Hi,

Thanks for your efforts Herta, that confirms my thoughts on it and answers my question! 

Cheers

Neal

-----Original Message-----
From: Herta Van den Eynde [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: 09 September 2004 13:19
To: Palmer, Neal; [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Blackboard re-building - general structure query

Hi Neal,

Partial answer for want of time.

Each external file will have an entry in the database, but not every content item that you can see through the gui has an external file.
So if you restore a backup that is out of sync with your application, you may have 1. files on your system which are not visible from the gui 2. links in your gui that are no longer attached to files

Neither tends be very dramatic.
1. If the user still has the file on his system, he'll probably just upload it again.  You'll lose a bit of diskspace.  If the user doesn't have a copy anymore, then you should be able to retrieve the file (check the subdirectories of
/usr/local/blackboard/content/vi/bb_bb60/courses/1/<course-id>)
2. If the user had just deleted a link, he can do so again.  If he doesn't, you'll get an error (or a warning - cannot remember) when you try to copy the course, but that's it.  Just recreate an empty file - or remove the link as yet - and you're back in business.

Entries that don't have external files are lost.  If you still have the suspect database and a test environment, you could try exporting/restoring courses where this would be a problem.  (But then, this may be gibberish.  I never heard of a "suspect" database and don't know the repercussions.)

To see what a user has been up to, you could search the logs, and/or the bb_bb60.activity_accumulator table (again only if you can restore the suspect database).  But either will be tedious.
What did the students have to submit?  If it was files, then they will still be there somewhere beneath /usr/local/blackboard/content/vi/bb_bb60/courses/1/<course-id>.

You could search the logs using the course id and course pk1 value. 
With all the redirects and logs using different date/time formats, searching by ip is complex (as an understatement).

The main reason why this mailinglist mainly gets questions is that hitting reply only sends the answer back to the person who opened the topic.

Kind regards,

Herta

Palmer, Neal wrote:
> Hi all,
>  
> I recently had a problem with blackboard where our bb_bb60 database 
> was marked Suspect. I could not recover/fix this database so had to 
> resort to a restore of previous nights backup and managed to get 
> things up and running again. Unfortunately we lost the days work, or 
> at least a days activity on the BB databases. I left the content as it 
> was to avoid losing er, content.
>  
> I wondered if anyone knows what the relation between content (i.e. 
> files sitting on the Application server) and the databases (i.e. 
> sitting on the SQL server). Is a link to every content item stored in the database?
> or is it just the module name and content is just read when it is 
> accessed via the web front end?
>  
> Basically, when we come to do a database restore/rebuild, is it enough 
> to use the standard SQL database rebuild/rollback/re-apply transaction 
> logs and everything is fine? or does the content Have to be the same 
> date/time as the databases?
>  
> We unfortunately had an online submission deadline on the lost day and 
> I cant find any work submitted, so presumably this is held by the 
> database and not on the disk in the content area? Blackboard also told 
> me that the only way of finding out if students did submit work is by 
> checking IP logs of connections which dont prove any specific activity 
> (like submitting work). It would be better if Blackboard could tell me 
> which users connected, when and maybe what they did...?
>  
> Hope this makes sense and someone out there knows what Im asking.
>  
> Could I also request that if people find solutions to their queries on 
> this list that they send that info back to the list? I used to support 
> Talis Library Info System and users there would post a summary of the 
> solved problem. Useful for reference. On this list I only see questions.
>  
> Cheers all
>  
> Neal
>  
>  
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Neal Palmer
> Technical Support Officer
>  
> Systems and Communications Services
> Information Systems Division
> UWIC
> Cardiff
> Wales
> CF5 2YB
>  
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>  

-- 
Herta Van den Eynde       -=- Toledo system management
K.U. Leuven - Ludit       -=- phone: +32 (0)16 322 166
                           -=- 50°51'27" N 004°40'39" E

"For something fulfilled this hour, loved or endured."
(W.H. Auden)