GlobalWare Database clean-up
April Sigmon
Sr. Technical Analyst
Application Support Team - Point of Sale
September 2011
My role with GlobalWare
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Performing complex recoveries
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Database corruptions
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Help you plan for and go through purging
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Assist you with difficult installations.
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MIR related issues
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Backup
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Registry and new Operating Systems issues
Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
Let’s talk about the following…
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Purging and why it is important
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Recoveries
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Keep current on the GlobalWare releases
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Backing up your data
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Open discussion / questions
Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
Purging
BACKUP
Why Purge?
Purging invoices and other non-invoice transactions removes the data
completely from GlobalWare. Also, because most of you have been building
your database for 12 years! It is time to begin off-loading some of that data.
(after your recovery).
4
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Increase the performance of your database queries Decrease
the size of your database (after your recovery).
•
Your purges should be done on a fast machine. The more RAM
you have the better off you are.
Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
Command Line Purge
BACKUP
• Purge Invoices and Compress GL can be run from the command
line, which allows you, for example, to run it from a batch file or
scheduling program. To purge or compress from the command
line, use the following commands:
• gblware /purge_i -p "keyword=value;keyword=value" [purge invoices]
• gblware /purge_g -p "keyword=value;keyword=value" [compress GL]
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Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
Compressing GL
BACKUP
• Compressing GL removes the detail and creates a summary
transaction with the balance of the detail for each combination of
accounting period, branch, and chart, and also group ID. If the
detail records contain group IDs, Compressing GL also deletes
items from the GL Change Log.
• Before you purge the GL, be sure that the AR, AP, and
Commission subledgers balance with the GL. You will not be able
to research out-of-balance conditions after the detail has been
purged.
• GL data cannot be archived. Ensure you have the necessary
reports before you compress (printed on paper or to file), for
example, GL Query, JE Register, General Ledger report, Invoice
Posting Detail, and GL Change Log.
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Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
Purge Unpaid, Unposted Invoice Items
BACKUP
The Hidden Shift F-7
• Generally, you should purge items only after they have been posted to the GL and paid in full.
Examples of when you might purge
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Your agency does not use the accounting features of GlobalWare (receivables, payables,
commission tracking, and GL) and therefore never posts or applies, which is typical of cruise
agencies.
• You have purged posted and paid items but still have uncorrectable, commission-due items in
the same date range that you do not want to bother marking received and posting
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Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
Main Causes of Database Corruptions
• Defects in the server such as hard disk corruption, memory or
cache faults
• Running out of space on the primary hard drive
• Power failures
• Forcefully stopping a Purge
• Viruses on the Database server
• Not keeping all your GlobalWare machines on the same version
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Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
Recoveries
BACKUP
Why plan for a recovery?
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To Keep your Database Healthy
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The recovery will find errors within your DB and either notify you of the problem or
in some cases fix it.
Planning for an recovery.
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Choose a date to run a recovery
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Plan a time after hours or COB on a Friday and give yourself plenty of time to run
the recovery process.
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Plan for this event – such as identifying whether you need Travelport assistance
before, during, or after your recovery.
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Check for free drive space on your recovery machine. You need enough free
space that equals three times the size of your Database. For example, if your
database size = 2GB, you need at least 6GB of free space on the recovery drive
Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
Recoveries
BACKUP
• How fast your recovery runs depends on the machine’s hardware.
The better the machine, the quicker it will run. (The more RAM
you have, the faster it processes.)
• Turn off anti-virus before you run the recovery.
• Run DeleteDuplicateInvoices prior to the recovery.
Hint! Run a Defrag on the GlobalWare server after a recovery.
–Windows 7 Defrag is not great.. It is suggested to download a
freeware version.
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Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
Maintaining your current hardware
• Clean up the hard drive
• Scan for viruses and update virus definitions daily, weekly or
monthly.
• Check that you have a PS (uninterrupted power supply) on the
Database Server
• Increase the RAM in your current machine
• Develop a plan to replace the old hardware and invest in a new
hardware
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Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
A Good Health Check
Run a validation:
A good health check to run periodically throughout the year is a database validation. A
validation of the database can insure that the database is not corrupt.
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A validation will scan every record in every table.
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Run the DBVAL on a non-production machine to avoid impacting your production
environment.
Check your backup:
Actually restoring the backup onto a non-production machine and verifying the data is
a great health check. Perhaps run your validation on this backup to ‘kill two birds with
one stone.’ Thus you can ensure that when you need to restore, you have a good
backup.
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Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
Backup! Backup! Backup!
• When using the GwSrvBkp.exe on the backup server, it is
suggested that you install GlobalWare as a Single user on the
server. (We have found that when GW installed as a Workstation Client
on the server, the GwSrvBkp (and a few other utilities) will not work like
they should.)
• Other suggestions to backing up your GlobalWare server is to set
up a batch file with these commands:
dbbackup -c "eng=gwsrv;dbn=gwsrv;uid=global;pwd=ware" -d -t -y -o D:\GWbkup\gwbkp.log D:\GWbkup\gw
-d creates a backup of the main database file only
-t creates a backup of the transaction log only
-y creates directory or replace files without confirmation
-o Log output messages to file (this parameter has to be the last one and is followed
up by your path)
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Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
Windows 7 & GlobalWare
To add the SQL10 driver manually, use these steps
Open hkey_local_machine\software\odbc\
Right-click obdcinst.ini, select New, Key.
Name it “SQL Anywhere 10”
Right-click “SQL Anywhere 10”, select New,
String Value. Name it “Driver”. Press Enter to
edit the string. Enter
“c:\gblware\sqlany\dbodbc10.dll” in the Value
data field.
Repeat step 3 except name it “Setup”.
Right-click “SQL Anywhere 10”, select New,
DWORD Value. Name it “UsageCount”. Press
Enter to edit the string. Enter “1” in the Value
data field.
Right-click "ODBC Drivers", select New, String
Value. Name it "SQL Anywhere 10". Press
Enter to edit the string. Enter "Installed" in the
Value data field.
Create an ODBC data source using this driver
if necessary
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Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
•put a shortcut on the desktop for the
32-bit ODBC driver:
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe
•Check spelling on registry entries
Silly reminders
•Check to see if the backup is set and still running , weekly.
•Verify that the data being backed up is actually being backed up!
•Evaluate the free space on all drives of the server. ( C:\ and D:\ )
•Update your virus definitions and scan
•Plan purges.
•Plan for recoveries.
•Plan to install the next release of GlobalWare
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Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC
Thank you
To conclude:
Good Hardware Configuration
+
Routine Maintenance
=
A Healthy Database
Questions?
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Database clean-up
Copyright © 2011 Travelport, LLC