Maintaining Your RightFax Database

This article applies to the following versions:

RightFax 10.0.0, 10.5, 10.6, 9.3, 9.4

See RightFax Product Lifecycle >>>

Summary

In Fax Server, RightFax Edition, how do you perform basic database maintenance tasks, such as backing up your RightFax database, migrating your RightFax database to another drive or folder, or modifying the SQL connection string for your RightFax database?

Resolution

Database Maintenance Activities
This article provides information on the following topics:

• • Backing up your RightFax database 
  • Migrating your RightFax database to another drive or folder 
  • Restoring a backup of your RightFax database 
  • Changing the SQL connection string for your RightFax database in Fax Server 9.3 
  • Changing the SQL connection string for your RightFax database in Fax Server 9.4 

DISCLAIMER: The following information is provided as a courtesy on an as is basis. Open Text is not responsible for managing your Microsoft SQL Server database. For Microsoft Documentation consult Microsoft Technet (http://technet.microsoft.com). 

Before you start any database maintenance activities 

1. Ensure that you have installed Microsoft SQL Management Studio, which you use to complete the database maintenance tasks described in this article. If you do not have this application installed on your Fax Server computer, download and install Microsoft SQL Management Studio 2005 Express. 

You can obtain a 32-bit or 64-bit copy of Microsoft SQL Management Studio 2005 Express at http://www.microsoft. com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=C243A5AE-4BD1-4E3D-94B8-5A0F62BF7796&displaylang=en. Having a copy of this application on your Fax Server computer makes it simple to access the RightFax database. 

2. Stop all of the RightFax services. 

It is important to stop all of the RightFax services when you back up your database to ensure that no data is added or modified while the database is being backed up. If you have any remote board servers, or other applications that access the RightFax database, make sure that they are also stopped before doing the backup.

Backing up your RightFax database

To back up your RightFax database, complete the following steps:

1. Log on to Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio Express using your domain administrator account.

2. Expand the Databases node in the left panel. Right-click the RightFax database, and then click Tasks > Back Up.

3. Modify the default backup location and specify the location where you want to store your backup.
a) Create a new folder to store your RightFax database backup. For example, create a folder called backup on the root of your C: drive.
b) At the bottom right of the Back Up Database – RightFax dialog box, the default backup location appears. Click the “C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Backup\RightFax.bak” entry, and then click Remove.

c. Click Add, and type the path to the location of your backup (.bak) file, for example C:\backup\rightfax.bak.

4. On the left side of the Back Up Database – RightFax dialog box, click Options. Enable “Overwrite all existing backup sets” and “Verify backup when finished.” Then click OK at the bottom of the dialog box.

SQL Server Management Studio Express now creates your database backup. Once the backup is complete, a message appears stating that the backup of the database “RightFax” completed successfully.

Migrating your RightFax database

To move your RightFax database to another drive or folder, complete the following steps:

1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. Expand the Databases node, right-click the RightFax database, and then click Tasks > Detach.

2. Enable Drop Connections on the Detach Database dialog box, so that any open database connections are dropped. If you see more than three or four connections listed, review your Fax Server implementation to ensure that no applications or remote board servers continue to access the RightFax database.

3. After you detach the database, move it to another folder or drive.

In this example, copy the RightFax.MDF and RightFax_log.LDF files from the C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\data\ folder to a new folder on the E: drive called “new location.”

4. To use the files in the new location:
a) Expand the Databases node in SQL Management Studio, and then click Attach.

b) In the “Database to attach” section of the Attach Databases dialog box, click Add, and then browse to the MDF and LDF files that you moved in step 3 above.

In this example, browse to E:\new location\RightFax.mdf.

c) Once you have added the correct MDF and LDF files, complete the migration by clicking OK.

Restoring a backup of your RightFax database

To restore a backup of your RightFax database from a .bak file, complete the following steps:

1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, expand the Databases folder, and then click Restore Database.

2. In the Restore Database dialog box, type RightFax in the “To database” field, and enable “From device” under “Source for restore,” and then click the ellipsis button.

