Configuring Automatic Archiving

It is strongly recommended periodic Archives be performed in order to maintain a well managed database. If the Events table is allowed to grow too large it may cause visible slow downs in Symphony AC. The Archive process can be automated by scheduling it to run periodically.

  • Click Utilities, Backups and Archives menu from Symphony AC.
  • Click the Archives tab.
  • Select the location to store the Archived files.  To select the location click on the drop down arrow below the Archive Path tag. A file folder must be selected in order for the Archive to complete successfully.  The Archive Path is the location of where the Archive file will be stored; it is recommended that the location the Archive is set to a network drive or external device.  If an Archive has been stored on the local hard drive and the computer experiences a hardware failure the files will be unrecoverable.
  • To select the time of day when the Archive will occur, click on the up and down arrows to the right of the Auto Archive at this time tag.
  • To select the number of live data to keep in the database click on the drop down arrow to the right of the Number of Months to Keep tag.  For example, if the Number of Months to Keep is set to three (3) months, the system will not perform an Archive until the Events have exceeded three (3) months.

Note: Symphony AC must be running on the server at the scheduled Archive time in order for the Archive to complete.

Restoring Archive files

  • Click Utilities, Backups and Archives menu from Symphony AC.
  • Click the Archive tab.
  • Select the Archive location of the stored Archive files.  To select the location click on the drop down arrow below the Archive Path tag.
  • Highlight the Archive files to be restored from the list of Archived files located beneath the Archive Path Location box. Each day Archived will be listed in the box with date and labeled either Audit or Transaction depending on the type of file it is.
  • To select all files click on the Select All button.
  • To deselect all files click on the Select None button.
  • To select multiple files click in the box to the left of the file to restore. The selection box is a toggle box.  To select the file click once in the box, to deselect the file click in the box a second time.
  • Click the Restore Selected File(s) from Archive button.

Running a Manual Archive

  • Click Utilities, Backups and Archives menu from Symphony AC.
  • Click the Archives tab.
  • Select the Archive location to store the Archive files.  To select the location click on the drop down arrow below the Archive Path tag. A file folder must be selected in order for the Archive to complete successfully.  The Archive Path is the location of where the Archive file will be stored; it is recommended that the location the Archive is set to a network drive or external device.  If an Archive has been stored on the local hard drive and the computer experiences a hardware failure the files will be unrecoverable.
  • Click on the Perform a Manual Archive now button.

Note: If Symphony AC uses a Microsoft Access database, the system will go into maintenance mode and will close any network client sessions.  Microsoft Access requires the database to be in single user mode. If a Microsoft SQL server database is used, there will be no impact during the Archive process.

Troubleshooting- Invalid Authorization Specification

This error message indicates that the current SQL user cannot create a new database to archive the old event logs.  Please make sure that the SQL User running on the Symphony AC server has permissions to create a new database within SQL Server.  The Archive Utility will create a new database for the old events and move them out of the active events table.  If the issue still persists after the proper permission assignments have been given and you are using SQL Server 2008 R2, then please read the following MS KB articles to install Service Pack 1 for SQL Server 2008 R2: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2652582 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2633146

Alternate Command Line Archive Tool

The auto archive utility is an alternate command line utility that is used to back up events from the events table in Symphony AC to a SQLLite table. There are 7 parameters for the auto archive utility.

  • Parameter 1 : server name
  • Parameter 2 : database name
  • Parameter 3 : user id for the database
  • Parameter 4 : password for the database
  • Parameter 5 (optional parameter ) : path to save to. if no path specified, it will save to the directory where the utility is located. If there are spaces in the path, encapsulate it with " "
  • Parameter 6 (optional parameter ) : whether or not to delete the events from the database. Default is to delete events from the database. Values are [true] or [false]
  • Parameter 7 (optional parameter ) : how many days of data to keep. Default is 30 days from the date the archive process is run. Value must be an integer

NOTE: if you want to use parameter 6, you are REQUIRED to have something for parameter 5. NOTE: if you want to use parameter 7, you are REQUIRED to have something for parameter 5 and 6. Example:

  • localhost\sqlexpress Symphony AC user password -- server : [localhost\sqlexpress] database : [Symphony AC] username : [user] password : [password]
  • localhost\sqlexpress Symphony AC user password "c:\Archive\\" -- server : [localhost\sqlexpress] database : [Symphony AC] username : [user] password : [password] save directory : [c:\archive]
  • localhost\sqlexpress Symphony AC user password "c:\Archive\\" false -- server : [localhost\sqlexpress] database : [Symphony AC] username : [user] password : [password] save directory : [c:\archive] delete events : [false]
  • localhost\sqlexpress Symphony AC user password "c:\Archive\\" false 30 -- server : [localhost\sqlexpress] database : [Symphony AC] username : [user] password : [password] save directory : [c:\archive] delete events : [false] number of days to keep : [30]

1 - Create a .bat file to run the AutoArchive.exe utility. 2 - Schedule the job in Windows Scheduler. 3 - Run the job from Windows Scheduler to ensure that it runs correctly. Example of command in .bat file: autoarchive.exe localhost\sqlexpress Symphony AC user password