Jump down to Automated Backups (Uses the TCE SQL Manager
described below)
Special instructions for Automated Backup With SQL Server 2005 Express
The SQL version of TCE requires some different back up procedures, but they are not difficult. The preferred method can place all your backed up data for TCE in the same location as your QuickBooks data, if you are using QuickBooks with TCE, and other document form files and program update files that you also will want to be backing up. This should all be done from the Server machine. Once you have created the backup files, you may then copy them off to any desired media for your backup. This process may also be automated to occur at a certain time of day each desired day. See below for how to set up an automated backup.
For backing up or updating the program, it is necessary that all users exit The Complete Exam®. If you are using QuickBooks with TCE and are backing up your data, it will also be necessary for any station using QuickBooks to close that as well. It is not necessary to close QuickBooks if you are only updating the TCE program.
When all users are out of TCE and QB, to back up on the server machine click on Start > All
Programs > The Complete Exam > TCE SQL Manager as shown below:
You may also have a shortcut on your desktop that looks like the picture at the left, and if so, you may double-click on it as well. The TCE SQL Manager screen below will be called up, and it should show the correct server name in the upper left. Click on "Connect" to establish the connection to the database. If your SQL Manager screen does not look like this one, you may download the newest version from our downloads website as indicated on our CDROM. Backup still works as described here, but you may not have all the options in our latest version.
You should also realize that if you are copying the database to a home computer, the "server" name at the office will not likely match the "server" name of the home computer. Since the home computer will be acting as a server, it will have its own name, but in both cases, the TCE databases are what you want to connect to.
You must then click on the dropdown to select the database you want to back up, which will normally be "TCE" unless you want to also back up the demo database, "TCESQLDemo."
The program is defaulted to save the backup into the C:\TCEBackup directory, which will be created if it does not already exist. This directory on the server should NOT be shared to protect the backup from unauthorized access from outside the server. If you wish to put the backup file in some other location, set the location and file name of the backup desired, browsing if necessary to get to the "C:\TCEDATA\Backup" directory, for example. If you use the TCEDATA directory, you should be aware that it is a shared directory and could be accessed by any workstation on your network. If you wish, you may change the backup filename itself, but there is no reason to do so normally.
When all parameters are set correctly, you may then click on the "Backup" button to write the back up file into the C:\TCEBackup directory or whatever directory you have designated if you changed it from the default.
Once the above has created a back up file for TCE, and after any running QuickBooks program is closed, you may then use whatever backup means you care to use, whether tape, CDROM, internet, or copy to another drive or zip drive, to copy the entire TCEDATA directory and its subdirectories to your back up media as well as any of the above backup files you have created if they are in other directories, such as the C:\TCEBackup directory. The C:\TCEDATA directory and its subdirectories is where you should be storing your QuickBooks datafiles and any TCE program updates as well. After you run this backup routine, it will remember the filename and location for the next time and overwrite the backup you just made with the new one the next time you run the backup procedure.
Restoring a backup works just as above except that after copying the backed up files from your back up media into the C:\TCEDATA directory structure and the TCE.bak file into the location it was originally stored in, C:\TCEBackup by default, you click on the "Restore" button instead of the "Backup" button after setting the parameters. All users must have exited from TCE and QuickBooks to restore a database. QuickBooks "restore" may not be necessary beyond copying the QBW file from the back up media back into the TCEDATA directory. The copied QBW file will automatically be used when you next start QuickBooks.
Automated Backups.
MSDE Systems Only!
Click here for Automated Backups in SQL 2005 Express
To set up your system to automatically backup TCE at a certain time each desired
day, click on the "Schedule Automated Backups" button in the TCE SQL Manager screen
as shown above and follow these easy steps below.
First, in the pop up dialog box for scheduling automated backups, use the arrows to set the desired time of day that you wish the backup to occur. Then, select the days of the week you want the backup done. You may optionally type in the name of a system user, typically Administrator, that you may wish to send a notification to concerning the results of a backup procedure. Microsoft Messaging Services must be turned on for notification to work. When you are finished setting up the parameters, click on "OK" or on the "Cancel" button if you change your mind.
For the backup to actually run at the appointed time, you must have the SQL Server Agent running, which it is not by default. To start the SQL Server Agent, double-click the SQL Server Service Manager icon in your server's system tray. The screen clip at the right shows you what that icon looks like.
The SQL Server Service Manager window will pop up as shown here at right, and it will be set for showing the SQL Server that is running. You must click on the dropdown to select the SQL Server Agent so that the Service Manager will show you the controls for the Agent as shown below. While the Service Manager is set to the SQL Server Agent mode, you need to "Start" the Agent, which will
make the red square change to a geen arrow like you saw when the Service Manager was in the SQL Server mode. You should also click in the checkbox for "Auto-Start Service when OS Starts" so that the SQL Server Agent starts up again automatically if you re-boot your server. When you have the Agent started and the Auto-Start checkbox checked, you can close the SQL Server Service Manager and let it return to your System Tray. You may rest your mouse over the icon whenever you like to see the tool tip pop up and tell you the status of what it is currently set for. You may double-click the Service Manager up on your screen to change the monitoring setting from the Agent to SQL Server whenever you like. The fact that it might be monitoring the Agent does not mean that the SQL Server not being monitored has stopped.
