The Hach WIMS's DBA Helper (Data Base Administrator Helper) is a simple background Windows Service that performs backups of Hach WIMS Facilities and entire databases. Only one instance of DBA Helper is required for each Hach WIMS database. DBA Helper is only designed to work with the release Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express  which is included with Hach WIMS Standard, Single User, and BOD Manager.  It will not work with any other version of SQL Server nor ORACLE.

INI Settings:

There are several settings for the DBA Helper which it loads from an INI file, the first group of settings is explained in the Hach WIMS Database Connection Settings article.  That article explains the basic settings required for all Hach WIMS Services and applications that connect directly to the Hach WIMS database.  To add to those settings, DBA Helper requires a few extra settings, explained here:

SERVERNAME
(Required)

Specifies the name of the MS SQL instance hosting the Hach WIMS database. Default = (local)\OPSSQL

LOCATION
(Required)

Supplies the DBA Helper with a path of where to place the backups when created. 
NOTE:  Do not select a network path, this must be a local path. Default = C:\HachWIMS\DbaHelper\Backup

KEEPLOGSFOR
(Optional, Default =1000)

Determines the number of days that the DBA Helper will keep its own log files.  Once a log file is older than the specified number of days, it is deleted from the system.

KEEPBACKUPSFOR
(Optional, Default =1000)

Determines the number of days that the DBA Helper will keep backup files in the above LOCATION folder.  Once a backup is older than the specified number of days, it is deleted from the system.

HACHWIMS_USERMSG_SENDTO
(Optional)

Use one (or more) line(s) of this setting to limit the amount of users that will be receiving routine notification messages from the service. For Example,

HACHWIMS_USERMSG_SENDTO=SUPER
HACHWIMS_USERMSG_SENDTO=SMITH
HACHWIMS_USERMSG_SENDTO=JANEDOE

would only send notification messages to SUPER, SMITH, and JANEDOE users.

USE_VB6_LICENSING
(Optional, Default=0)

Specifies how WIMS verifies the license file.  If the setting =0, WIMS will use .net dll to verify license info.  If the setting =1, WIMS uses and alternate licensing class to verify the licence info.  This setting is helpful in certain secure environments. If you are getting the following error when running the client: Could not initialize license information! Error reported: Please call OPS Systems for assistance!, you will need to added USE_VB6_LICENSING=1 to the dbahelper.ini.

All of the settings are found in the DBA Helper's ini file: dbahelper.ini.  This file is found in the DBA Helper installation folder which is specified during installation (default: C:\HachWIMS\DbaHelper).  If any of the settings needs to be changed in the INI file, you must save the changes to the file and then restart the DBA Helper service: see "MAINTENANCE" below for details.

MAINTENANCE:

Periodically, due to unforseen circumstances, the DBA Helper service can require restarting and even updating.  To start, stop or restart the service, we recommend using the provided links in the Windows Start Menu as show below:

NOTE (For Windows Vista Users): If you are running Microsoft's Windows Vista and are having trouble using the above Start menu shortcuts, please see HOWTO: Start/Stop/Restart Hach WIMS Services under Windows Vista.

For advanced users, this can also be done through the Windows Service Manager (Start, Run, services.msc, OK).  From this window, you can check the status of the service (started or not) and start, stop and restart the service:

ADVANCED USERS:

The service must be stopped before installing an updated version of the DBA Helper Service.  This prevents the service from being abruptly halted during a backup operation by the upgrade process.  Once the upgraded version is installed, see the above maintenance section on how to ensure that your DBA Helper is operational and how to start or restart it if necessary.