Re: [xml-dev] XML and databases

["Ken North" <kennorth@sbcglobal.net>]

Arthur Bridges wrote:
> Basically, this Security Classification Dictionary is designed to track
> security assets (Servers, Network IDs & resources, datasets, printer profiles,
> Access lists[ACL],and other such resources), what they are (description and if
> they are part of an application), any security model information, and who owns
> it (can grant access to it).

Jim Melton wrote:
> I agree with Mike that very small quantities of data, such as 11MB, in-memory
> management is probably ideal, but with the restrictions that Mike mentioned.
> If you need transactional control over your data, isolation among multiple
> concurrent updaters, etc., then a real (relational, XML, OO, etc.) database is
> justified.

Looking at these two replies, the first thought that comes to mind is 'capacity
for growth'.

Large enterprises often have an application comparable to what Arthur described.
There is often an organization tasked with change control that  tracks assets
such as servers, IP addresses, printers, desktop and server software
configurations and so on.

Arthur mentions the Security Classification Dictionary tracks datasets. That
could be minimalist information, such as elements or attributes that are simple
identifiers. Or it could be more complex if the application tracks metadata for
the datasets.

To respond to compliance and regulatory issues, some organizations are building
entire new applications that track changes to their organization's data and
metadata. To ensure compliance with a variety of regs, one organization created
a new database application for tracking the changes to several thousand
databases spread throughout the organization.