Safeguard 5.6.0 has been released. The following fixes are included:

• Standard and Enterprise have been consolidated into a single application version
• Move to annual subscription licensing model
• Development and Test databases can now be backed up at no charge. These databases are not included in the daily summary report, and will not generate instant failure notification messages.
• FTP/SFTP post backup file transfer on Linux/Solaris now uses a perl script to manage transfers, replacing the original ncftp and scp command calls

You can find product information and downloads on the Safeguard product pages.

Safeguard 5.5.7 has been released. The following fixes are included:

• High load CPU usage alarm time adjustment in 5.5.6 caused backups to begin as much as a half second ahead of schedule.

You can find product information and downloads on the Safeguard product pages.

Safeguard 5.5.6 has been released. The following fixes are included:

• Scheduler may miss times under high host CPU utilization
• Recovery Wizard may assign incorrect Oracle Home to recovery target
• Email summary should include count of operations
• Recovery Wizard assumes networking files are in place, should create new files when no instance of Oracle has ever been created
• Job UID now included in event log messages
• File transfer should balance load distribution by start date, not end date
• WCF timeout should be 8 hours not 24
• Backup report should provide more detailed description of what type of backup executed
• Ping Agent should authenticate as mechanism to test installation security

You can find product information and downloads on the Safeguard product pages.

Safeguard 5.5.3 has been released. The following fixes are included:

• Standard should not require database registration following recovery
• Remote File Browser should not show size for folders
• RMAN recovery script requires redirection of stdin, same script passed as cmdfile argument fails after first run block
• Restore to previous incarnation shows max SCN of all incarnations, not incarnation at the time of backup
• Enterprise should not allow agent registration when not connected to a scheduler agent
• Listener port number identification improved
• Cold backup failure should always restart the database explicitly even if RMAN script exits early
• FTP/SFTP transfer needs date based load balancing
• Pooled Oracle client connection can indicate that the listener is running when it is not
• Full/Incremental not being recorded in backup file name
• WCF timeout needs increase
• Enterprise should show backup schedules in treeview as well as calendar view
• Remote File Browser should follow symbolic links for directories

You can find product information and downloads on the Safeguard product pages.

We moved offices yesterday (February 23, 2011) and unfortunately things didn’t go as smoothly as planned. We had some trouble with our ISP moving our networking configuration over to our new space. Our VOIP telephone system, website, documentation and downloads were all affected for much longer than planned. Ultimately we changed our static IP address in order to speed things up. There may be some issues accessing our website in the next 24-48 hours due to delays in propagating the changes in DNS. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Safeguard 5.5.0 has been released. Several significant new features are available in this release:

• Support for Solaris/Linux/UNIX operating systems is back in. Databases on these operating systems are managed using SSH sessions from a scheduler agent running on Windows.
• Support for Oracle 8i and 9i is back in. The option for easy database recovery works with these versions as well, allowing you to restore the entire database to a single folder quickly and easily.
• Each agent can now operate and schedule jobs independently if you want, or you can use a single scheduler agent to control all operations. This allows administrators to choose any combination of centralization, redundancy and load balancing to suit the needs of individual organizations.
• Post backup FTP/SFTP file transfer can be load balanced by job date automatically by year/month/day of the job execution date.

You can find product information and downloads on the Safeguard product pages.

QuerySmith 4.6.8 is now available. This release allows for user defined order of tables in the From clause of a query.

You can download the latest version on the download page.

Safeguard 5.1.0 has been released. With this version, we now have Standard and Enterprise versions of the application.

New features and fixed issues in this release are:

• add backup files button in crosscheck is using job file extension as filter
  
• add ftp/sftp file transfer
  
• after a one time job has run in standard it should be removed from the tree of scheduled jobs
  
• cataloging of backup pieces, should confirm against v$backup_piece so that separate database backups in same folder don't collide
  
• cold backup with noarchivelog entries should show 'recover to latest transaction', not 'recover to scn -1'
  
• create color pattern for 'word' in lexer
  
• delete key in enterprise should delete agent/database in treelist
  
• duplication should require a service name change
  
• easy recovery should require the destination data and log directories be empty (no existing database)
  
• editformat of numeric spinners should not include comma
  
• ensure service is set to start automatically (oradim)
  
• enterprise client needs easy recovery option
  
• enterprise file browser should not close browser when double-clicking on file
  
• enterprise job viewer should be able to save job output at JobResult file for tech support
  
• enterprise needs path validation for all wizards
  
• enterprise recovery/duplication should be able to specify start/end date range for backups, not just start
  
• enterprise recovery/duplication should use catalog/crosscheck right in script
  
• enterprise should use same report generator as standard
  
• event viewer should show event details in syntax highlighting editor
  
• export wizard, remove table exclusion list, change to list of options that will be included in parameter file
  
• getting started wizard should present smoother UI to administrators who need to connect to an existing catalog
  
• Identifier too long error for exports with unc pathnames
  
• label on task scheduler widget should be disabled if job is immediate
  
• listener already running should not cause listener confirmation failure
  
• listener parser error, example in description
  
• logging wizards should not require log folder name if archive logging is disabled
  
• max recoverable scn needs to look to see if data file checkpoint change number is ahead of archived redo log scn (noarchivelog mode)
  
• need recovery file generation in enterprise
  
• need trial expiry warnings
  
• need wizard to change archive log mode
  
• new job in standard should show on top of main form
  
• path editors should validate for valid path, not just IsNotBlank
  
• Recovery validation not showing arrows to next actionable step
  
• recovery wizard should allow for overwrite of existing database in place
  
• recovery wizard should confirm existance of db_recovery_file_dest
  
• remove datadictionarycontext
  
• review edit mask for all spinners
  
• set sga_target instead of memory_target in easy recovery
  
• standard backup wizard should pick up port number from listener config when oracle home changes
  
• standard should update listener configuration, not use auto-registration
  
• wizards should show in taskbar, need form icon

You can find product information and downloads on the Safeguard product pages.

