Configuring Microsoft SQL Servers for Use with ActivID CMS

This section explains how to configure Microsoft SQL Server^® databases for use with ActivID CMS. It defines the prerequisites and provides instructions and procedural steps that you can use for upgrading the ActivID Credential Management System (CMS) from an outdated version of Microsoft SQL Server to a new version of Microsoft SQL Server.

This section provides procedures that address the following key topics.

• Upgrading ActivID CMS to a new Microsoft SQL Server,

• Migrating data to the new Microsoft SQL Server, and

• Reconnecting ActivID CMS to the new database.

This section also describes how to set up a Microsoft^® SQL Server^® to support automatic database failover for ActivID Credential Management System (CMS). To support automatic database failover, database mirroring involves three components: a Principal server, a Mirror server, and a Witness server. This section describes how to set up mirroring with an ActivID CMS server.

Under automatic database failover, ActivID CMS automatically uses the databases from the Mirror server whenever the Principal server fails. The Witness server detects when the Principal server is down, and then it promotes the Mirror server to become the “new” Principal server. Mirroring enables ActivID CMS to switch automatically to the mirrored MS-SQL server instance that was configured during ActivID CMS setup. This means that whenever the Principal server fails (for example, due to a hardware issue, a connectivity problem, or a power outage), ActivID CMS automatically switches to the Mirror server that contains the latest information, the same as the primary SQL databases on the Principal server. For more information about the basics of mirroring, see Database Mirroring.

Topics in this section: