General questions

[Lukasz1312]

Hi,
recently I've got an Enteprise Architect to administration and need instruction/best practices to get it work well.
Database is on MSSQL server, database size 11 GB, around 50 users connection to database at the same time.
At this moment users is using EA 15.2 beacuse in 16.1 they experienced more errors. I ran the integrity check on EA and got 11000 errors (only check, without repair)(i think its a lot ?).
What next steps should be done ?
1.Create new database
2.Run newest schema
3.Fix EA with integrity check and export to XML
4.Import XML to new database

What driver is best to connect to database ? In instruction was Microsoft OLE DB Simple provider for SQL Server or Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server. I saw an article on MS where they wrote the all OLE DB provider are deprecated and they suggest using OLE DB Driver.

Sometimes users complains that EA stopps working (freeze). I assume that somebody is doing big operations that can slow down database serwer. Can you explain what operations on EA may slowing down work? Like run "Integrity check" for sure is a problem

[BobM]

Hi,
recently I've got an Enteprise Architect to administration and need instruction/best practices to get it work well.
Database is on MSSQL server, database size 11 GB, around 50 users connection to database at the same time.
At this moment users is using EA 15.2 beacuse in 16.1 they experienced more errors. I ran the integrity check on EA and got 11000 errors (only check, without repair)(i think its a lot ?).
What next steps should be done ?
1.Create new database
2.Run newest schema
3.Fix EA with integrity check and export to XML
4.Import XML to new database

What driver is best to connect to database ? In instruction was Microsoft OLE DB Simple provider for SQL Server or Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server. I saw an article on MS where they wrote the all OLE DB provider are deprecated and they suggest using OLE DB Driver.

Sometimes users complains that EA stopps working (freeze). I assume that somebody is doing big operations that can slow down database serwer. Can you explain what operations on EA may slowing down work? Like run "Integrity check" for sure is a problem

users is using EA 15.2 because in 16.1 they experienced more errors

• Can you elaborate more on "users are experiencing more errors"?

Sometimes users complains that EA stops working (freeze)

• These issues have been addressed in later releases
• Potential issues iirc were:
  
  • Editing notes
  • connectivity issues
  • uses of shared elements

Integrity check

• Make certain you understand why there integrity errors are occurring
• For example: Some orphans can be elements people still need to add to to models
• The best way to clean up data integrity is by running some scripts where all stakeholders can validate the highlighted content that is applicable to them and clean it up manually and thus controlled

Create a new database

• MySQL is not a bad database, unless you feel you are hitting limitations
• I would recommend using PCS (ProCloud Server) to make your users connect to the database instead of a direct database connection
  ProCloud Server without the PRO features is free, and allows you to disconnect the users via a service, enabling you to perform proper maintenance to the database

Run newest schema

• Definitely upgrade to the latest schema if you aren't already
• If you use SSO (Single Sign On) via AD or OpenID I highly recommend this as the latest version increased the amount of characters required in the verification fields (name and email address)

Export and Import database

• First Backup the database so you can recover from integrity check cleanup (as mentioned before: do a manual cleanup effort first to know which checks could actually be performed in order for you to not lose data you didn't intend to get cleaned up
• More information can be found here, clearly stating backup before performing any maintenance actions
  https://sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/16.0/model_exchange/performadatatransfer.html

[Sunshine]

You can make that a little easier by just backing up the database first then running integrity check. That should fix your errors in the DB.
Then run any update on the schema scripts from https://sparxsystems.com/resources/repositories/ Noting there are two types of scripts. One that create the schema and another that updates the schema.

With a database of 11GB you may find importing and exporting XML takes an awful long time. Possibly days or weeks so may not be the best way forward.
11000 errors is a hell of a lot. I concur with BobM in that once you've fixed the errors you ought to root out the cause.

When you run the integrity check you'll get a top level folder called _recovered where all the orphaned elements are recovered. You'll have to work through those to check if they are still needed or should be deleted.  The author of the element is probably the best person to consult with on that aspect.

Hope that helps.

[shimon]

Hi,
The best backup for a SQL based repository, is the DB backup.
Are you using any type of version control?
I assume the answer is yes, and that may be the root cause of all the errors. If you are still using version control, I would advise against using PCS, as a checkout via PCS is a bottleneck that you don't want ( and in extreme cases may cause DB corruption).
Sincerely,
Shimon.

[Lukasz1312]

Thanks for ansewrs
Steps I made:
I wanted to test it first so created a new empty database i other serwer.
1.Create new database
2.Run newest schema
3.Fix EA with integrity check and export to XML
4.Import XML to new database (export and import was around 6 hours)
It is in testing phase but users but first feedback are promising (no errors for now)

BobM:
- its MS SQL not MySQL database
- will check this ProCloud Server, thx
- sample errors in link below
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1uLaTPJnwhWvyYp4he2IepFvNV_0ZHQGz?usp=drive_link

Sunshine:
Thankfully it was 6-7 hours (export and import)
_recovered - yep, there are some stuff, work for users

shimon:
we are using MS SQL Standard and database is working is Full mode, Full backup after one week, differential everyday and LOG after 2 hours
We are preparing to using SVN but i wanted first to fix this error. PCS - thx, will test it more before run in production if so.

This database first was using on Linux and MS Express, problably never checked by Integrity Check and also connection to database by others programs like Dbeaver or SQL Server Managament Studio.

btw. Is there an option to have audits ? ex. who deleted some diagrams ?