConsole is accessed. This tab contains a collection of videos, user guides, and tutorials. It also gives you access to the InterBase website that includes an overview, a description of what's new, frequently asked questions, testimonials, and tutorial videos.

IBConsole Database Pane

The pane located in the bottom left corner lists the most frequently used databases. The pane displays the database alias with a link to connect to that database; the server name; and the date when the database was last accessed.

Change Views Subscription Support

IBConsole now supports a subscription editor. This subscription returns data that have changed since the prior transaction in which the implicit view was observed. This allows you to see what data has changed since the last time you viewed it.

  • Right click on a database subscription field and click create to gain access to the Subscription Editor dialog. You can enter the name of an existing subscription. The editor lists the tablename; fieldnames; Change; Insert; Update; and Delete details. You can add or delete these details. You can also enter a description of the edited subscription.


Change Views Feature

The Change Views feature uses InterBase multigenerational architecture to capture changes to data. This feature allows you to quickly answer the question: "What data has changed since I last viewed it?"

Previously it involved triggers, logging, and/or transaction write-ahead log scraping. This was time-consuming for the developer and affected the database performance for a certain transaction load or change volume. Now with Change Views, there is no performance overhead on existing transactions because it maintains a consistent view of changed data observable by other transactions.

The Change Views™ feature uses InterBase multigenerational architecture to capture changes to data. This feature allows you to quickly answer the question: "What data has changed since I last viewed it?" Previously it involved triggers, logging, and/or transaction write-ahead log scraping. This was time-consuming for the developer and affected the database performance for a certain transaction load or change volume. Now with Change Views, there is no performance overhead on existing transactions because it maintains a consistent view of changed data observable by other transactions.

The Change Views mechanism is not dependent on its own underlying data, but is based on data already stored for existing base tables or views derived from base tables. This implicit view mechanism is temporal based and returns data that have changed since the prior transaction in which the implicit view was observed.

Change Views can be subscribed to in order to view data that has changed across database connections. The effect is a long-lived transaction spanning multiple database connections.

  • Specifically, the subscription tracks all row inserts, updates, and deletes to one or more tables at a column-level granularity over a disconnected, extended period of time.
  • The InterBase SQL query language is modified to search on columns where data has changed since the prior observation.
  • These data changes are tracked at a column granularity.

Linux 32-bit and 64-bit

The Linux kits, 32-bit and 64-bit, were introduced in the InterBase XE7 release. New Linux builds (12.0.0.124) are available for InterBase XE7.

License Manager

The License Manager changed from InterBase XE3 to InterBase XE7.

Performance Enhancements

  • Improved SMP Performance: The performance of multiple reads and writes improved for this release.
  • Distinguished Dump: "Incremental Dump" in InterBase XE3 required the database server to read all pages from the database file, but only write the pages that had been modified to the target database dump file. With the implementation of a tracking system in XE7, only those pages that need updating since the last dump would be fetched. This provides instantaneous updates to the target. There can only be 1 "Distinguished Dump" per source database.
The choice of a "distinguished dump" is as follows:
  • The first "dump" on the source database file will be a "distinguished dump"; all further dump targets are "normal dump" targets.
  • Should the "first" dump be made online and thus sever its link to the source database, the next "dump" to be incrementally updated will now become the "disinguished dump".
  • Improved Read Committed (RC) Transaction Processing for large (OIT - OAT) transaction gap: In XE3 and prior versions, RC transaction processing can grind to a halt as the "housekeeping" (OIT - OAT) gap grows larger. This usually does not happen unless the database has disabled automatic internal sweep function or the housekeeping gap is set to a very high value. This gap is usually in the 10's of millions for the performance degradation to be noticed. The OIT usually sticks after an abnormal server termination or a transaction savepoint is discarded because it has grown too large trying to track changes of a running transaction and that transaction ultimately rolls back.
    • With XE7, RC transactions perform much faster in the above scenario. In one of our tests to count 1 million records in a table, in XE3 the test took 14.48 seconds. In XE7 the time to execute the query was 0.97 seconds. The performance of the RC transaction is now on par with Snapshot mode transactions. Just to note, Snapshot transactions did not exhibit any slowdown in earlier versions.
  • Quicker transaction creation: With XE7, you can create more transactions/sec than with prior InterBase versions.

Performance Monitoring Counters

The performance monitoring counters have been scaled up from 32-bit to 64-bit values. It includes all data stored on tables within the database. IBConsole has been updated for this release.

There are some ODS-related differences to be aware of:

  • ODS <= 15 will continue to have 32-bit INTEGER counters as before (for both dialect 1 and dialect 3 databases).
  • ODS >= 16 will have the counters defined as "double precision" data type for dialect 1 databases.
  • ODS >= 16 will have the counters defined as "NUMERIC(18,0)" data type for dialect 3 databases. As you know, by default, any new database is created as ODS 16, dialect 3.

For dialect 3, the Performance Monitoring data counters have been updated to 64-bit Integer type. Since dialect 1 cannot support 64-bit Integer type, a 64-bit Integer type will be internally converted to type "double precision" as it is the same size (8 bytes) and will also accommodate the large values for 64-bit addresses and counter values.

