by Kim Hyde
Overview
The subject of creating a backup as part of a maintenance plan for Autodesk Vault is a pre-requisite for any Vault installation, indeed a subject already well documented on Cadline Community. It is true that file-store validation can be run routinely as part of a backup script, but you may find this article useful if you just want to check the `database to file-store’ relationship in situation when planning to run a purge routine or product upgrade. (Incidentally, if you are planning a Vault upgrade you may want to discuss this with Cadline first!).
Back to Basics
It is useful to understand some basics here; Autodesk Vault uses a Microsoft SQL Server database to manage stored files. SQL automatically creates and maintains a unique folder structure where files are stored in their original format but renamed in conjunction with the parent folder. Subsequently edited files are added to the folders and stored as incremented versions; all files are referenced from the database. The validation process basically runs an audit against the database and the referenced files stored.
If things aren’t what they seem
In a replicated Vault environment, common file-stores are copied from site-to-site and there are easy ways to check if files are missing from a file-store location. However, in certain situations (in both replicated and non-replicated environments) references can be lost and files may become `orphaned’. Autodesk have provided a `Reference Repair Utility’ (stand-alone application) to locate and manage orphaned files.
Script Details
An example for the content for the script is as follows (note that this example includes a stop/start for the Vault SQL service, therefore it is advised to suspend client access activity when running the script):
REM Autodesk Data Management Server file-store validation routine
REM Cadline Ltd. 01293 774442
REM This file should be ammended to reflect folder locations used.
REM: Cycling the SQL server
NET STOP MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT
NET START MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT
REM: Operation = validate file-store, write report to txt, run silently.
REM: Switches -L = Report File Location, -S = Run Silently, -VU = Vault Username, -VP = Password
"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\ADMS Professional 2014\ADMS Console\Connectivity.ADMSConsole.exe" -Ovalidatefilestore -L"C:\Autodesk\Scripts\VaultFilestoreReport.txt" -VUadministrator -VP -S
Reading the Results
Note that subsequent executions of the script will append information to the same txt report file, so you can choose to delete the previous version prior to running the script. The following file shows the content from my PC with appended results (no problems found!):
19/08/2013 14:10:40 ==== DataManagement.Common.Logging: DISABLED ====
19/08/2013 14:10:40 ==== Logging initiated: Core server version 18.1.8.0 ====
19/08/2013 14:10:40
19/08/2013 14:10:40 -Ovalidatefilestore -L"C:\Autodesk\Scripts\VaultFilestoreReport.txt" -VU[username] -VP[password] -S
19/08/2013 14:10:42 ==================================================================
19/08/2013 14:10:42 VALIDATING FILE STORE...: This may take several minutes...
19/08/2013 14:10:42 ==================================================================
19/08/2013 14:10:50 Validating file store... 100/419
19/08/2013 14:10:55 Validating file store... 300/419
19/08/2013 14:11:00 Validating file store... 419/419
19/08/2013 14:11:05 Connectivity.Request.Common.RequestLibrary - RequestRuntimeStop()
19/08/2013 14:11:05 Connectivity.Request.Vault.RequestLibrary - RequestRuntimeStop()
19/08/2013 14:11:05 Connectivity.Request.Foundation.RequestLibrary - RequestRuntimeStop()
19/08/2013 14:11:05 Connectivity.Request.Document.RequestLibrary - RequestRuntimeStop()
19/08/2013 15:28:51 ==== DataManagement.Common.Logging: DISABLED ====
19/08/2013 15:28:51 ==== Logging initiated: Core server version 18.1.8.0 ====
19/08/2013 15:28:51
19/08/2013 15:28:51 -Ovalidatefilestore -L"C:\Autodesk\Scripts\VaultFilestoreReport.txt" -VU[username] -VP[password] -S
19/08/2013 15:28:53 ==================================================================
19/08/2013 15:28:53 VALIDATING FILE STORE...: This may take several minutes...
19/08/2013 15:28:53 ==================================================================
19/08/2013 15:28:59 Validating file store... 419/419
19/08/2013 15:29:04 Connectivity.Request.Common.RequestLibrary - RequestRuntimeStop()
19/08/2013 15:29:04 Connectivity.Request.Vault.RequestLibrary - RequestRuntimeStop()
19/08/2013 15:29:04 Connectivity.Request.Foundation.RequestLibrary - RequestRuntimeStop()
19/08/2013 15:29:04 Connectivity.Request.Document.RequestLibrary - RequestRuntimeStop()
Hope you find this useful.
Happy Vaulting!