Safeguard 5.0.2 has been released, featuring a number of new changes:

• for schema export, should limit table exclusion list to tables in included schemas
• need visual indicator of report agent
• need indicator to provide catalog username and service name
• mail server settings test should be from the report server agent
• need log message for reporting job
• deletion of schedule job not refreshing jobs list on agent
• calendar based deletion of scheduled backup jobs using incorrect data context
• buttons to edit and delete agent and database items should be disabled if selected node is of wrong type
• database registration wizard, changing properties of existing database does not update database context in main form tree properly
• agent registration wizard, changing properties of existing agent does not update agent context in main form tree properly
• getting started wizard, specifying invalid username/password for existing oracle user shows exception handler then allows to proceed
• selecting a dump file, double click on file not returning selected file
• add job status notifications to windows event log
• add log feedback for user killed job
• edit a regularly scheduled job, radio buttons on schedule control do not accurately reflect scheduled job
• add ability to retrieve event log entries from remote server
• ping database should respond with current database state
• write of parameter files and/or control files should rename, not delete the current files
• incorrect catalog credentials not recovering properly
• list oracle homes in database registration and recovery wizards
• list instance names in database registration and recovery wizards
• relocate files in recovery wizard should have button to select all
• writing a new parameter file should stop instance
• parameter file editor not committing current change before writing parameter file
• crosscheck during duplication to same host fails
• crosschecking currently applying to source target, needs to apply to destination target (recovery to a different server crosschecks the original)
• choose control file path in parameters editor disabled
• list of server names in recovery agent should be ordered alphabetically
• recovery should not allow renaming of database
• duplication should take max scn of v$backup_redolog, not current scn of database (recovery should use database scn)

You can find product information and downloads on the Safeguard product pages.

Safeguard 5.0.1 has been released, featuring a number of new changes:

• Built for Windows Server 2003 and 2008
• Java has been entirely removed, Safeguard is now a fully managed .Net 3.5 client/server application
• Security and authentication are now based on Active Directory
• Agent error reporting uses Windows Event Viewer
• Import/Export has been upgraded to Data Pump Import/Export
• RMAN Backup and Recovery operations have been streamlined
• Daily operations report is HTML optimized for display in Microsoft Outlook 2007+
• Job status monitoring is improved
• User interface is streamlined and more intuitive

You can find product information and downloads on the Safeguard product pages.

QuerySmith 4.6.7 is now available. This release features a minor bug update for users using a MySQL server on a Linux, Mac or UNIX operating system. The default behavior of MySQL on UNIX is to use case-sensitive aliases in queries. One of the dictionary lookup queries in QuerySmith was using both uppercase and lowercase alias references. This update does not affect users running MySQL servers on Windows.

You can download the latest version on the download page.

QuerySmith 4.6.6 is now available. This release features a change to the Installer, we’ve eliminated the requirement to reboot during the installation of the prerequisite Office support files. Also, we’ve enhanced the appearance of the Office 2010 themes (blue, black, and silver).

You can download the latest version on the download page.

QuerySmith 4.6.5 is now available. The list of changes includes:

• need to escape quote characters in filter values (including in lists)
• issue grouping on columns not selected in the query
• drag and drop filter into or out of subqueries failing
• remove query manager, use file chooser instead
• wildcard search in database object list causes focus loss, subsequent character loss
• should be able to open existing query from current query window
• pivot changes should mark query as dirty
• tab order in connection editor has cancel before ok
• rename layout to arrange
• add subquery alias to property grid
• SELECT subquery not showing up in FROM subquery
• remove where exists and having exists subqueries, move to easier where and having subqueries
• simplify field names in pivot grid

You can download the latest version on the download page.

We’ve been listening to client requests for more help in getting started with QuerySmith, and in querying databases in general. With thanks to the folks over at TheMovieDB, we’ve created a sample Movies database (using Access) that you can use to get started with QuerySmith. We’ve got around 10,000 movies, 85,000 actors and support staff, movie studios, filming locations and more to help you learn how to query.

We’ve got a starter list of a dozen queries or so ranging in complexity that we’ll be building over time in order to illustrate how to perform certain tasks like joins, subtotals etc. We can also use this data to show off advanced concepts like cross-row calculations and things that are ordinarily a little harder in SQL.

We’ve randomized some of the data in the database to fill in gaps that were there, and keep in mind that’s it’s just a sample so it might be missing your favorite movies or favorite actors.

You can download the latest version on the download page.