Thunderstone Search Appliance Manual

Overview

The Texis DBWalker module provides a walkable HTML interface to a remote database. If there is a database server somewhere which has a JDBC driver, DBWalker can serve up that database via HTML, which can then be walked by the Parametric Search Appliance or viewed by users. DBWalker can be configured to print all records on a single page, or to provide an "index" page which creates links to individual pages, each of which shows a single record of the table.

DBWalker is different from the normal idea of an "import" in multiple ways:

• DBWalker does not do any actual "importing" at all - it simply enables a way to view parts of a database through a website. It's still up to the Parametric Search Appliance to walk the given website and index its content.

• The idea of `import` implies a one-time action. Because DBWalker provides a HTML interface, it can be used to keep up to date with changes to the remote database. If a single record in the remote database changes, then DBWalker's HTML interface will be different, and a refresh walk by the Parametric Search Appliance will see this and change its internal index accordingly.

JDBC connections are cached across HTTP requests. The first time a request for a configuration is received, it establishes a JDBC connection and keeps it for 5 minutes. If another request for the same configuration is received, it will re-use the same connection. This greatly enhances the Parametric Search Appliance's walking speed, and keeps from bogging down the remote database with unnecessary connect/disconnect activity. JDBC connections are closed after 5 minutes of inactivity.