Moving or Copying a TariffShark Database

[Updated July 10, 2017]

Sometimes it is necessary to move or copy a TariffShark database from one server to another.  You might need to do this if you’re setting up a new production environment or refreshing a test environment with current production data.  This blog article describes the best practice procedure for cloning a TariffShark database.

  1. Backup the database you are copying using the SQL Server utility for this purpose.
  2. Restore the database to a different SQL Server Instance and/or different database, again, using the SQL Server utility for this purpose.
  3. If you are updating an existing test environment with a fresh set of production data, you may wish to preserve the client registrations in the test database.  Doing so will enable desktop TariffShark users who have previously accessed the test database to login after the database restore without having to re-register their software client.  To preserve the client registrations in the test database, (a) make a backup copy of the SoftwareClient table in the test database before restoring the database and (b) restore the SoftwareClient table afterward.
  4. The Audit table tracks web service method calls and responses for a TariffShark application server (which is done strictly for debugging reasons).  When establishing a new database, this data has little meaning when copied from another database.  As an optional step you may choose to TRUNCATE the Audit table.
  5. The Relationships table must be rebuilt in the restored database.  Run the following script statements in order to do this:
    USE […Name of the TariffShark Database…]
    GO
    EXEC admin.RebuildRelationships
    GO
  6. TariffShark Tiger is able to distinguish PROD environments from TEST ones.  If you are still running TariffShark Hammerhead or haven’t made such a distinction, you may disregard this step.  On the other hand, in a TariffShark Tiger installation where PROD and TEST environments have been distinguished as such, your TEST environment will look like a PROD environment after the database restore.  In order to restore your TEST environment to “test” status, open a web browser and enter the following URL into the address bar:
    http[s]://<test_application_server_url>/Services/SetProduction.ashx?value=false

If you ever need to restore a TariffShark database, follow the procedure outlined above.  If you would like to know more about TariffShark databases or if you have any other questions, please comment below or contact TariffShark Support.