Robohelp/SQL Server Express

[efdv]

Hello,
Is RH7 or later compatible with any version of SQL Server Express? Or is it hard coded to use only the prehistoric Microsoft Jet Database Engine?

[Captiv8r]

Welcome to our community, efdv

I'm not sure what you are asking. What part of RoboHelp? The project files? RoboHelp Server? RoboSource Control?

Cheers... Rick

[efdv]

Apologies, I wasn't very clear in my initial post. It seems to me the way project files are handled is based around a MS Access/Jet-like database system, which I understand was superseded years ago by MSDE/SQL Server Express.

To add a bit of context, I work in the IT department for my company, and we've recently received complaints from RH users about slow performance when working on project files stored on a Windows Server 2003 SP2 file server. It seemed to me the fundamental problem isn't RH itself, but the underpinning database technology it uses to manage project files.... hence I was wondering if project files can be handled by something like SQL Server Express.

Perhaps I'm being a bit too ambitious and looking at this problem from the wrong angle....

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Indeed you are correct in that one of the project files is a Microsoft Access Database file. And you are correct in that this file is the reason we advise folks against working with projects stored on a network. Not only do you see slow performance, but you also see frequently corrupted projects causing all sorts of nightmares, headaches and other unwanted behavior.

No, there is no way to use SQL server nor am I aware of any plans on implementing it.

So the question here is why are the users insistent on storing projects on the server? Or is that the IT perspective? That all projects should be stored on the server so you may back them up? If so, note that we typically recommend users work locally and periodically copy the projects to the server for backup. I even go a step further and recommend also burning to CD-ROM as it's always been my experience that restoring from your own backup is infinitely more efficient than contacting IT and trying to advise what needs restoring.

Cheers... Rick

[efdv]

Thanks for your feedback Rick, much appreciated. Your recommendation for RH users to work on project files locally and upload to the server after making changes is well received and confirms our own sentiments precisely.

Our main concerns did indeed focus on how projects are backed up. How did you guess? :-)

On the subject of CD-ROM-based backups, unfortunately we can't advocate this to our users as this would be a contravention of our internal data retention/disaster recovery policies, although we made a concerted effort last year to configure Volume Shadow on the storage volumes in question, so fundamentally this means RH users can restore their own files when requirements arise.

Another of our concerns about users working on project files locally centered around how it would impact Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (version control), i.e. would any configuration changes be required, but that's not an Adobe problem and something for us to think about. :-)

Thanks again for your input Rick.

[Captiv8r]

Ahhh yes, VSS!

Okay, if you are using VSS then that's an equine of an entirely different hue!

With VSS a typical user has a local "working folder" and that's where the project lives when it's checked out and the user is making changes. Sure the VSS files are on the server, but VSS handles copying them back and forth to and from the working folder as needed.

But I figure I'm preaching to the converted here.

Cheers... Rick

[Newsgroup_User]

Thanks for your feedback Rick, much appreciated. Your recommendation for RH
users to work on project files locally is well received and it confirms our own
sentiments precisely.

Our main concerns did indeed focus on how projects are backed up. How did you
guess? :-)

On the subject of CD-ROM-based backups, unfortunately we can't advocate this
to our users as this would be a contravention of our internal data
retention/disaster recovery policies, although we made a concerted effort last
year to configure Volume Shadow on the storage volumes in question, so
fundamentally this means RH users can restore their own files when requirements
arise.

Another of our concerns about users working on project files locally centered
around how it would impact Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (version control), i.e.
would any configuration changes be required, but that's not an Adobe problem
and something for us to think about. :-)

Thanks again for your input Rick.

[Peter Grainge]

Would SyncBack solve the problem of backups? I just run it at the end of each day and it creates a standard zip file prefixed, by my configuration, with the date. Gives me a stock of backups to fall back on.

It puts the zip on the network so network backup procedures kick in after that.

[efdv]

Peter, many thanks for taking the time to offer a suggestion. Ultimately if our users aren't willing to upload project files manually we'll probably do something fancy with robocopy batch files - we're a bit loathe to purchase additional 3rd party software as the expectation will be for us to support it. After the data is back on our servers a mix of Volume Shadow Copy and our designated backup software will do the rest.

[Peter Grainge]

OK. Whichever way you do it, I would recommend zipping before copying projects across networks. First with the number of files involved, it is much easier as it is just one file. Second, we have seen occasional issues reported here where a file somehow doesn't make the journey! (It may be user error but the reason isn't the problem) :-)