I was thinking of an idea to backup the database in a multiuser (FE/BE) environment, without disturbing the users. Please comment on it as if it has any drawbacks.
And also soemeone please help me do this, if its does not contain drawbacks.
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Main Idea
What I want is to automate backup process at fixed intervals, in a FE/BE environment without disturbing the users i.e without disconecting the users. And I think it is possiblke and safe to do if we start the backup process when all users are inactive and stop any user activity or stop Frontend's interaction to the Backend, while in the backup process.
And If no such time is available as all users are inactive within a certian time then forcefully stop user interaction to the backend and start backup process.
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How to:
And also soemeone please help me do this, if its does not contain drawbacks.
**********************************************************
Main Idea
What I want is to automate backup process at fixed intervals, in a FE/BE environment without disturbing the users i.e without disconecting the users. And I think it is possiblke and safe to do if we start the backup process when all users are inactive and stop any user activity or stop Frontend's interaction to the Backend, while in the backup process.
And If no such time is available as all users are inactive within a certian time then forcefully stop user interaction to the backend and start backup process.
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How to:
- To stop user interaction with the backend , we can close all objects (forms, reports, queries etc) and open an unbounded modal pop-up form , with no close exit button. This form can have timer and after 30 seconds or maybe 1 minute we can auto close this form so that the user can again use the application.
- We can stop new logons by placing an ini file in the folder where the Backend rsides. This Ini file can contain two keys ( "lock time" and "lock status"). At the frontend startup we can query these value from the inifile to check that new logons are allowed or not, and if the "lock time" is greater than 2 minute then bypass the lock status and allow new logons. It means that something went wrong with the last backup process and the ini file was not updated to new lock status.
- We can have a table or an in file store the normal and maximum time at which the backup process starts. These values can be queried and compared with the current time using a hidden form. If the normal time exeeds the current time then start looking for a state where all logged on users are inactive (i.e all objects are closed in the front end of all users). If such a state is found then warn the user that backup is going to start in 1 minute, lock new logons, after 1 minute close all open objects and then bring up a modal form that i have described in step 1 and start bakup process. And if no state is fount till the maximun time then warn all users that backup would start in 1 minute, lock new logons, after 1 minute close all open objects and then bring up a modal form that i have described in step 1 and start bakup process
- After the backup is complete set allow new logons in the inifile.