The best way to identify the differences between dialect 1 and dialect 3 is to check field definitions for the result of the SQL query against your database. So if you ran the following query: SELECT RDB$FIELD_NAME FROM RDB$FIELDS WHERE RDB$FIELD_LENGTH=8 AND RDB$FIELD_TYPE=16;, the results would show as follows:

  • FIELD_TYPE 16 indicates NUMERIC(18,0) and will be set in dialect 3.
  • Dialect 1 database will have none of this field type since it will be double.

Backward Compatibility

With the support of 64-bit Integer data counters for Performance Monitoring, backward compatibility is maintained for the new server working with ODS 15 databases where such counters are 32-bit Integers.

To do this, enable gpre with the "-ods <major_ods_number>" command-line option that allows GPRE to limit its parsing of GDML/ESQL programs to relations/tables that are only valid until that major ODS.

 gpre [-ods <number>] ... <foo.e>
 For e.g.:
 gpre -ods 15 tmp.e

Partial Segment Selectivity

InterBase currently maintains a single selectivity value per index (whether single or composite key). The values are stored in descending order and track information on how many duplicates exist in the whole index – but only first level. However, there are times when it would be helpful to have information on lower levels. InterBase XE7 can now track this. Changes have been implemented for a new ODS (version 16) that allows gathering segment-specific selectivity to be stored and retrieved from RDB$INDEX_SEGMENTS.RDB$STATISTICS.

For example: an index exists on columns F1, F2, and F3, and the query provides a conjunct (condition) on only the first two columns F1 and F2. The optimizer can use a value that only reflects the underlying selectivity of the columns F1 and F2 instead of F1+F2+F3 and then make a decision on whether to use the index or not.

You will see certain queries run faster, but will not see any change in data.

64-bit Transaction IDs

InterBase XE3 supported only (signed) 32-bit Transaction IDs. This allowed only 2 Billion transactions to be executed in a database before the transaction ID needed to be reset using a backup/restore procedure. This was limiting for 24/7 databases and for those who had transaction-intensive application suites.

InterBase XE7 scales transaction IDs to 64-bit (actual 48-bit) so databases now can accommodate more transactions without the old limitations. It limits itself to 48-bit, as to be aware of future transaction ID growth.

The transaction limits now work as follows:

  • Databases with ODS <=15 need to be backed up and restored before they hit the 2-billion transaction ID limit.
  • Databases with ODS >=16 can continue to be online beyond 2-billion transactions since they support 64-bit transaction ID. A benefit of this is you can have your databases online to service your applications closer to a 24/7 scenario without the need to back up/restore due to this earlier 32-bit limit.
  • 64-Bit Conversion.
  • This project assumes conversion to 64-bit (more likely 48-bit) transaction IDs with the assumption that they could not be exhausted in a reasonable timeframe.
  • For example, a database with a 4KB page size could run continuously in excess of 10,000 tps for 100 years with a 48-bit transaction ID.

ODS Changes

Allowing a Database Backup to be Restored to a Particular Older ODS Version

A database restore operation automatically creates a database with the latest ODS version (as supported by the engine). However, there are situations where the developer may need to restore an older version:

  • To enable the same database file to be deployed to other compatible-database engine versions.
  • To provide a workaround for hard-to-resolve current ODS bugs.
  • To test performance-sensitive operations between current ODS version and older ODS versions by using a single server/engine to restore multiple copies of the same database (one per ODS) and then running the queries against each one of those database files. For example, to test certain versions of index managers released in newer ODS versions.

You can use this implementation in several different ways:

IBConfig Parameter

DATABASE_ODS_VERSION. Allows a major ODS version number to be specified server-wide. A newly-created database or one restored using GBAK is restored with this ODS version. It now has full support for new Performance Monitoring artifacts for 64-bit integer counters with full backward compatibility with older ODS databases.
The IBConfig file has a new parameter for this action as documented below.
#DATABASE_ODS_VERSION 16
##Platforms: All
##Version: starting in InterBase XE7
##The database server/engine will automatically create/restore
##databases to this major ODS version number, if specified.
##Valid ODS major versions are in the range 13 to 16
##Default major ODS version is the latest version supported by the product

DPB Parameters

Allows the application to selectively create/restore databases using a new DPB parameter isc_dpb_ods_version_major.

GBAK Restore Option

"-ods_version <n>" where <n> is a supported major ODS version. The target database engine will have its own allowed major ODS version list. XE7 will allow ODS versions 13 through 16.
A new GBAK restore option is available for restoring a specific major ODS version. When this option is specified at restore time, it overrides the server-side IBConfig setting DATABASE_ODS_VERSION.
gbak -r employee.gbk emp15.ib -ods_version 15 -user sysdba -pass masterkey
gbak -c employee.gbk emp16.ib -ods_version 16 -user sysdba -pass masterkey
gbak -service localhost:service_mgr -r <path>/employee.gbk <path>/emp13.ib -ods_version 13 -user sysdba -pass masterkey

OpenSSL Upgrade

OpenSSL libraries included in InterBase XE7 are upgraded from version 1.0.0d to version 1.0.1i with Security Vulnerability fixes. OpenSSL is used for Encryption and OTW/SSL features in InterBase.

