Manage Servers, Projects, Tracks and Engines in Portal : Hopp Support

This is a detailed topic in our support portal in the Using Hopp series and assumes that you have some prior knowledge or experience using Hopp.

Manage Servers, Projects, and Tracks

In order to access the Configuration section of the Portal, you click the Configuration button visible on the Project Board

Here's what it all looks like, the management interface is presented in the Operations section of the Navigation Menu in the Portal:

Let's go through the sections one by one.

Servers

Here you maintain all the Servers in your installation setup:

You can add new servers or modify existing ones. You also delete a server, but if it is in use by Tracks, the deletion will not succeed. Add or modify will show the Server dialog:

Computer Name	This must be the name given locally on the server. If the server is an active server running one or more tracks, the Hopp Agent Windows Service will use this name to identify any track start requests destined for the server. In detail the Agent Service will get the name of the machine from the operating system, and use this name to look for the Server in the Director - so if the machine Name is not correct, the Agent will not find anything, and you will be unable to start any Tracks on the Server.
Description	The Description of the Server. The Director will show this description or the Machine Name of the Server in the UI as governed by the setting Show Servers in Director by described below (see Config).
Default track path	This is the default root folder for all the Tracks on the Server. When creating a new Track, the Director will automatically suggest best practice naming of all the folder paths for the new Track under this root.
Network Name	The (optional) network name to use when connecting to the SQL Server instance on this Server. If blank, Machine Name will be used.
SQL Instance	An (optional) name for the SQL Instance on the Server. Leave blank for the Default Instance.
SQL Port	An (optional) port for the SQL Instance on the Server. Leave blank for the default port.
DataSource	The label DataSource will update to show the exact DataSource that is constructed from the values of Machine Name, Network Name, Sql Instance and Port.

Engines

Here you create and maintain the Engines that your Projects can use. You can add or modify Engines. If an Engine is not in use by any Project, you can also delete it. Add or Modify will show the Engine dialog:

Studio Project ID	The id assigned to this map in Studio. You can find this ID on the Settings of the root node in the Studio project Explorer tree view:
Engine name	The Engine name is displayed when you select Engines for your Projects.
Engine type	The Engine can be either a Source- or a Target Engine.
Installation path	This is the path from which the Runtime will copy the Engine when a Track starts. This can be a network location (starting with \\) and should be reachable as a network location from the migration server(s).
Library	This is the name of the library that the Runtime will load in order to instantiate objects from the Engine. This must be the same name that is specified in Visual Studio as the assembly name for the Engine project. For the Source Engine, it must be the assembly name of the EngineCustom project.

Projects

Maintaining project engines happens here:

You can add and modify Projects. You can delete a Project if it is not running in any Tracks. Note that deleting a Project will only remove it from the Portal management. It will not delete the Project database.

Add or Modify will show the Project dialog:

ID	The Project ID is assigned when a new project is added.
Name	This is the name that is displayed for the Project everywhere:.
State	The State can be Active or Inactive. Inactive projects are not available in Operations are still available in the Portal. An Inactive project cannot have any Engines connected. Use the Inactive state for finished projects that only live as archives but do not have any execution tracks.
Source- and Target Engine	Here you select the Source- and Target Engines that the Project will use
Mode	Mode can be Export or Migration: Export OperationsThe project is only exporting data. In this mode, there is no Import available in the Operations for any Tracks running the Project and you cannot select a Target Engine for the Project. Migration This is the full migration exporting and importing data.
Default language	This is the language to display for the project in the Portal if a user has not selected any language in the Portals user settings.
Project Database: Server	The Server where the Project database is located.
Project Database: Database	The name of the Project database. Note that you must create this database yourself.
Project Database: Connection string format	An optional connection string format to use when connecting to the database. If not specified, the global connection string maintained in the Config panel (see below) is used

Tracks

This is where you create and maintain Tracks on your Servers. You can add and modify Tracks, decide which Project uses a given Track, and finally link 2 different Tracks for Archiving (see below). You can delete a Track if it is not in use. Note that deleting a Track only removes it from the Portal management. Neither databases nor files for the track are not deleted.

