You may find yourself in the situation where, for an environmental reason, it is not possible to take a supported Backup from your ADMS Console. The following steps should only be carried out as a last resort when all other avenues have been explored.
On a clean machine (Restoring Machine)
- Install Vault Server on a new machine.
- After a successful installation, Start the ADMS Console.
- Delete the Vault Database (Right click on the Database > Delete).
- Tools > Detach Master Vault.
- In Windows Explorer, navigate to the SQL Data folder where the Database files are configured to reside. By Default this is going to be something like "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.AUTODESKVAULT\MSSQL\DATA" (This location will vary depending on your Operating System).
- Delete these files KnowledgeVaultMaster.mdf and KnowledgeVaultMaster_log.ldf.
Concept and Terminology
As customers upgrade from release to release of their Inventor platform this typically also involves migration of CAD files and increasingly CAD data stored in Autodesk Vault document management solutions.
Migration from an Autodesk Vault perspective is twofold, often the change of database versions is referred to as Migration and indeed during the installation process the Autodesk Data Management Console will report that it is “migrating” databases.
This Migration however refers only to the Metadata component of the Vault system where new tables and property definitions are added to the Database set, during this process no managed CAD files are modified, created or touched in any way.
Migration of your CAD data becomes a secondary operation to be completed after the Database Migration, this CAD file Migration is what this article is intended to cover.
As Autodesk Vault allows support for the latest plus 2 previous versions of Inventor with Vault, permitting users to work with legacy Inventor formats, it is important that there is no assumption made about the need to migrate CAD data.
Migrating CAD data to the latest version of your CAD system means that the latest version only of each CAD file in the Vault will have a new version created – in essence every unique CAD record will have a new version, increasing the Filestore size.
In a design environment where Item or File Lifecycle schemes are utilised by either Vault Workgroup, Vault Collaboration or Vault Professional there are a number of additional file access and security considerations which will need to be addressed in order to successfully Migrate the Vaulted data. See Autodesk's document on Migrate released or locked CAD files.
If you want to change the location of the Lucene Search Indexes because they can sometimes take up a large amount of disk space, this can be done by edited the web.config file.
This will be located in the folder below:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\ADMS Professional 2011\Server\Web\Services
First, make a Copy of the original web.config file, then edit the web.config file in Notepad (Do not edit in Word or any other application that adds formatting).
Change the Value in quote in the following line, to the desired location.
systemIndexStore value="C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\VaultServer\Indexes\"
When running Autodesk Data Management Server, you should use the tools provided within the software to create a Backup. The Backup tools create a complete snapshot of the Vault Database, Filestore and Custom Content Centre Libraries that can be archived to tape using your existing company Backup software.
The Backup tool provides a series of command line driven features that can be run on the server via a batch routine. The Batch Routine should be Run Every Day after the Vault users have finished working and it should Complete prior to the start of main Company Backup. As the amount of data in the Vault increases, you should re-check the timings to ensure the ADMS Backup completes before the main backup begins. Automate the backup by configuring a Windows Scheduled Task to run the Batch Routine every day. Be aware that the Scheduled Task is authenticated by a Windows user. If the password for the Windows user is changed, the Scheduled Task and therefore the Vault Backup will fail.
Do not assume that your IT Department are backing up the server and all data is recoverable. Archiving live SQL databases may not be possible with your backup software. Without the Databases, the Vault Filestore is not usable. Vault data restoration should be detailed specifically within your Company Disaster Recovery Plan. Test your Backup and know that should the worst happen you can Restore the data with the minimum of delay.
See Micro Concepts Technical Document - TD0170 - ADMS2011 Server Backup
