Project Databases are new in Data Academy 5.5
Data Academy Project Databases are sub-instances of Data Academy, which occupy a different SQL database to the original instance, but inherit the metadata pertaining to the Data Academy UI, such as Users, Groups, Menus and Form Security.
If you have a license for unlimited Data Academy Data Loaders and unlimited Data Academy Spaces, this can also be inherited into the project databases. Otherwise, they would need to be licensed separately.
The purpose of Data Academy Project Databases is to allow you to run multiple instances of Data Academy on a single server, whilst maintaining only a single installation-set.
Setting Up Project Databases
In order to set up a new Data Academy Project Database, you need to log on to the server on which Data Services is running.
From the Windows "Start" menu, select "Data Academy" -> "Data Services Configuration".
Click the "DB Installer button.
The Database Install\ Upgrade screen shows the list of Project Databases.
In this instance, we have just added a new Project Database (Project M) but we haven't yet installed the Data Academy metadata tables, so the database status is indicated as "Not Installed". Otherwise, this column will indicate the version of Data Academy installed on the Project Database. Click on the "X" to remove a Project Database from the list - this does not delete the actual database or any existing Data Academy metadata!
Click "OK" to run the upgrade procedure across all databases. Note that Data Academy does not allow you to upgrade individual databases - this ensures that all Project Databases are always running the same version of Data Academy.
Using Project Databases
When you add a project database, a drop-down list will appear in the Data Academy UI - in the top right hand corner - allowing you to change the in-scope database.
The current in-scope database is also indicated (in a small, unobtrusive font) at the bottom of the screen.
Good to Know!
- Data Services will run across all included Project Databases, but it is a single-threaded operation - this means that it can only do one thing (run a Transformation Space, build a Data Loader, etc.) at once! You may notice this if you have multiple developers, and one of them runs an intensive transformation, such as a large Star Space - everyone else will find their operations delayed until it has completed. You can work-around this, however, by building a temporary Orchestration package to run the transformation - this is because Orchestration packages do NOT use Data Services to run transformations.
- When a new Project Database is added, Data Academy will offer to create any database which does not exist. Note that it will do so in the default location configured for SQL Server, which may not be desirable, as the default-default is the "Program Files" directory on your server!