THE CENTRAL DATABASE

All Kooltrak software accesses data held in a common database, structured in MS Access format. The design of this database, the procedures used to build and rebuild it, and the process established for backing up data, are central to the proven stability and reliability of the Kooltrak system.

Kooltrak, Koolpad, Koolprobe and Koolscan write data to the central database, while Kooltrak and Koolpage access this database to produce displays and reports.

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

The Kooltrak design team started with the principle that all data read from loggers must be saved unmodified as .dta files, and the software must be so designed that the working database is built by processing these files, and can at any time be rebuilt by reprocessing these same files. In this way the original data is never lost or modified, and in the event of a system crash or a problem in the software causing data corruption the original data can be recovered and reprocessed into a corrected database.

In addition there should not be any obvious user actions that could corrupt this process, so we also made sure that re-processing of only some of the files, or processing any file multiple times, wouldn't damage the database.

With these design principles disaster recovery is integral to the design and not an "add-on" feature, and recovery uses the same code that was used to build the database in the first place. It works well both in theory and practice, and is well tested and proven.

DTA FILES

When a logger is read its data is stored in a file in the \kooltrak\data\ directory with a name containing the logger ID number and the time and date of reading, with file extension .dta. This happens immediately if the reading is performed locally using a Kooltrak Light, Standard or Professional system.

Dta files are also created by the Koolpad system running on a PocketPC, and might be generated remotely on another Kooltrak or Koolpad system. In these case the dta file is transferred into the data processing directory as the first step toward processing it into the Kooltrak database.

The method by which the file is transferred varies, and in the case of Koolpad it is usual to use the MS-supplied utility "ActiveSync" to move the dta file from the PocketPC to the PC on which Kooltrak is running. Alternatively the Koolscan program will search specified network directories or email servers for dta files that have been stored there, and transfer them into the \kooltrak\data\ directory for processing.

Because ActiveSync isn't very user-friendly and drops all the user's data into a directory determined by ActiveSync, Kooltrak has a feature that allows the user to search once for this directory and tell Kooltrak to process any dta files found there in future.

The processing step occurs when the "Read Logger" window is open and the key interface is connected to Kooltrak. At this time Kooltrak searches for any dta files in the \kooltrak\data\ directory, processes them into the databse, and moves the original dta file to the \kooltrak\data\backup\ directory.

This processing step is automatic and invisible when loggers are read directly with Kooltrak, but becomes visible when logger files previously read by Koolpad or transferred by Koolscan are processed. During this step when Kooltrak Professional is used any logger calibration files present will be searched and if a matching logger is found the calibration will be applied to its data before addition to the database.

There is a utility provided in the "Read Logger" directory to copy the dta files from the backup directory to floppy disk. This is only provided as a convenience, and another way to back up the dta files would be to copy all the files in the \kooltral\data\backup\ directory to a cdrom or backup tape.

DATABASE

The central database file Kooltrak.mde is stored in the directory \kooltrak\data\. A utility "Copy the database to the backup directory"is provided to make a copy of this file. Another utility is provided to validate and compress the database, and there is an option to remove data older than a certain date.

The database file contains the complete image of the working Kooltrak system. If you copy this file to another computer with Kooltrak installed you will have copied all the information that's available.

"Backing up the database" means to make a copy of Kooltrak.mde and save it in a safe place, for example by writing it to a cdrom or a backup tape.

If you "restore" the database by copying it back again to the \kooltrak\data\ directory you will restore the system to the same point as when you first copied the database. Any data added after this date will not be present after the restore.

BACKUP STRATEGY

Don't run W98 or ME, they crash far too often. Run NT4, W2000 or XP instead.

Copy the .dta files regularly from \kooltrak\data\backup\ to a safe place - if your system crashes, what's not copied will be lost for ever.

Copy the Kooltrak.mde file from \kooltrak\data\ to cdrom or backup tape periodically. How often depends on how much data you are processing.

RESTORE STRATEGY

Restore the last Kooltrak.mde backup into the \kooltrak\data\ directory. If some disaster struck the computer and the operating system had to be rebuilt simply re-install Kooltrak with an empty databse, then replace the Kooltrak.mde database file with the backed-up copy.

Copy all the dta files with dates equal to or later than the backup date of Kooltrak.mde file you have just restored into the \kooltrak\data\ directory. Don't worry if you copy more files than necessary, re-processing will take a little longer but will still work correctly.

Connect the interface, make sure the matching key file is present in the \kooltrak\ directory, and that the correct COM port is selected.

Open the "Read Logger" window. The number of dta files waiting for processing will be shown in the lower right corner, and this number will decrease as the files are processed and moved to the backup directory. If there are a large number of files to be processed this can take a few minutes, but at the end your system will be fully restored to its state before the crash.

GENERAL COMMENTS

Kooltrak software is stable and secure, and there are no reported problems that lead to corruption of the database.

Operating system crashes sometimes occur, but if you avoid W98 or ME they are relatively rare.

The restore process works perfectly.

If you don't use the tools provided and make regular backups then in the event of a system crash there's nothing anyone can do to help you.

end. Nov 2003