Note the Filter dropdown to filter the list of tracks by:

All
Runtime Tracks only
Archive Tracks only

ID	The Track ID is assigned when a new Track is added
Execution Server	The Server running the Track Watcher Service that will monitor for start requests for the Track. All jobs in the Track will run on this server
Track Number	The number of the Track on the Execution Server. This must be unique for the Server. If you try to create a Track with a duplicate number, you will get an error
Paths...	Click the Paths... button to specify the folders to use in the Track (see below). If you do not do this for a new Track, a set of default folders will automatically be created
Archive	Check this to specify that this Track is an Archive Track and will not be executing any migration jobs. You can only change this setting if the Track is not participating in any Archiving link (see below). Archive Tracks only show up here and are hidden from the rest of the Portal.
Migration Database: Server	The Server where the Migration database is located. It is default the same as the Execution Server, but you can choose another server.
Migration Database: Database name	The name of the Migration database. Note that you must create this database yourself.
Migration Database: Connection string format	An optional connection string format to use when connecting to the Migration database. If not specified, the global connection string maintained in the Config panel (see below) is used.
Staging Database: Server	The Server where the Staging database is located. It is default the same as the Execution Server, but you can choose another server.
Staging Database: Database name	The name of the Staging database. Note that you must create this database yourself.
Staging Database: Connection string format	An optional connection string format to use when connecting to the Staging database. If not specified, the global connection string maintained in the Config panel (see below) is used.

Paths

Clicking the Paths... button brings up the Paths dialog. Here you can set the paths to the folders used by the Track. Note that these are the paths as seen from the Execution Server of the Track. It is possible to specify network share paths (starting with \\).

Paths

Runtime	The Operations will copy the Runtime as well as the Engines to be used by the Track to this folder and launch the Track governing process from here.
Valuesets	The Default DataServices extension delivered with Hopp will load file-based Valuesets from here
Source files	Source to be loaded into the Staging database must be placed in subfolders under this folder - one subfolder pr Metadata alias in the Source Map
Result	Operations will place the unloaded results from the migration in subfolders under this folder, one subfolder pr unload job
Temp	Working folder for temporary files utilized by the Track
Reformatted files to bulk load	During the load process, source files will be reformatted to a common format understood by Core. The reformatted files are placed in this folder
Bulk load format files	generateThe Source Engine will generate format files to use for the SQL Server bulk load of the reformatted files into the Staging database. The Core will save the files to this folder
Bulk load error files	If the bulk load of source data into the Staging database produces any error files, these will be placed in this folder
Source duplicates	The Core contains a facility to detect duplicate lines in Source files. The result of this detection is placed in this folder
Archiving	This folder is not active yet but will be playing a role in the coming release of automatic archiving of the Runtime track
Extensions	This folder will be provided for any extensions running as jobs under the Core Runtime

Root folder

Clicking the Set Defaults button will automatically create a suggested best-practice hierarchy of paths under the specified Root folder

Set Defaults

Click the button automatically create a suggested best-practice hierarchy of paths under the specified Root folder

Usage

Click the Usage button to assign a Track to be used by a given Project - or to release the Track for use by other Projects.

Vacant	The Track is vacant and not in use by any Project
In Use	The Track is in use by a Project
Project	Choose the Project using the Track
Usage	Give this usage of the Track a label. This label will show up in the Portal
Publish	The Track will not show up anywhere in the Portal if Publish is unchecked. Use this setting to keep an new track hidden while you are setting everything up
Tracker Expiry	If set, the Usage will not be visible in the Portal past this date

Archiving

Linking Tracks for Archiving will enable the automatic archiving:

You only can link a Runtime Track to an Archive Track being used by the same Project. An automatic Archive will:

Backup the Archive databases and files to the Archiving folder of the Archive Track.
Backup the Runtime databases and files and move them to the Archiving folder of the Archive Track
Restore and replace the Archive databases with the Runtime backup
Delete the backup of the Runtime databases

Config

In the Config section, you can edit a few global configuration settings. Obs: Remember to click the Save button if you make any changes.

Default connection string format	This is the format the Core Runtime will use for the connection strings. In a given context, it will replace the placeholder string @server with the actual Data source of the given SQL Server instance and the placeholder string @database with the database name. Normally this global format is all you need to specify, but as you have seen above, it is possible to override this format in specific instances. Notice that the connection string setting MultipleActiveResultsets is set to true. This setting is vital for the Core Runtime.
Web Service URL for Translation Valuesets	This is the URL all Tracks will use when they need to load the Translation Valuesets from the Portal to the Director Runtime. The server part of the URL will normally be the same as the URL type in the browser to get hold of the Tracker web application
Director client pulse interval	This interval determines how often all connected Operations will poll the master server for configuration changes. It is preset to 2500 milliseconds which is normally fine. You only need to touch this setting if there are extraordinarily any clients connected and the polling is imposing a heavy load on the master server. Normally this will never be the case.
Show Servers in Director by	Determine whether Servers will be shown in Operations by their Machine Name or by their Description. This will change the way Tracks are shown in the Director menu as well as in the Title bar of any Track window
Additional configuration settings	Here you can add additional settings that will be automatically added to the Track config file when a track is started. You can add either connection strings (will be added to the connectionStrings section) or application settings (will be added to the appSettings section). This is useful if you develop extensions to the Core Runtime that need their own settings in the config file, for instance a connection string to your own Master database.