For more information on using OpenSSL in InterBase XE7, please reference Network Configuration in the Operations Guide, as well as Encrypting your Data in the Data Definition.

For additional information on OpenSSL, please refer to: ssl.

Services API Support for Online Dump and Journal Archive Operations

Online Dump and Incremental Dump

Database Online Dump and Incremental Dump were, before this release, only supported as DPB options. It was not available as a Services API option, which made it difficult for connectivity layers such as IBX to identify this "backup" functionality differently from other "Services API"-aware backup functionality. Services API now supports online dumps and incremental dumps.

The following lists the features for this function:

  • The task isc_action_svc_dump has been added with the purpose to dump a database to a file. This is equivalent to gbak -d.
  • Use the cluster identifier isc_action_svc_dump to request that the Services Manager perform a dump operation. This is a programmatic method invoking the gbak tool as a thread in the ibserver process. You must specify the path of the database primary file, and the path of the dump output file or files. Paths of dump files are relative to the server. Because the Services Manager executes dump tasks on the server host, the Services Manager reads and writes dump files on the server host. The Services Manager also creates files in the context of the server.
  • The following Online Dump and Incremental Dump actions have been added via isc_action_svc_dump:
Action Argument Purpose Argument Length Argument Value
isc_action_svc_dump isc_spb_dmp_create Request to execute an Online Dump operation and create an online dump database from a source database. This is passed as a standalone option value to isc_spb_options. This operation is equivalent to the "gbak -dump" command. 0 0
isc_action_svc_dump isc_spb_dbname Path of the primary file of the database, from the point of view of the server. 2 bytes + string String
isc_action_svc_dump isc_spb_dmp_file Path of a dump output file; you can specify multiple output files. 2 bytes + string String
isc_action_svc_dump isc_spb_dmp_overwrite Overwrite existing dump file; absence connotes incremental update of existing dump file. This operation is equivalent to the "gbak -overwrite_dump" command. This parameter should be provided just by itself in the SPB byte array. This is an optional argument. 0 0

Note: To create Online and Incremental database dumps without requiring a database, and by only using Service API, use the new SPB parameter isc_spb_dmp_create. This is passed as a standalone option value to isc_spb_options and is equivalent.

Journal Archive Management Actions

The Journal Archive Management actions were, in the past, only supported from the following command-line tools:

  • GBAK supports Archive Database, Archive Journals, and Archive Recover actions.
  • GFIX supports Archive Dumps and Archive Sweep actions.

Previously, no Service API support existed that applications could invoke. However, now by using the cluster identifiers isc_action_svc_backup, isc_action_svc_restore, or isc_action_svc_properties, you can request that the Services Manager perform various operations on InterBase Journal Archives.

This is a programmatic method to invoke the gbak tool as a thread in the ibserver process. You must specify the absolute full path of the database primary file, and recovery related database files. Because the Services Manager executes archive management tasks on the server host, the Services Manager reads and writes journal archive location files on the server host. The Services Manager also creates files in the context of the server.

  • The following Services API Journal Archive Management Actions have been added:
Action Argument Purpose Argument Length Argument Value
isc_action_svc_backup isc_spb_bkp_archive_database Request to execute an Archive Database operation and create an archive database copy from a source database. This is passed as a standalone option value to isc_spb_options. This operation is equivalent to the "gbak -archive_database" command. 0 0
isc_action_svc_backup isc_spb_dbname Path of the primary file of the database, from the point of view of the server. This database will be copied by the database engine to the Journal Archive location defined for that database using CREATE JOURNAL ARCHIVE command. 2 bytes + string String
isc_action_svc_backup isc_spb_bkp_archive_journals Request to execute an Archive Journals operation and copy journal files for the source database to the journal archive directory location. This is passed as a standalone option value to isc_spb_options. This operation is equivalent to the "gbak -archive_journals" command. 0 0
isc_action_svc_backup isc_spb_dbname Path of the primary file of the database, from the point of view of the server. The journal files for this database will be copied by the database engine to the Journal Archive location defined for that database using CREATE JOURNAL ARCHIVE command. 2 bytes + string String
isc_action_svc_restore isc_spb_res_archive_recover Request to execute an Archive Recover operation and recover from a database archive in the journal archive directory location. This is passed as a standalone option value to isc_spb_options. This operation is equivalent to the "gbak -archive_recover" command. 0 0
isc_action_svc_restore isc_spb_bkp_file Path of the database in the Journal Archive location, from the point of view of the server. The database file mentioned will be used as the source database to recover from followed by recovering data from associated journals from the same archive location. 2 bytes + string String
isc_action_svc_restore isc_spb_dbname Path of the database file to restore to (or create), from the point of view of the server. The newly-restored database once fully recovered will be set to "read_only" mode and can be brought back online later. 2 bytes + string String
isc_action_svc_restore isc_spb_res_archive_recover_until This is an optional argument for Point-in-time-recovery; this operation is equivalent to "gbak -until <timestamp>" command. Argument value is string indicating Timestamp format. Accepted Timestamp string format detailed in Embedded SQL Guide (EmbedSQL.pdf) chapter "Working with Dates and Times", section "Formatting Dates for Input".

