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Gaston
Starting Member
3 Posts |
 Posted - 2008-03-07 : 07:40:58
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| Our office uses a program to keep demographic and private customer information. This program is installed in a Dell PowerEdge Windows 2000 Server with 8 desktops spread throughout the office for our employees to use. We back the SQL database up every night on 2 WD external HD that we rotate and the server does a nightly backup too. Our software vendor is changing to a different software program that we don't care for since our current software works so well. As a result, we want to keep using the original software. Here's my question:If we choose to stay with the original software, do we need this software to read and print out the SQL database for individual customers forever? In other words, if this software fails, is there a way to read and print the existing records without using the original software? Our software vendor tells us that our version will be discontinued and no support will ever be available again. But since we are required to keep our records for many years down the road, we need a way to print this information out if the customer wants to have a copy say 5 years from now. Is there any way to do this without the original software? Thank you very much for your help and opinions. |
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Lumbago
Norsk Yak Master
3271 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 08:05:09
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Unless the data in your database is encrypted in some way you should be able to access the data in the database regardless of the software. The data model could be complex though and getting the right piece of data could be a tedious task...I would for sure not go down a road like this with our accounting system (aprox 1300 tables!  )--Lumbago"SELECT Rum, Coke, Lime, Ice FROM bar WHERE ClosingTime = 'Late' AND FemaleMaleRatio > 4" |
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Gaston
Starting Member
3 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 09:47:15
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| Thank you for your response. I'm not an IT expert by any stretch so I think I understand that my SQL database should be accessable and readable. So, let me ask a followup to be certain I am understanding your response completely. Let's say that I plug my external drive backup into my personal laptop that does not have our company software installed. Do I need to purchase a program to view my database? I cannot imagine that a standard Word or Excel program would open an SQL database backup. Is there a special program to open it so I can view my data and possibly print certain customer records? Thank you again. We really have a very serious problem with this. Our original software vendor never told us they were working on a completely different approach to their system when we bought it just a few years ago. Now we have several years of stored information that we must have available to us by law and no way to get it if our present software fails down the road. I found this out when I asked about upgrading our Windows 2000 Server to a newer model. We're freaking out right about now. |
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dataguru1971
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
1464 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 09:59:06
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You would need the same or comprable software to read the backup I think.The backup is not by itself readable database file until it is restored to it's host DBMS.What is the SQL database actually stored in? does this application use SQL has it's back end?
Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part. |
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jonnom
Starting Member
3 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 10:03:02
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| Hi Gaston,You could find a database administrator to take a look at the data model and develop some direct database reports which you could use now, or if the software were to ever fail.Kind RegardsJonno |
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Gaston
Starting Member
3 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-07 : 16:13:08
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| Thank you. Where would I look to find an SQL Administrator? Are there trained individuals who specialize in SQL database recovery? |
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Lumbago
Norsk Yak Master
3271 Posts |
Posted - 2008-03-10 : 04:34:11
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| There are probably a few hundred members on this site alone that do this for a living so it shouldn't be too hard finding someone that could help you. If you post where you're located maybe you get lucky and someone here can even drop by and have a look at it...--Lumbago"SELECT Rum, Coke, Lime, Ice FROM bar WHERE ClosingTime = 'Late' AND FemaleMaleRatio > 4" |
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Complicated SQL Question