Zero Maintenance self-hosted off-line databases?
Disclaimer
  I am in no way affiliated with Gupta, Gupta Technologies, OpenText or any of their subsidiaries. The statements made are my own personal experience or are statements taken directly from the "OpenText Gupta Development Tools and Databases" site.


Intro

This is my personal opinion based on a CRM system we were using back in the 90's which replicated data between salesperson's laptops and satellite and/or central database servers running the same RDBMS. 

OpenText Gupta Development Tools and Databases

I'm still in possession of binder containing the following books:


SQLBase - Database Administrators Guide
SQL Console Guide 
SQLBase - SQL Talk Command Reference


Managing Database

The database was very easy to maintain once you had the knack of running everything via SQL Talk, a simple SQL Tool with an an input and an output window. 

There was a SQL Console back then, which gave you a bit more leverage on the system, but it wasn't really required. 

In my personal experience the database (laptop and/or server database) performed at or near peak level for nearly a year before you had to set off a simple:

REORGANIZE;


Another statement to verify that everything was OK, was the simple:

CHECK DATABASE;


Backups are similar to handel (if required), by issuing one or two of the following commands:

BACKUP DATABASE FROM &lt;database name&gt; TO &lt;directory name&gt; ON CLIENT;
BACKUP LOGS FROM &lt;database name&gt; TO &lt;directory name&gt; ON CLIENT;
BACKUP SNAPSHOT FROM &lt;database name&gt; TO &lt;directory name&gt; ON SERVER;


However they did recommend to:


  BACKUP SNAPSHOT is the recommend way to backup your database and log files because it is easy and provides you with a backup from which you can recover the database in one step.


Performance

The database (used to) perform(s) very well up to a size of about 2 GB, after which the database would have to have been split into multiple database files.

Comparing Size of Databases

When we had to switch from Gupta SQL Base to Microsoft SQL Server for licensing reasons, the main database of one of our "Technical Applications" which used to be 2 GB in size grew to 8 GB in size just from the conversion. No additional features added. No new indexes. Just a conversion of the DDL, content and indexes from Gupta SQL Base to Microsoft SQL Server.

Company Statements

I can fully support some of the statements made on the homepage for the RDBMS OpenText Gupta SQL Base product:


  OpenText™ Gupta SQLBase is a fully relational, high performance, embedded database that allows organizations to manage data closer to the customer, where capturing and organizing information is critical. SQLBase provides a self-recovering, highly automated embedded database architecture that enables users from corporate IT to ISVs to deploy SQLBase embedded in software solutions having automated deployment and configuration and automated maintenance. With its small footprint and low TCO, SQLBase is the embedded database of choice for ISVs and organizations around the world.
  
  SQLBase integrates very well with many development tools, is highly secure and available for latest operating systems. The integrated tools allow testing for developers and to setup and configure automated maintenance with ease.


...including two of their statements made on their "Benefits" summary:


  Automate Installation, Configuration and Maintenance
  
  SQLBase provides automated deployment and configuration. Automated maintenance further reduces total cost of ownership of database solutions that include SQLBase.
  
  Support for TD Mobile Mobile Workforce Apps
  
  SQLBase is a great central database for TD Mobile mobile workforce apps. Very easy integration into the development system and easy application deployment make SQLBase a very good choice for these types of apps. Flexible licensing options allow for easy centralized deployment.


History

The Gupta Database which was initially owned by Gupta Technologies, has been handed around quite a few times (Centurasoft, Unify, ...) and is now associated with OpenText.