For e.g. "2006-08-21 18:08:15".

2 bytes + string String
isc_action_svc_properties isc_spb_prp_archive_dumps Request to execute an Archive Dumps operation to set a limit of database dump versions in the journal archive directory location. This operation is equivalent to the "gfix -archive_dumps <n>" command. 4 bytes Unsigned 32-bit integer value indicating number of dump files to maintain.
isc_action_svc_properties isc_spb_prp_archive_sweep Request to execute an Archive Sweep operation to sweep (delete) database dump files that have a sequence number less than the provided value in the journal archive directory location; the sweep also deletes associated journal files for those database dump files. This operation is equivalent to the "gfix -archive_sweep <n>" command. 4 bytes Unsigned 32-bit integer value indicating sequence number below which to sweep database dump files.

Sample applications are provided in the <interbase>/examples location for all the SPB parameters listed above. start_dump.c exercises the online/incremental dump operations. ib_archive.c exercises the Journal Archive related operations.

Migration Issues for InterBase XE7

  • It is important to note that older clients (old IBConsole) will surface exceptions when connecting to newer ODS 16 databases since they will encounter data type not defined as INTEGER. The workaround is to install the newer IBConsole and connect with older and newer InterBase servers. The newer IBConsole is backward compatible for this purpose.
  • The InterBase Lock Table size need to be increased by changing the IBconfig parameter as every entry occupies more room. To increase the InterBase Lock Table size edit the ibconfig file and change the V4_LOCK_MEM_SIZE entry.
  • InterBase XE7 is released with ODS 16. The new engine only supports ODS >= 13. So with this change, all supported platforms will support the same ODS versions (13 to 16).
  • Some 64bit UDF libraries built with older Visual Studio versions (2005 and earlier) have been reported to not work with InterBase XE7. If you have any old UDF libraries, please do extra testing of these with the new InterBase version. Or, rebuild your UDF 64-bit libraries with the latest Visual Studio versions.
  • The new keyword ROW is "reserved" as a SQL keyword token.

Migration Issues for InterBase XE3

Windows Registry and Program Files Changes

InterBase XE3 introduces changes for better Windows compatibility. InterBase XE3 allows default installation of the product under the "Program Files" location and no longer uses the "Borland" subkey in the Windows Registry hierarchy. It now uses the "Embarcadero" subkey to track instance specific information. We strongly advise and encourage you to migrate your applications to the new environment as soon as possible.

  • Program Files Install Location
  • InterBase versions since 2009 installed the product in a different location other than the default Windows location of "Program Files". This was because of Windows UAC guidelines that put restrictions around applications without administrative privilege from writing under the "Program Files" file system folder. InterBase XE3, for server-based editions, now conforms to the Windows Application compatibility guidelines. The default install location has changed from C:\Embarcadero\InterBase to C:\Program Files\Embarcadero\InterBase.
  • Program Data Location
  • InterBase XE3 now delivers the program data files under %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Embarcadero\InterBase directory. For each individual instance of an install, a folder is created under this and all files requiring write access are delivered here. For example if you install InterBase XE3 with the defaults, and get 'gds_db' instance, your InterBase write location and files include the following.
    • Directory: %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Embarcadero\InterBase\gds_db
    • Files:
      • admin.ib (this is where you will deliver an older admin.ib file if you are migrating from an older InterBase version)
      • license/ (this is where you will deliver InterBase license files)
      • Examples subfolder structure with all related files
      • OTW SSL related files under "secure" subfolder
      • run-time created files such as interbase.log, *.lck, *.env

