Where is the data kept ?

[Paolo_ituk]

Hi all,

I have just started using Vault and I am still trying to get to grips with the workings of this software.

After reading through the Client and Admin documentation I still have a basic but fundamental question:

Once I have added files and folders to a repository, where exactly does Vault store these ? Is there any situation in which you would reccomend acting directly onto these files instead of working through the admin or client tools ?

Thank you for you patience with yet another newbie question.

[lbauer]

When you add files/folders to Vault, information about each item, the tree structure, and contents of the files are stored a SQL Server database, called sgvault. This allows other users to access files and allows Vault to keep track of who did what.

To work on files, you would set a working folder on your client machine and do a Get Latest. Checkout files you wish to modify. Once you've made modifications, checkin the files and your changes will be saved in the database.

[Paolo_ituk]

Does this mean that should something go wrong with the sgvault database, there is no way to directly access the information contained in a repository ?

[lbauer]

That's correct. Depending on the problem with the database, it can sometimes be repaired. But in the case of a harddrive failure, for instance, you might not be able to access the database at all.

It is important to backup the database on a regular basis so you have a good backup to restore. You can backup via the Admin Tool->Backup or using the standard SQL Server backup tools/commands.