Berkeley DB upgrades at Sonic.net

note:The transition to BDB2 is completed, as is the set of web server upgrades referenced in this document. The document is no longer being maintained, and may contain outdated information.

Many Sonic.net user CGI's use Berkeley DB (BDB) databases to store persistent information. Unfortunately, BDB's development strategy includes changing the database file format for every release. This causes legacy issues for those who run perl CGI's that "use DB_File."

Sonic.net is currently engineering a round of server upgrades. The perl in the new OS distribution -- RedHat 7.3 -- natively supports BDB version 2 files. Previous distributions supported BDB version 1 files. When the servers are upgraded, CGI's that "use DB_File" will cease working until the databases are upgraded.

To make matters worse, database upgrades must be done in a RedHat 6.2 (or later) environment. Fortunately, our new shell server, "Newbolt", runs RedHat 6.2. The conversion commands need to be run on Newbolt.

During this upgrade round, every effort will be made to transition seemlessly into the new environment. Please pardon our dust, and thank you for your patience.