Migration Issues for InterBase XE and earlier

  • Be sure to back-up all databases, including the security database, before uninstalling the previous version.
  • We recommend that you upgrade your InterBase clients to 10.0.0.292 or above if you are targeting a SUSE 11 SP1 (or above) server. There are known problems with older clients waiting for events from a SUSE 11 SP1 server.
  • Back-up the ibconfig file if it has been customized.
  • This version creates new databases with ODS version 15.
  • Please only provide 64-bit UDF libraries for a 64-bit edition, if any, of InterBase. Note that the 64-bit server will not be able to load any 32-bit UDF libraries that you may have. The UDF library that is provided (OOTB, ib_udf) is already built for 64-bit and is installed with the product.
  • InterBase XE increased the number of records that can be stored in a table. The current count has 32-bit limitations. If you want to get a count of the number of record values beyond 32-bit, you need to take the following steps:
    • If a table does have more than 2G rows then the developer must code a CAST(COUNT(*) AS NUMERIC(18,0)) to get a 64-bit count.
  • InterBase XE implemented stronger password protection. If you have older InterBase clients (locally or from remote systems) communicating with this installation, please note the following while upgrading your system to InterBase XE3:
    • If you have an existing user authentication database (from previous InterBase versions), use that database file (copied to the InterBase XE folder) and authentication for local/remote clients will work correctly.
    • If you use the new admin.ib from InterBase XE, note that this database has "SHA-1" strength passwords (by default). If you want to continue using the (weaker) DES password algorithm (previous InterBase releases), use the ALTER DATABASE command referred to in the Stronger Password Protection topic.
    • If you want to use "stronger password length" (provided in InterBase XE), you will need to recreate your user accounts AND install the new InterBase clients in remote machines connecting to this InterBase XE server. This is because the "old" InterBase clients are not capable of computing the "SHA-1" passwords and thus pass in the "DES" strength passwords which in turn do not match what the InterBase XE server expects. This gives you the error "Your user name and password are not defined..."
  • InterBase XE updated SSL parameter names. The old OTW client properties have been replaced by new OTW properties. Please refer to the Operations Guide"Setting up OTW Encryption" and Table 5.2 located in Chapter 5.
Restoring database results in the error "unassigned code"
When restoring a database with InterBase XE, get the error unassigned code. With databases with a long lineage or databases backed up with InterBase 2009 and restored with InterBase XE, each case has different metadata security settings. So when selecting a system table (for example: RDB$RELATIONS) you get the error message: no permission for read/select access to table RDB$RELATIONS by user SYSDBA.
This error occurs with databases which have these criteria
  • Originally created with a version of InterBase prior to InterBase 6.5.
  • Backed up with a version of InterBase prior to InterBase 2009.
  • Readmeta.sql has not been previously applied.
This behavior is exhibited due to stricter enforcement of meta data rights in InterBase XE during the restore of a database.
Solution
To resolve this problem execute readmeta.sql against your database before you back it up. readmeta.sql may be found in \examples\security. You can execute readmeta.sql against your database using isql or IBConsole.
Explanation:
The problem occurs with databases that have a long lineage. The two cases are (1) a database has a restore history of IB6->IB7->IB2007->IB2009->IBXE; and (2) a database backed up and restored as IB2009->IBXE. Each case has different metadata security settings. The first instance never had metadata security because it originated from IB6. However with the second instance, it was created (not restored) by IB2009 with a full complement of security privileges for all system tables.
With the first case, the database was backed up and restored and with each succeeding release, the new release would install privileges for the new system tables in that release (think RDB$USERS, RDB$ENCRYPTIONS, RDB$ROLES, etc.). But it could not alter the original system tables because it had no way of knowing if the database owner had already altered their security privileges. For example, a user might have revoked all privileges to RDB$TRIGGERS and RDB$PROCEDURES to conceal their trigger and stored procedure code.
Also, in the first case, a SYSDBA may have run readmeta.sql years ago and refined the metadata from that baseline to a custom security profile. InterBase cannot override that customization by automatically resetting it after the XE restore. InterBase XE can not assume that every database it restores should unconditionally install the default metadata privileges because it does not know the history of individual databases.
So it is recommended to run readmeta.sql, which sets the default or starting point for configuring it the way you want it. This advice is independent of whether you are migrating to XE.
Example using isql:
isql "path to database"
-user sysdba -password masterkey -i readmeta.sql
Executing readmeta.sql with IBConsole
  1. Connect to your database with IBConsole.
  2. Tools | Interactive SQL ...
  3. Query | Load Script, select readmeta.sql, click OK
Error: No Permission for read/select access to table RDB$XXXX by user SYSDBA
Databases originally created before InterBase 6.5 may have the error: no permission for read/select access to table RDB$XXXX by user SYSDBA with InterBase XE.
Solution:
InterBase XE enforces tighter meta data security and this error may result from doing meta data operations on databases originally created with versions of InterBase prior to version 6.5. Meta data operations involve requesting information about system objects such as listing system objects or updating them and using the Performance Monitor.
To resolve this error you need to perform two similar operations. The first operation grants rights to system tables. To do so, execute readmeta.sql from the examples\security folder in your InterBase install directory.You can execute readmeta.sql against your database using isql or IBConsole.
Example using isql:
isql "path to database"
-user sysdba -password masterkey -i readmeta.sql
Executing readmeta.sql with IBConsole
  1. Connect to your database with IBConsole.
  2. Tools | Interactive SQL ...
  3. Query | Load Script, select readmeta.sql, click OK.
Second, you need to grant rights to system temporary tables if you are going to do performance monitoring. Due to potential security concerns, most installations will want to grant rights for system temporary tables only to sysdba and the database owner, which is what is presented below. If you wish for all users to be able to view system temporary tables, modify this example to GRANT TO PUBLIC. Some installations will want only specific users to have rights, in which case a more customized script may be needed.
To grant rights for system temporary tables, save the following as a text file, then execute it the same as readmeta.sql above.
create procedure granttmp as
   declare variable stmt varchar(1024);
   declare variable ownername varchar(66);
   declare variable tablename varchar(66);
 begin
   select rdb$owner_name from rdb$relations where rdb$relation_name = 'RDB$RELATIONS'
   into :ownername;
For select rdb$relation_name from rdb$relations where rdb$system_flag>0 and rdb$relation_name starts with 'TMP$' into :tablename do begin
stmt = 'grant all on ' || tablename || ' to sysdba';
   execute statement stmt;
   stmt = 'grant all on ' || tablename || ' to ' || ownername;
   execute statement stmt;
 end
 end;
 execute procedure granttmp;
 drop procedure granttemp;
 commit;
 exit;

