Database maintenance task definitions

The following are high level definitions of PME relevant database maintenance tasks.

Archive

Database archiving copies older data from the operational database into a separate, new database. The goal of archiving is to keep data safe for future reference. Data is typically archived based on calendar time intervals, for example by month or by year.

The PME archive task creates a new archive database each time the task is run. Each new archive database is attached to SQL server and is available to be accessed by PME.

NOTE: The PME archive task does not trim data from the operational database; it only makes a copy of the archived data, leaving the original data in the operational database. See Considerations for trimming archived data from ION_Data for important information on this topic.

Backup

Backing up a database creates a copy of the operational database. The goal of a backup is to have an identical duplicate of the operational database that can be used to restore the system in case the operational database becomes nonfunctional. Database backups should be created on a regular basis, for example daily or weekly.

Maintenance

The PME database Maintenance task defragments the database and updates the database statistics. The goal of these activities is to maintain database performance. Maintenance tasks should be run on a regular basis, for example daily.

Size Notification

The size notification task is used to monitor the size of the database and to notify users when a certain size threshold is reached. When the size threshold is reached, the task logs a system log event message and triggers a Critical alarm in PME every time the task runs.

NOTE: The Size Notification task is only configured for systems using SQL Server Express, which has a maximum database size limitation of 10 GB.

Trim

Trimming a database deletes data from the database. The goal of trimming is to prevent the database from growing to a size that could affect system performance. Databases should be trimmed on a regular basis, for example daily or weekly. For PME only the system log databases are trimmed.