Patriot Database Maintenance and Testing
This document assumes Patriot has already been setup and configured with automatic backups and archiving.
Patriot requires very little maintenance that needs to be carried out on a regular basis, but this must still be done to ensure uninterrupted functioning of your monitoring software.
Monthly Maintenance Checks
Server Disk Space
Check that the Patriot Server (and SQL Server, if SQL is run on a different machine) has sufficient disk space left. Hard disk drives should not be more than 80% full. If they are, empty the windows recycle bin, remove old patriot database backups, and then review if larger disk drives need to be purchases.
If you are monitoring system utilisation, then review the reports to ensure monitoring is functioning correctly.
Automatic Backups Functioning Correctly
Confirm that backup files are being created as expected, and exist in the backups folder.
If you have the Enterprise Edition of Patriot and you have Database Mirroring setup, confirm that the mirroring status on both the primary and backup server is showing correctly.
Ensure that backups are being taken offsite, and the most recent offsite backup is within one month old.
Archiving Functioning Correctly
From System > Database > Archiving Settings, check the total signals in the Current Database, this should be close to (within a few thousand) the value of Maximum Signals in Current Database. If it is much larger, and you have recently enabled or updated your archive settings, this is OK as the total signals in the Current Database should come down over time. If it is much larger, but you haven't recently enabled or updated your archive settings, contact your software supplier, as you may have a problem with archiving. Also check the oldest signal values to confirm these make sense with your current archive settings.
Also review if the archive levels are still set correctly, and the size of your full backup files are remaining at a manageable size. If general system performance is a bit poor its also a sign that archiving level are set to high.
Windows Event Log
The windows event log should be checked for errors monthly on all server machines. Any non Patriot specific errors should be reported to your IT department. Patriot specific errors or warnings that your unsure about should be logged as Patriot support cases for further action.
3 Monthly Maintenance Checks
Patriot Updates
Check the latest build no. on the Patriot website, and compare it with your current build no. If you are more than 3 month out of date, you should think about applying an update. Make sure you read the update log to check for instructions that apply to you. Its recommended that the latest stable patch is applied at least every 3 months.
SQL Index maintenance
As a general guideline, it is recommended to perform index maintenance approximately every three months. However, there's no one-size-fits-all rule for everyone. The decision on how often to maintain indexes should be based on monitoring performance, analysing fragmentation levels, and evaluating the specific needs of your database.
System Testing
The following system test procedures should be performed monthly, along with the above monthly maintenance procedures.
Backup Server Testing
If Database Mirroring is enabled, you should perform a manual failover test. You want to ensure that this runs smoothly, and all backup tasks are working correctly on the backup server, and no tasks are reporting in an error state.
If you don't have Database Mirroring configured, run a test database restore on your backup machine using the latest backup files. See the Manual Restore Document for details.
If you have an offsite backup server setup, test restoring the latest offsite backups.
Data Service Connection Failure Test
Stop the primary data service, and ensure all connected workstations promptly report the failure correctly (displaying connection loss warning icon, and also playing the connection lost warning siren). Restart the primary data service as soon as the test is complete.
Receiver Connection Failure Test
Disconnect each connected primary receiver in turn, and ensure the connection lose is reported adequately on each workstation.