Known Issues

  • Change View SQL keywords – The Change View feature adds several reserved keywords which may conflict with SQL objects. The keywords are: CHANGE, CHANGED, INSERTED, UPDATED, and DELETED
  • It is important to note that older clients (old IBConsole) will surface exceptions when connecting to newer ODS 16 databases since they will encounter data type not defined as INTEGER. The workaround is to install the newer IBConsole and connect with older and newer InterBase servers. The newer IBConsole is backward compatible for this purpose.
  • IBConsole Performance Monitoring provides wrong values for ODS 16, dialect 1 database.
Workaround: There is no workaround for ODS 16 dialect 1. Use dialect 3 database to test IBConsole Performance Monitoring.
  • The 16-bit UNICODE character sets UNICODE_LE and UNICODE_BE only work for Server character sets. These character sets cannot be used as a client character set. If your client needs full UNICODE character support, please use UTF8 instead of UNICODE_LE and UNICODE_BE for the client character set (aka LC_CSET). A client can use the UTF8 (or other native) client character set to connect with a UNICODE database.
  • Windows Error Reporting (WER) dialog pops up intermittently if and when an InterBase server crashes.
Resolution: We are working on fixing any crashes that we are aware of. In the meantime you can disable the Windows Error Reporting dialog from popping up by modifying the Windows Registry thus. Set the registry attribute HKEY_CURRENT_USERS\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\DontShowUI value to 1 to disable. This is as per recommendation of MSDN article http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb513638(VS.85).aspx. We may address this configurable option from within ibserver.exe in future builds by informing WER to disable this only for InterBase server binary.
  • Issue: Hyperthreading: InterBase supports Hyperthreading only on 32-bit Edition on Windows, and on older Intel CPU architectures. It is a known issue that the feature does not work on some of the latest CPU architectures. If your InterBase deployment has licensed less CPU cores than is available on the system, you can customize your installation via the CPU_AFFINITY setting in IBConfig to choose the desired CPU cores for InterBase.

Resolved Defects

External Defect # Description
(QC)SalesForce #
Internal Defect #
InterBase XE7 Update 2: April-2015, Bugs Fixed in 12.0.2 Version.
INTB-2450

QC: 130988

Multiple updates to the same record in a single transaction followed by a ROLLBACK does not restore original data.

During transaction isolation tests it was found that a second or third update to the same record were not saved during a rollback and the subsequent update data was abandoned.

INTB-2391

Sales Force 417992

Querying TMP$Attachments when joined to another persistent table causes AST Deadlock errors.
INTB-2439 Parameterized query with placeholder question mark placed at LHS of IN clause returns error "Data type unknown".
INTB-2432 When Selected Client Only, vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe are not installed.
INTB-2283 It is not possible to an OSX application in an App Sandbox running IBLite/IBToGo.
INTB-2435 Error Status message for new statement contains erroneous text from previous Execute Statement call.
INTB-2426 Server crash when querying Performance Monitoring tables for database attachments that had Execute Statement exceptions inside Stored Procedure calls.
INTB-2428 Change View (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) with hundreds of subscriptions cause server crash or hang.
INTB-2419

Sales Force: 417996

Erroneous call to an execute statement stored procedure causes memory leak.
INTB-2424 Cannot see deleted changes with subscription setup after pre-existing records.
INTB-2420

Sales Force 413506

Bug in stored procedure causes server crash.
INTB-2404 When the disk containing journal files runs out of disk space, the active journal file cannot be accessed.
InterBase XE7 Update 1: March-2015, Bugs Fixed in 12.0.1 Version.
INTB-2402 Using deleted subscription name again cause some unexpected state.
INTB-2395 DROP DATABASE request through multi-hop claims "Invalid request handle".
INTB-2393 Infinite loop run by worker thread when executing CREATE INDEX statement against subscribed table.
INTB-2389 The example ibserverd file cannot be run on Linux.
INTB-2386 Request Synchronization error when executing commit with active subscription with subscriber against altered table subscription.
INTB-2381 Stored procedure that uses Execute Statement crashes InterBase when called multiple times.
Important: Starting with InterBase XE7 Update 1, there is a new requirement on FOR EXECUTE STATEMENT to match every item in the SELECT list with a corresponding item in the INTO list.
INTB-2375 Comparing indexed CHAR fields with INTL charset requires padding space also.
Sales Force: 408962,

