TOAD (software)

Infobox Software
name = TOAD



caption =
author = Quest Software
developer =
released =
latest release version = 9.6
latest release date = 2007.04.08
latest preview version =
latest preview date =
operating system = Windows
platform =
language =
status =
genre = Database management/development
license =
website = [http://www.quest.com/toad http://www.quest.com/toad]

TOAD is a database administration and SQL development software application from Quest Software. It is widely used by Oracle developers and DBAs (database administrators). TOAD is now available for the following databases: Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2, and MySQL.

Supported Operating Systems and Versions

TOAD runs on all 32-bit Windows platforms, including Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, and Vista. Hardware requirements are such that if you can run the operating system, TOAD will probably run. For backend connectivity you will need Oracle 32-bit SQL*Net and Oracle version 7.3.4 or later.

There is no support for any non-Microsoft environment. Quest does, however, have an open source platform independent tool offering some of TOAD's basic functionality, called TOra.

Toad is available in both commercial and freeware versions. The freeware version requires reinstalling every 60 days. However, Toad for SQL Server Freeware and Toad for MySQL are freeware and never expire.

History

TOAD was originally designed by a practicing Oracle developer, Jim McDaniel (aka "TOADman"), in order to make his own life easier. He called it Tool for Oracle Application Developers, TOAD for short. The tool was made available to others first as shareware and later as freeware, and McDaniel distributed it freely over the Internet.

As the user base grew, so did the effort of maintenance and development. Finally, the author realized that he could no longer dedicate substantial amounts of time to the growing quantity of software enhancement requests.

On November 9 1998 Quest Software, a developer and distributor of a competitive, related product, SQL Navigator, announced the acquisition of TOAD as an addition to its family of database development and management solutions for Oracle.

Jim McDaniel, TOAD's creator, explained the move: "I approached Quest Software because it is a great company with a commitment to quality products. They also have an outstanding reputation for customer support and a very loyal user following not unlike that of TOAD."

It remains the most successful Oracle database administration tool in the DBA community, despite competition from Oracle's own software offerings, and those of other vendors.

More recently, TOAD has been expanded to other database platforms such as Microsoft SQL Server, DB2, and MySQL.

Books

* "Toad Pocket Reference for Oracle 1st Edition" by Jim McDaniel and Patrick McGrath, O'Reilly, 2002 (ISBN 0596003374, ISBN-13 978-0596003371)
* "Toad Pocket Reference for Oracle 2nd Edition" by Jeff Smith, Bert Scalzo, and Patrick McGrath, O'Reilly, 2005 (ISBN 0596009712, ISBN-13 978-0596009717)
* "TOAD Handbook" by Bert Scalzo and Dan Hotka, Sams, 2003 (ISBN 0672324865, ISBN-13 978-0672324864)

ee also

* Comparison of database tools

External links

* [http://www.ToadWorld.com/ Official User Community]
* [http://www.toadsoft.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.quest.com/ Quest Software]
* [http://www.quest.com/toad_for_oracle/ TOAD for Oracle]
* [http://www.quest.com/toad_for_sql_server/ TOAD for Microsoft SQL Server]
* [http://www.quest.com/toad_for_db2/ TOAD for IBM DB2]
* [http://www.quest.com/toad_for_mysql/ TOAD for MySQL]
* [http://www.mactech.com/news/?p=1001626 Quest Adds Toad to Suite of Oracle Developer Tools]
* [http://www.toadsoft.com/Engineering_Better_PLSQL.pdf Engineering Better PL/SQL (using Toad's CodeXpert) by Bert Scalzo]
* [http://www.toadsoft.com/Toad_in_Secure_Database_Environment.pdf Setup and Use Toad in a Secure Database Environment by Bert Scalzo]
* [http://www.toadsoft.com/Max_DB_Perf_via_Toad.pdf Maximize DB Performance via Toad by Bert Scalzo]
* [http://www.asktoad.com AskToad.com - A Wiki based Toad for Oracle knowledge base site]
* [http://asktoad.com/DWiki/doku.php?id=faq:questions Toad FAQ - Frequent Question & Answer troubleshooting page]
* [http://blog.serpland.com/oracle/toad-9-default-options-which-should-be-changed TOAD 9 - default options which should be changed]