Upgrading Large Databases

The majority of the modifications performed on the ARM database when upgraded take only minutes to complete. Occasionally, more modifications are needed when upgrading the database schema. These upgrades may take a long time, especially when they require modifications to the data stored within the database. As such, the time it takes to perform the upgrade may increase with the size of the database. Depending on the size of the database, such upgrades take hours instead of minutes.

The database upgrade preview process includes the age of the oldest data in the database as well as a rough estimate of the database size. Administrators should use this data to assess the current state of the database when deciding how and when to proceed with the database upgrade.

Administrators of large databases should consider the following options to ensure a smooth upgrade process:

Administrators should consider purging older data from the database prior to upgrading. (Refer to Purging Data from the Database for details.)
The database should be backed up prior to any upgrade to allow for quick recovery in case of errors.
Administrators should consider making a copy of the ARM database and performing a test upgrade of the database. The script necessary to perform the test upgrade may be obtained by proceeding through the EFT Installer's upgrade process and choosing to upgrade the ARM Database. When prompted for the database credentials, specify the test database credentials. On the Upgrade Preview page of the installer, click View, save a copy of the upgrade script, and then cancel the EFT installer. You may now use the SQL script to upgrade the database manually. Alternatively, you can install a clean copy of EFT on another computer and use the Database Utility (DBUtility.exe) to perform the test upgrade.
Administrators should consider upgrading the database out-of-band from upgrading the EFT installation. This may be done by skipping the ARM database upgrade in the EFT Installer when performing the initial EFT upgrade. The updated version of the EFT will temporarily audit database transactions to disk until the ARM database has been upgraded.
To perform an out-of-band upgrade of ARM
1. If desired, prior to upgrading the EFT, enable the ARM audit-to-folder feature.
2. Use the installer to upgrade the EFT, but skip the ARM upgrade process, then do one of the following:
  - Rerun the installer in maintenance mode later to upgrade the ARM database.
  - Use the Database Utility (DBUtility.exe) to perform the upgrade.
  - Manually upgrade using the SQL scripts generated by DBUtility.exe.
3. After the ARM database has been upgraded, click Reconnect in the EFT administration interface, on the Server's Logs tab to instruct EFT to connect to the upgraded database. EFT will then import any database transactions that were audited to disk in the interim.