Re: [Gnumed-devel] Help menu > About database � size

[Busser, Jim]

On 2013-08-02, at 1:57 PM, Karsten Hilbert <address@hidden> wrote:

> On Fri, Aug 02, 2013 at 07:05:53PM +0000, Jim Busser wrote:
> 
>>> some useful concept of "how big is my database"
>> 
>> As one example, in a situation where anyone worries about
>> whether they had sufficiently recently backed up,
> 
> They'd take a look at the backup files' names which include
> timestamps (files' timestamps will change).
> 
>> or whether or not the backup had properly functioned,
>> or whether the backup is safe or sufficient
> 
> To know that they'd have to restore.

Presently, we have among the users of GNUmed

A.  a few people who are quite familiar with postgres ("IT types")

B.  a few people who have a very limited ability to do a few things (including 
run the backup scripts) ("alpha and beta tester types")

C.  a few people who run the client (any maybe even got their own db going) but 
do not themselves do any backing up except maybe imaging their hard drive 
("normal users"?)

and so, among the above

A. "IT types" have no need to for the client software to inform about anything 
they can themselves determine from the command line, or psql, or inspection of 
logs or backup directories and, typical of the IT point of view,  they also see 
absolutely no reason why users should be given the opportunity to be confused 
by this kind of information

B. "alpha and beta tester types" can do what the "IT types" can do but often 
only with a lot of work and having to check somewhere on their computer, in a 
file where they recorded how, exactly, they did what they did and what are the 
commands to do it along with the names of the directories. For such types, it 
is partially informative and slightly reassuring to easily be able to know 
something about the size of their database, in case they should have to be 
restoring it somewhere. In my case, the PostgreSQL package occupies only 1 Mb. 
No matter that various non-GNUmed databases occupy some space, it is surely my 
gnumed_v18 --- which is currently > 700 Mb --- that is going to be the main 
determinant of how much free space I am going to need in a VM or a makeshift 
server if my laptop should become nonfunctional. 

C.  "normal users" find it interesting to know some statistics from their 
system, such as the number of patients registered. While it could be argued 
"well, but that's clinical" there will also exist within the praxis clinical 
and administrative leaders who, despite not themselves being IT, need to be 
interacting with the IT people and giving some of these "non IT people" access 
to information however crude, such as
- how big is the database, therefore why are you insisting to upsell us on 
terabytes and petabytes?
- how many users are connected in how many sessions at any time?

sorry and maybe the above is slanted or unfair (it's not intended to be) but it 
is a feeling that A may not be understanding why B and C might see value to 
this kind of information. But maybe B and C are not understanding A.

-- Jim