Typically, you have no backup locations already entered, so the Specify Backup dialog box should appear as follows:

3. Click Add and browse to the location of your backup file. In the following example, your backup is the C:\Backup\rightfax.bak file. Click OK once you have specified the correct backup file.

4. In the Restore Database dialog box, ensure that the “To database” field shows RightFax, and then enable Restore for the backup file that you just browsed to.

Click Options on the left side, and enable “Overwrite the existing database.” If you do not, and the original LDF and MDF files are still in the folder, an error message appears stating that the files already exist.

5. Click OK to complete the restoration of your RightFax database.

Changing the SQL connection information in Fax Server 9.3

Changing the SQL connection information in Fax Server 9.3 consists of four main steps:

1. Redirect the ODBC data source (system DSN.)
2. Change the Database module string.
3. Change the DocTransport module string.
4. Change the Remoting module string.

The following procedure presumes that the RightFax database already exists on the Microsoft SQL Server and that you connect to the RightFax database using the default SQL Server account “sa.”

To change the SQL connection information in Fax Server 9.3, complete the following steps.
1. Redirect the ODBC Data Source (System DSN).
a) Open the ODBC Data Source Administrator by one of the following methods:
– Click Start > Programs > Administrative tools > Data sources (ODBC).
– Click Start > Control Panel > Administrative tools > Data sources (ODBC).

b) Select RightFax, and click Configure to open the Microsoft SQL Server DSN Configuration wizard.

Do not change the name RightFax. In the Server field, specify the server using the format NameofServer\InstanceofSQLServer. (If the database is installed in an SQL Server instance, specify the instance. Otherwise, simply enter the short name or NetBIOS of the SQL Server hosting the RightFax database.) Click Next.

c) In the second screen of the Microsoft SQL Server DSN Configuration wizard, enter appropriate data for your RightFax database. In the following example, the SA account and password are used to access the RightFax SQL Server database. If you want to use a different account with more restrictive permissions, refer to Knowledge Base article 16223253, “What SQL permissions are required for RightFax 9.x (9.0 & 9.3) to operate correctly?” A link to this article is provided in the References section below.

d) Proceed through the next two dialog boxes of the Microsoft SQL Server DSN Configuration wizard. Do not change anything from the default settings.

e) On the last dialog box, click Test Data Source to ensure that everything is configured correctly and that you can connect to the database.

2. Change the Database module string.
a) In Enterprise Fax Manager, right-click the Database module, and then click Configure Service.

b) Click the ellipsis button. The RightFax SQL Connection Editor dialog box appears. Ensure that the Logon ID and Password fields contain appropriate values.

3. Change the Doctransport module string.
a) In Enterprise Fax Manager, right-click the DocTransport module, and then click Configure Service.

b) Click the ellipsis button. The RightFax SQL Connection Editor dialog box appears. Ensure that the Logon ID and Password fields contain appropriate values.

4. Change the Remoting module string.

In Enterprise Fax Manager, right-click the Remoting service, and then click Configure Service.

Examine the Database Connection string to determine what information needs to be changed. For example, you may need to change “user id=sa” to use a different account to connect to the database.

Changing the SQL connection information in Fax Server 9.4

Fax Server 9.4 stores SQL connection information in a single location, unlike Fax Server 9.3 or earlier, which stores a separate SQL connection string for each module.

To modify the SQL connection information in Fax Server 9.4, complete the following steps:

1. Right-click either the Doctransport module or the Remoting service. (Either one provides access to the RightFax Service Database Connection String Editor.) In this example, start by right-clicking the DocTransport module and then clicking Configure Service.

2. On the DocTransport Configuration dialog box, click the ellipsis button to open the Connection String Editor.

3. Click Modify to view the properties of the connection string. Ensure that all fields in this dialog box are configured with appropriate values.

Additional Information

For more information regarding backing up the entire RightFax installation, please see What to Back Up and How to Restore for Disaster Recovery.

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