MAINTENANCE

How do I Maintain TRAIN TRACK®?

Maintenance consists of regularly compacting and repairing your database, and always keeping a backup copy.

 

Compact, Repair, and Clean

To keep TRAIN TRACK® in good working order, the interface is set to automatically compact and repair each time you close it. This function removes extra space that has been created within the database during normal operation, and checks for errors.

In some versions, you may also compact and repair TRAIN TRACK® manually.

To compact and repair your database, follow these steps:

  1. Open the database.
  2. Locate the Ribbon at the top of your screen.
  3. Select the Database Administration tab.
  4. Click Compact and Repair. NOTE: not available in all versions.

 

You may also wish to run Database Cleanup. This function locates and deletes stray records (for example, training completion records for an employee that is no longer in the database).

To run database cleanup, follow these steps:

  1. Open the database.
  2. Locate the Ribbon at the top of your screen.
  3. Select the Database Administration tab.
  4. Click Database Cleanup.
  5. You will be asked to confirm the cleanup. Click Yes.

 

 

Backup

It is important to always keep a backup copy of your database. Your backup files should be stored on a separate drive from the main database. You may add the date to the name of each backup file. We recommend keeping a current backup plus historical backups from the previous week and previous month, at a minimum.

Backups can be created in a variety of ways. The backup process is not part of TRAIN TRACK® and is the responsibility of your IT department, or someone in your organization. We have provided the information below for your convenience.

Recommended Method

Include TRAIN TRACK® in your normal network backup procedure. Make sure that the file containing your data is backed up, and verify this by doing a test restore from backup at least once per quarter.

Alternative Methods

Desktop Edition

If you are using the Desktop edition (all of your data and the user interface contained in one file), you may create a backup copy by simply copying the database file and pasting it into a separate folder, preferably on a separate drive.

Client/Server Edition

If you are using the client/server edition, you may create backups using the SQL Management Studio.

To create a backup, follow these steps:

    1. After connecting to the appropriate instance of the Microsoft® SQL Server® Database Engine, in Object Explorer, click the server name to expand the server tree.
    2. Expand Databases, and select your TRAIN TRACK® database.
    3. Right-click the database, point to Tasks, and then click Back Up. The Back Up Database dialog box appears.
    4. In the Database list box, verify the database name. You can optionally select a different database from the list.
    5. You can perform a database backup for any recovery model (FULL, BULK_LOGGED, or SIMPLE).
    6. In the Backup type list box, select Full.

      Note that after creating a full database backup, you can create a differential database backup; for more information, see How to: Create a Differential Database Backup (SQL Server Management Studio).

    7. Optionally, you can select Copy Only Backup to create a copy-only backup. A copy-only backup is a SQL Server backup that is independent of the sequence of conventional SQL Server backups. For more information, see Copy-Only Backups.
      NoteNote

      When the Differential option is selected, you cannot create a copy-only backup.
    8. For Backup component, click Database.
    9. Either accept the default backup set name suggested in the Name text box, or enter a different name for the backup set.
    10. Optionally, in the Description text box, enter a description of the backup set.
    11. Specify when the backup set will expire and can be overwritten without explicitly skipping verification of the expiration data:
      1. To have the backup set expire after a specific number of days, click After (the default option), and enter the number of days after set creation that the set will expire. This value can be from 0 to 99999 days; a value of 0 days means that the backup set will never expire.
      2. The default value is set in the Default backup media retention (in days) option of the Server Properties dialog box (Database Settings Page). To access this, right-click the server name in Object Explorer and select properties; then select the Database Settings page.
      3. To have the backup set expire on a specific date, click On, and enter the date on which the set will expire.
      4. For more information about backup expiration dates, see BACKUP (Transact-SQL).
    12. Choose the type of backup destination by clicking Disk or Tape. To select the paths of up to 64 disk or tape drives containing a single media set, click Add. The selected paths are displayed in the Backup to list box.
    13. To remove a backup destination, select it and click Remove. To view the contents of a backup destination, select it and click Contents.
    14. To view or select the advanced options, click Options in the Select a page pane.
    15. Select an Overwrite Media option, by clicking one of the following:
      1. Back up to the existing media set
      2. For this option, click either Append to the existing backup set or Overwrite all existing backup sets. For more information, see Appending to Existing Backup Sets and Overwriting Backup Sets.
      3. Optionally, select Check media set name and backup set expiration to cause the backup operation to verify the date and time at which the media set and backup set expire.
      4. Optionally, enter a name in the Media set name text box. If no name is specified, a media set with a blank name is created. If you specify a media set name, the media (tape or disk) is checked to see whether the actual name matches the name you enter here.
      5. Back up to a new media set, and erase all existing backup sets
      6. For this option, enter a name in the New media set name text box, and, optionally, describe the media set in the New media set description text box. For more information, see Creating a New Media Set.
    16. In the Reliability section, optionally check:
      1. Verify backup when finished.
      2. Perform checksum before writing to media, and, optionally, Continue on checksum error. For information on checksums, see Detecting and Coping with Media Errors During Backup and Restore.
    17. If you are backing up to a tape drive (as specified in the Destination section of the General page), the Unload the tape after backup option is active. Clicking this option activates the Rewind the tape before unloading option.

      SQL Server 2008 Enterprise and later supports backup compression. By default, whether a backup is compressed depends on the value of the backup-compression default server configuration option. However, regardless of the current server-level default, you can compress a backup by checking Compress backup, and you can prevent compression by checking Do not compress backup.

      To view the current backup compression default

      How to: View or Change the backup compression default Option (SQL Server Management Studio)

    18. After the backup is complete, do a test restore to verify.

Scheduled Backups

If you are using SQL Server® Enterprise edition, you may schedule regular backups from within the SQL Server® Management Studio. See: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189036(v=sql.105).aspx

If you are using SQL Express®, you can schedule backups by following the steps outlined here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2019698/en-us

 

 

Restore from Backup

To restore from backup with the client/server edition, follow these steps

  1. After connecting to the appropriate instance of the Microsoft® SQL Server® Database Engine, in Object Explorer, click the server name to expand the server tree.
  2. Expand Databases, and select your TRAIN TRACK® database.
  3. Right-click the database, point to Tasks > Restore, and then click Database. The Restore Database dialog box appears.
  4. Select the source to restore from and click OK.

We recommend taking a fresh backup copy of your current state before you restore from backup, so that you may revert to that version if needed.