Running an Integrity Check from the IRIS Database Manager

Introduction

Integrity failures are typically caused by faulty hardware, for example, disk drive errors or by the hardware failing, a power failure.

Integrity failures mean that the underlying structure of the database is damaged and access to the data can be impeded and/or lost.

Some errors can go unnoticed in the IRIS application until vital maintenance is carried out by the SQL engine itself for example, a re-indexing or structural checks or even backups of the database – these functions are routinely carried out at upgrade time, but can be part of your normal maintenance plan or overnight schedules.

The integrity check is performed as part of the backup sequence when using the IRIS Database Management Utility, however if you wish to either run the integrity check manually or as part of the IRIS start up the following information applies.

To Open the Database Manager from the Main Menu:

1. Select System Maintenance | Utilities and IRIS Database Manager.

The Database Manager - Integrity tab

Current Status Definitions

Last started - the date and time which represents the time that the integrity check started

Last finished - the date and time which represents the time that the integrity check finished

Current Status - the real time status of the integrity checker:

• SUCCESS - completed successfully.
• IN PROGRESS - an integrity check is running on the database.
• FAILED - problems have been found on the database.
• TIME OUT - the time out period has elapsed before the integrity check completed. Customer Support should be contacted with regards to this status.
• UNEXPECTED SQL FAILURE - the program has reported an unexpected error. Customer Support should be contacted with regards to this status.

Last completed status - which includes the following statuses which represented the last run result:

• SUCCESS - meaning that no integrity problems were found on the database.
• FAILED - meaning that the integrity check found problems on the database on the last run.

Last notification sent to IRIS - includes the date and time which represents the time that the Phone Home data was sent to IRIS formatted as DD Month YYYY HH:MM for example, 09 January 2012 14:25.

Timeout (minutes) - includes the value in minutes that the integrity check will run for before exiting automatically. Large databases on slow hardware may take more than the default value of 120 minutes. Please contact Customer Support to discuss, evaluate and change this setting if necessary.

Disable the automatic run of the integrity check (selected - this option controls whether the integrity check will run automatically on the main menu starting for any staff member who has been given the appropriate privilege (can run the integrity check automatically on opening the main menu). The default is Disabled = ticked (that is, it will not run).

Integrity Menu Actions

Refresh – this option refreshes the values as documented in the Current Statuses Definitions section above.

Run Now - the integrity check will run through a pass even if there has been a previous run on the same.

Timeout - a staff member with the correct privilege set (can change the integrity check timeout value) may change the value of the time out period. This action should be taken with consultation from the Customer Support Team.

Enable/Disable – a staff member with the privilege (can enable/disable the automatic integrity check for all privileged users) can enable or disable the automatic start-up of the integrity check on logging into the main menu.  

• A secondary level privilege (can run the integrity check automatically on opening the main menu) must be in place for any user who wishes to invoke the integrity check automatically on entering IRIS (see next section for full details).

Running the integrity check as part of the IRIS start up

It is important that integrity checks are run regularly on your IRIS database.

On a failure it is recommended that the IRIS database is used in a read only mode whilst investigation takes place.

Privileges can be set in Staff Maintenance under System maintenance.

Can run the integrity check automatically on opening the main menu – a staff member must have this privilege ticked under the Privilege tab on the Staff Maintenance screen in order to invoke the integrity check when logging into the main menu.

Can see the warning message on an integrity check failure when entering the main menu – staff members with this privilege will be able to see the warning message should the integrity check fail.  Note that in order to see the warning message, the staff member must also have the above privilege enabled.

Can enable/disable the automatic integrity check for all privileged users - allows for individuals with the above privileges to run the integrity on starting IRIS.

The default for all privileges is with the MASTER user enabled only.

The integrity check will run on the current database each time that a privileged staff member logs into the Main Menu with the following provisos:

• The frequency will be once a day – no matter how many or how often privileged users log into the main menu.

• Only one instance of the utility will be running at any one time – no matter how many or how often privileged users log into the main menu.

Logged information

A log is provided for each run of an integrity check or backup taken on the database. Although log files generally do not take up a huge amount of space, overtime they can require some maintenance as they will hold obsolete data. From the File menu on the utility, the option Tidy Log can be selected by privileged users (can tidy the database manager log).

The option displays a dialog entitled Months to keep. After entering the number of months, the utility will archive the existing log and then truncate the log information in the log file accordingly.

The log file is named Database_Name DBMLog.txt and is kept in the logs folder within the IRIS installation folder.

The archived log file has the .txt extension changed to .bak and can be archived off the system.