Upgrading SQL Anywhere 5.5 to a newer version?

[Former Member]

I have a old program which starts a program called the "Sybase SQL Anywhere network requestor" to make database queries. On the server there's a sybase SQL Anywhere 5.5 server installed that runs as a desktop application. Sometimes the server program crashes, which might be due to it running on a Windows 2008 R2 server.

What versions could I upgrade to without breaking the 5.5 client?

Can I replace that 5.5 client without breaking the program?

What are my options, altogether?

The program upgrades would be VERY expensive, so we hope there's a different solution... The company will not do anything but upgrade the program.

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

After not finding a solution myself, the question has finally been solved (for me): I don't need to upgrade anymore since the maker of the software has sold us an update that improved everything anyway. It now also uses Microsoft SQL Server so we don't have to run SyBase anymore. The company has upgraded all the data of the SyBase server so I can now ban this old version to the backups for a while.

[Breck_Carter · Accepted solution]

> The program upgrades would be VERY expensive

Congratulations saving up enough money to buy a SQL Server implementation... in three years ( that sounds about right 🙂

[VolkerBarth]

Just to understand - are the following statements correct?

• You have a client-server application with both a v5.5 database server and a v5.5 database client running on a different box.
• The database server runs on a Win 2008 R2 server.
• You are asking about upgrading the database server to a newer version.
• You would like to leave the application unchanged.

If this is true, some further questions:

• What API is the client application using (Embedded SQL, ODBC)?
• Do you wish to leave the client side completely unchanged (i.e. leave the client on v5.5) - or are you planning to upgrade the client, too?
• Can you upgrade the database itself to a newer version (which generally requires DBA access), or must it stay on v5.5? - I'm asking a v9 database servers can run v5.5 database files...

FWIW, the SA network requestor (dbclient.exe) was only used with v5 and is needed for TCP/IP connections between client and server. With v6 and above, the according SA client libraries are able to establish and manage network connections themselves, so v6 and above clients do not need the separate dblient.exe anymore.

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Note: Even v9 is long EOL'ed - current SQL Anywhere releases are on v11.0.1, v12.0.1 and v16.0...

[Former Member]

I am sorry for not answering this for a long time. I don't know what API the application is using, it is automatically starting a SQLAnywhere connector, more I don't know. I can and would switch out the SQLAnywhere connector application if possible. The database itself could be upgraded, this is not my issue.

I can change everything - EXCEPT! the client application which runs the connector. It's proprietary software which drives a CNC machine with drawings. I would go up in the DB version as far as possible without breaking the client application.

My problem is that Windows Server 2008 just doesn't seem to run v5.5 that well anymore, it sometimes crashes.

If there are any specific sources for informtation that I can look into, please tell me so.