adTempus uses a relational database to store its data. adTempus is installed with a Microsoft Access database, which will be adequate for most users. However, you may wish to switch to a SQL Server database.
The adTempus database is found as adtempus.mdb, in the "data" subdirectory under the adTempus program directory.
The Microsoft Access database engine is adequate for most users in terms of performance and database capacity. Users with high levels of scheduling activity may see problems in database performance or excessive database size.
The Microsoft Access database engine is inefficient when it comes to reclaiming unused space in the database file. This problem is exacerbated in adTempus because adTempus writes a large amount of temporary data to the database when it executes a job, which is then deleted after the job completes. Because the disk space required for this data is not effectively reclaimed by Microsoft Access, the database file continues to grow, well in excess of the amount of data currently in the database. (For example, a database with only 5 MB of "real" data can easily grow to well over 200 MB in size after a week of heavy use.)
Space can only be reclaimed by "compacting" the database, which can only be done when the database is not in use. adTempus automatically backs up and compacts the database as described in the Database Backups section below. If your database continues to grow, it may be because adTempus is unable to perform the daily backup and compact operation; see the next section for information on resolving or working around this.
Many backup applications will not be able to back up the adTempus database, because the database file is continually in use by adTempus.
Each time adTempus starts, it makes a backup copy of the database (saved in the "data\backup" subdirectory under the Arcana Scheduler program directory). This file can be backed up by the backup software, because it will not be in use at the time of the backup. This process also compacts the database, releasing unused space.
Because it is expected that the adTempus service may be running for months at a time, adTempus also attempts to perform the backup and compact operation daily (by default around 1:30 AM; see the Server Options to change this time).
adTempus can only perform this operation at a time when no database activity is occurring (no jobs are running, being updated, etc.) adTempus monitors database activity and attempts to squeeze in this maintenance activity. If it is unsuccessful it will write a warning message to both the adTempus and Windows event logs. If adTempus is occasionally unable to perform this maintenance that is not a problem. If, however, you see that adTempus is consistently (or generally) unable to perform this maintenance, you should try one of the following solutions:
If there are jobs scheduled to run at the time that the backup runs, change the backup time to a more "quiet" time.
Or you may wish to switch to a SQL Server database (see below).
adTempus also supports Microsoft SQL Server databases. If SQL Server is already installed on the computer that is hosting adTempus you can use that instance of SQL Server.
If you do not have SQL Server, you can use the SQL Server Desktop Engine, which is available on the adTempus CD or by download from our web site. The SQL Server Desktop Engine is a "scaled down" version of SQL Server. It is available to you at no charge as part of your license for adTempus.
We recommend that you use a SQL Server database if:
You have a high scheduling load (>100-200 jobs being executed per hour) or many jobs that are run at the same time.
You are experiencing a problem with the size of the Microsoft Access database.
You are experiencing performance problems (such as excessive memory usage by adtempussrv.exe or sluggish job execution).
For more information on converting to SQL Server, see the Database Conversion topic.