D3 SQL can be used to access both non-local and non-D3 data through the OSFI (Open System File Interface). To reference OSFI files using D3 SQL, a local SQL catalog structure reflecting the remote files must exist.
When accessing a remote D3 file, use the SQL-CREATE-VIEW command on an OSFI pointer to create the local information.
When accessing a non-D3 data source, locally create a D3 dictionary that defines relevant columns. Instead of a data section, create an OSFI pointer to the data source. This allows formatted access to this data via standard D3 utilities like Access Query Language (AQL), and allows the SQL-CREATE-TABLE command to be used to create the associated SQL structure.
The transaction processing capabilities of SQL are supported with OSFI data sources, but ACID capability is not assured. This means that if a machine on the network, or the network itself, halts during a commit operation, the reliability of that commit cannot be assured.