Upgrade of the Isac Device Database from Paradox to Postgresql

The relational device database for the EPICS control system of the ISAC Radioactive Beam Facility at TRIUMF is at the centre of generating EPICS data bases, operator display panels, and verifying PLC interlocks against specifications. For historical reasons, this database is implemented using Paradox on PCs with shared access to a file server. Use of the database is thus limited to PC nodes with Paradox installed. In addition, the network turns into a bottleneck for database transactions. Therefore a project was started to replace Paradox by PostgreSQL running on a LINUX database server with a web-based user interface. For replacing the current clientside Paradox ObjectPAL code, server-side implementations using the Perl DBI, PHP, and Java servlets were evaluated. The results of these evaluations, the current state of the project, and the effort involved are reviewed.