When the backup runs, it will create the backup file that you set up in the earlier screen. It should go without saying that you must leave the server running for this automatic backup to occur and the SQL Server Agent must also be running.
Automated Backup With SQL Server 2005 Express
When Microsoft released its new SQL 2005 Express product as an upgrade to the older MSDE based on SQL Server 2000, it gave us many improvements. However, they took away the ability to run automated backups for some unknown reason. Consequently, we had to come up with a new way to accomplish this very important task.
It is possible to back up an SQL 2005 Express datafile with direct commands to the database engine, but the syntax is too complex for someone who is not a skilled computer user with some advanced knowledge of SQL. Therefore, we have made up a DOS-type batch file that will send the appropriate commands to back up the TCE database. The UNC name of that batch file as installed by default is "C:\Program Files\TCE DATA\Tcebackup.bat" on your server or standalone machine.
It is probably easiest to make a shortcut on your desktop to that batch file so it is easy to use if you want to quickly make a manual back up at any time. The way we have the batch file set up, it will cause SQL to make a backup of the TCE database, with the resulting backup file named TCE.bak being placed in the C:\TCEBackup directory. A competent IT person can edit the batch file to place the backup file wherever they like, named whatever they like. In fact, also in the X:\TCEDATA directory on the CDROM (X:), we have included five such edited files, each named for a different weekday. Executing the "tcebackupmon.bat" file will cause a "tce-mon.bak" backup file to be generated in the C:\TCEBackup directory, and executing the "tcebackuptue.bat" file will cause a "tce-tue.bak" backup file to be generated. If you wish to have separate backup files for each day of the week, and then overwrite those weekday files with new ones next week, you should copy the five edited batch files from the CDROM to the "C:\Program Files\TCE Data" directory. Once done, using the same technique described below, set up a scheduled task to run the Monday version weekly on Mondays, the Tuesday version to run weekly on Tuesdays, etc. That way, you will never overwrite your previous tce.bak file with a new one, possibly overwriting a good backup with a bad one. You will have five consecutive backups in case you need to revert back two or three days ago. You can still always run the regular "tcebackup.bat" file from a shortcut on your desktop any time you want to run an updated backup immediately.
Now that we have the batch file(s) in place, how do we make it (them) execute automatically? Windows does provide us with a "Task Scheduler" program that can be set to cause any file to be run automatically at a preset time on selected days. Here's how to set that up with WindowsXP Pro.
As shown above, click on START, ALL PROGRAMS, Accessories, System Tools, Scheduled Tasks to start the task scheduler program. That will bring up the screen below. In my demo case here, there are no tasks already scheduled. Click the "Add Task" button to set up the automatic running of the batch file.
This brings up the Scheduled Task Wizard as shown below. Our batch file won't be in the list, so click on the "Browse" button and navigate to the batch file.
Find the tcebackup.bat file (Typically in the C:\Program Files\TCE Data directory), select it and click on the Open button as shown below. If setting up different daily backups, choose the appropriate day's backup batch file.
The next screen in the Wizard asks you to name the task and select how often to perform it. Name it and choose the timing as shown below, and click on Next. Again, if setting up different daily backups, name the one you are setting up appropriately, such as "Monday TCE Backup." You would then choose the "Weekly" frequency and on the next screen select the appropriate day of the week to run the file.
The next screen adds more detail to the choices above. Be sure to set the time so that the TCE backup runs and finishes before any other automated full system backup process runs. When you have this screen set up as you wish, click Next.
On the next screen of the wizard, shown below, you must specify the computer user you wish to use to run the task, and it will usually default to the current user of the computer. This user must have sufficient privileges to run this type of task, and will usually be either an administrator or power user of the computer. Be sure to enter the appropriate password, which will be hidden, for the user so that the system will be able to log in as that user to run the task. When ready, click on Next to finish up.
This last screen of the wizard (below) lets you confirm your setup. Click on "Finish" and you're done! Unless, of course, you are setting up separate daily backups. In that case, you will have to repeat this setup for each of the days you wish to have a backup occur.
Now that you have set up the Task Scheduler, your system will automatically run the tcebackup.bat file at the time and on the days you selected, provided that the machine is running at the appointed time, of course. You will then have a backup file that can be copied onto removable media by your Full System Backup, explained further below, at a time a little later than this automated task.
Full System Backup.
Once the automated TCE backup runs each desired day, you can have a second backup program of your choice set up to run automatically and copy the TCE backup file, the QuickBooks and any other desired files to removable media. Separate system backup tools are provided by the vendors of all backup equipment, such as tape drives, zip drives, external hard drives, etc. To set this up, your system administrator or IT guy or gal should be setting up a system backup to back up not only TCE, but any other important data in your system as well. For example, you should back up any digital x-rays you have taken with programs in addition to TCE. Despite the fact that TCE might be linked to or integrated with that digital x-ray program, those x-rays are not in the TCE database, but are kept in the database maintained by that program. It's files must be included in your backup, too. Just be sure that your system backup is set to run later enough after the TCE backup that the TCE backup has time to finish before the system backup runs. Most TCE backups can be completed in less than a minute, but a large database of images might take as much as five minutes. You should run the TCE backup manually from time to time to verify how long it takes, and then allow extra time when setting up the start time for the automated system backup.
If you have any questions, just send us an e-mail or give us a call.