INTB-2361

InterBase XE7 ibguard.exe does not work on Windows XP/2003.
INTB-2357 Combining group by and casting empty string to CHAR makes crash the Linux server.
INTB-2312 Order by with subscription can report wrong type of change.
Sales Force: 400383

INTB-2224

Error "cannot find tip page" during journal recovery.
INTB-1904 IBEvents not working properly with 64 bit Delphi Application.
InterBase XE7: November-2014, Bugs Fixed in 12.0.0 Version.
INTB-2273 Does not delete instance and port information in services file at uninstall
INTB-2184 When opening "Local Server" node, IBConsole reports exception "Store RDB$FIELDS failed" with "Attempt to modify database from a readonly transaction"
INTB-2016 New IBConfig parameters from versions XE and XE3 not returned in isc_info_svc_get_config item to isc_service_query() API
INTB-2005 SPB parameter isc_spb_instance_name is not consumed properly, if provided, for Service API calls
QC: 120208

INTB-1923

Slow query performance on XE3 as compared to 2007/2009 versions of InterBase
InterBase XE3 XE3 Update 4 Hotfix 2: May-2014, Bugs Fixed in 11.0.4.817 Version.
QC: 124104,

INTB-2026

"Extract files only" fails when InterBase instance is disabled by instreg.
QC: 124527,

INTB-2031

XE3 regression report of 2GB database file size limit on Linux.
INTB-2033 Reduced concurrency throughput of multiple simultaneous reads on same page.
INTB-2035 User SYSDBA cannot view metadata or database properties on non-SYSDBA owned database.
InterBase XE3 XE3 Update 4 Hotfix 2: May-2014, Bugs Fixed in 11.0.4.816 Version.
INTB-2020 Performance degrades on some newer Windows 64-bit OS versions when accessing large files (size > available RAM) with sync/async database write mode(s).
INTB-2015 Forced sweep operation returns quickly without advancing OIT, and Perf.Mon. queries are stuck, when OIT <-> OAT gap is very large.
INTB-2003 IBConsole: Cannot type database path when adding local database.
InterBase XE3 XE3 Update 4: March-2014, Bugs Fixed in 11.0.4 Version.
Salesforce: 374757,

INTB-1992

SELECT with oversized literal value in WHERE clause and ORDER BY index causes crash.

QC: 122621,

INTB-1984

EXECUTE STATEMENT in stored procedure does not get NULL column value/state.

QC: 122818,

INTB-1983

XE3 takes a long time (20 minutes) to run a query compared to the 2009 version (20 seconds).
Salesforce: 341687,

INTB-1979

InterBase crashes on trying to select rows when another select query is prepared.
INTB-1965 Cannot upgrade a "Client Only" install using IBXE3 Update3 patch installer from IBXE3_Update.exe.

QC: 121770, INTB-1958

SQL Statement with multiple UNIONs crashes server when retrieving PLAN info.
INTB-1942 Performance degradation of multi-level procedure call in InterBase XE3 when compared to InterBase 2009.
INTB-1927 ib_util.dll and ib_util64.dll not included in InterBase ToGo "min" zip files for Windows. This is required for UDF library ib_udf.dll.
INTB-1926 [View Metadata] can't display as SYSDBA. Only a database owner can display it.

QC: 120208, INTB-1923

Slow query performance on XE3 as compared to 2007/2009 versions of InterBase.
INTB-1920 ISQL SET STATS ON output does not include fractional seconds.
INTB-1919 SET PLAN output not redirected to output file.

QC: 119341, INTB-1901

IBConsole uses SERVER login username/password when modifying the EUA database properties.
INTB-1897 IBConsole Performance Monitor truncates TMP$STATEMENTS.TMP$SQL to 1024 bytes in the Statements tab.
INTB-1895 IBConsole: Missing Encryption node when connected as SYSDSO user.
Salesforce: 341530,

INTB-1892

Increased memory usage or possible memory leak reported when migrating VARCHAR data to BLOB via UPDATE statement.
INTB-1889 ODBC: Character sets detection in Embarcadero ODBC driver not working properly.

QC: 111486,

INTB-1824

Character data is truncated in result set for SJIS_0208 column in Embarcadero ODBC driver.

QC: 111118,

INTB-1723

IBConsole shows wrong data when selecting special hidden field RDB$DB_KEY.
INTB-1668 Cannot make local connections to an instance other than "gds_db".
INTB-1525 Creating an index after massive delete and insert operations results in corrupted database.

QC: 106371,

INTB-1468

InterBase crashes updating metadata - database is totally corrupted.
INTB-977 Updated errors in Data Definition Guide.
InterBase XE3 Update 3: August-2013, Bugs Fixed in 11.0.3 Version.

QC: 116299,

INTB-1854

Index is not updated if column is modified by trigger.
INTB-1871 IBConsole is unstable when working with InterBase ToGo.

QC: 116886,

INTB-1862

ODBC driver does not handle meta data names larger than 31 characters.

QC: 116820,

INTB-1859

Access Violation when inserting in a temp table, declared as ON COMMIT DELETE, using a stored procedure.
INTB-1858 isql with SET LIST ON displays garbage data for long field names.

QC: 109214,

INTB-1725

Invalid table Alias use in UNION ALL statement returns no error.
INTB-1772 Pentaho related clash between ResultSetMetaData.getColumnLabel() and getColumnName().
INTB-1773 Invalid transaction reported by PreparedStatement.executeBatch().

QC: 111118,

INTB-1723

IBConsole shows wrong data when selecting special hidden field RDB$DB_KEY.
INTB-1331 Occasional InterBase server hang when multiple clients are very heavily active.
InterBase XE3 Update 2: April-2013, Bugs Fixed in 11.0.2 Version.
INTB-1830 Unlimited user license does not allow more than 4 connections with version 11.0.2.539.
INTB-1820 Maximum user count exceed error occurs when connecting to corrupted database.
INTB-1806 ISQL reports "deadlock" if EXIT is called without COMMIT/ROLLBACK on a global temporary table.
INTB-1784 Querying tmp$triggers against database with concurrent inserts and a journal causes server hang.
INTB-1778 GBAK journal archive recovery, when executed as an InterBase service, does not respect passed-in user credential option values.
INTB-1771 Multihop (two-hop) server connection using SSL in the middle-tier, causes memory leaks in the middle-tier server.
Salesforce: 305183,

INTB-1768

Journal archives prematurely swept, causes archive recovery to fail.
INTB-1766 Aggregated Page I/O performance monitoring data missing for Tables, Procedures, and Triggers.
INTB-1753 OTW parameters meant to reach a middle-tier client in a multi-hop connection does not get there.

QC: 111447,

INTB-1724

Server does not recognize or use DUMMY_PACKET_INTERVAL setting in ibconfig file.

QC: 110482,

INTB-1719

Server crash when defining a COMPUTED BY field with CAST and CASE combination.
INTB-1710 Databases in external SEP condition cannot be backed up or restored using InterBase Services.

QC: 110553,

INTB-1706

IBConsole gives a "cannot attach to service manager" on a lone multi-instance install.
INTB-1694 Server manager with startup mode of Automatic and not running as a service does not start the server.
INTB-1681 Files from security folder from XE not installed.
INTB-1630 Repeated Delete/Rollback results in corrupted database.
INTB-1395 Deadlock reported on Windows local connections (IPC) when using SELECT ...FOR UPDATE statement.
InterBase XE3 Update 1: October-2012, Bugs Fixed in 11.0.1 Version.
INTB-1693 Trying to encrypt a database with AES puts database in an unusable state if "strong encryption" is not licensed (as in Developer Edition).
INTB-1660 XE3 client library cannot connect locally via IPC to XE server.
INTB-1656 InterBase installer on Windows does not install examples database backup files (files are zero size).

QC: 108767,

INTB-1634

ODBC Driver does not work with Microsoft Access 2007 when used against a UTF8 database.
INTB-1628 INSERT after massive DELETE causes Deadlock error.
INTB-1592 Error when trying to do an ORDER BY on a column that is the result of a coalesce expression.
INTB-1521 InterBase clients do not write interbase.log messages in the APPDATA_DIRECTORY folder.
INTB-1455 Corrupted admin.ib through OTW for constant connect/disconnect testing.
INTB-1336 Deadlock error after deleting and re-inserting large numbers of rows.
InterBase XE3: August-2012, Bugs Fixed in 11.0. Version.
INTB-1569 InterBase tools cannot use service name SERVICE_MGR in uppercase form; lowercase "service_mgr" works.
INTB-1566 Calling isc_dsql_batch_execute_immed with 128K+ batch data, causes server CPU loop.
INTB-1524 Database files accessed with different path names on Windows (for example admin.ib) produce server hang.

QC: 106427,

INTB-1467

Database shutdown does not prevent non-SYSDBA users from connecting.
INTB-1464 SQL Optimizer makes an inaccurate estimate of table cardinality for large records.

QC: 7952,

INTB-1462

Release the lock on a file used by an external file after drop table.
INTB-1459 iblockpr fails on Windows. If a .lck file exists, running iblockpr.exe on Windows always resulted in the error: "unable to access lock table - file too small".
Salesforce: 265124,

INTB-1440

SQL Optimizer chooses a less optimal plan in XE as compared to InterBase 2007 when using multiple JOIN conditions.

QC: 106199,

INTB-1431

JIRA Issue INTB-1407 has been resolved but Blob retrieval for large blobs was still a problem. This issue has now been resolved as well.

QC: 105905,

INTB-1410

Incremental database dump fails to report error when target database is in use.

QC: 106199,

INTB-1407

Get an error when inserting a binary file larger than 32kb to a BLOB field. When directly using InterClient classes, the application hangs until it is manually terminated. When using Hibernate on top of it, the interbase.interclient.CommunicationException appears.
INTB-1361 TCS: BUG_8189 causes request synchronization error when executing through IPC connections.

QC: 98872,

INTB-1239

"IB server manager" option appears on the remote Windows server.

Additional Resources

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