Host Your Own Online Database (having RPS host your database is at the bottom of this page)

Here is what you need to do if you want to host your own online database with RecoveryPro.

 1)  You will have to have a Windows Hosting account (not Linux).

 2)  You will have to create a Microsoft SQL Server database WITH remote access (often referred to as MS SQL). The database has to have Remote Access set up when created. This is NOT something that can be added later. Without remote access, RecoveryPro can’t read or write to it. The database MUST be Microsoft’s SQL Server - not MySQL or Access.

 3)  You will have to get the OLEDB Connection String from your provider. It will look something like “Provider=sqloledb; Data Source=yourdatabasename.db.123456.yourhost.com; Initial Catalog=yourdatabasename; User ID=yourdatabasename; Password=yourpassword;”.  Notice that there are no ' ' around your password even though your provider might show your password in ' ' (don't use the ' ').

4)  You will need to create a folder on your website to store your online documents. To create the folder, click on "My Documents" or "Documents" (depending on your operating system). A Windows Explorer window will open. At the top, in the bar that shows your 'path' (also called the URL or Navigation Bar), you will type the following (inserting your domain name and do not use www, since you are using ftp instead) ftp://yourdomain.com/ (hit enter). A pop up will appear asking you to enter you User Name and Password to get into your website. These were set up by you when you created your hosting account with your hosting provider.

Once on your website, you will see all your folders and html forms.  Right click somewhere on the screen (not on an icon) and select "New" and then "Folder" and a new folder will be created. You will need to rename the folder to whatever you want. If you are using Front Page, Expression Web, or some other program that publishes your website, you will want to see how the program handles your new folder when you publish your website. Some will delete your new folder if it is empty. In this situation, you can copy a blank text or word document into the folder to prevent this. If your software deletes the folder even with a document in it or synchronizes the folders, you will want to be aware of this.

5)  Make sure that you have registered RecoveryPro.

6)  In RecoveryPro, on the Online Database tab in Preferences, go to Step #1. You will have to check the box.

7)  In Step #2, you will have to select the radio button for either that You will host your own online database or RPS (RecoveryPro Solutions) will host your online database. In these instructions, we are assuming that you selected that you will host your online database (otherwise the rest of these instructions won't make since).

8)  Continue to Step #3. You will see three text boxes. FTP Server: ftp://yourdomain.com/yourfolder/ is the first one. Make sure to put the "/" at the end. The "yourfolder" is the one that you created in #4 above. You will then enter your User Name and Password that you use to get into your website (like you used in #4 above). If you leave these blank, your documents will be saved on the RecoveryPro Solutions website. If you decide later to complete this step in your preferences, all documents that you previously uploaded (by leaving these fields blank) will be lost.

Step #3 in Preferences is optional. You can still have your documents on your website vs. on the RecoveryPro Solutions website if you wish. Fill in the fields or leave blank to have your documents on the RPS site. If you do decide to have them on your website, make sure that your hosting plan doesn't limit that amount of hosting space. Documents take up a lot of space (quickly), which is why storing documents in the online database is impractical. Always be careful as to what information is on your documents due to security issues. Sensitive information should be typed into the note fields in the program.

 9) After making sure your online database is up and running (sometimes it will take your provider some time to 'activate' your new database), click on the button - in RecoveryPro - that builds your database tables. This is Step #4 in preferences.

10)  After your database has been created, select "SAVE" at the top of the Preferences screen. RecoveryPro will then prepare your data to be transferred to the online database. Depending on the number of accounts you have, this could take up to a minute or two to complete. RecoveryPro will then prompt you with a restart notice and will then restart automatically. Log back in and RecoveryPro will restart a second time (this is normal and I know the twice thing may be a little annoying. At least you only have to go through this process once). After the restart, you will have a login for your local and your online database. At this point your accounts have not been copied to your online database, so logging into the online database won't show you your accounts. Log in locally and RecoveryPro will upload your accounts in the background. If you have a lot of accounts, let RecoveryPro run for some time before shutting it down. Allow 1 minute for each 3 to 4 accounts that you have. On the RecoveryPro Main Menu, a status is located in the upper left of the screen - if it is show Record 1 to X, it is best to wait before shutting down RecoveryPro so your online database will be completely upload. Under normal working situations, shutting down RecoveryPro will not effect the sync process, since there is actually a separate program (called RPSync) that is running in the background. This is the program that handles the synchronization of your local and online database. RPSync will shut down automatically once it determines that RecoveryPro is no longer running. In normal operation, RPSync will shut down within a minute or so after RecoveryPro.

11)  Even though your two databases are synchronized, do NOT have one person working an account locally and another person working the same account online (there is no locking between local and online, since this would defeat the internet delay issue that one is trying to avoid by working locally). The Sync can't read minds and doesn't care which set of data is correct. In this scenario, you will loose data.

12)  If your internet goes down, don't worry. You can work on your local database and RecoveryPro will sync when your internet comes back up.

13)  Many public "Free" WiFi locations will block the reading and writing to an online database even though you can access the internet. RecoveryPro (and any other program that utilizes an online database) will not work in these environments. This can also be true with some firewalls and routers. If you own the firewalls and routers, you can set them to allow remote database access for RecoveryPro.

Have RPS Host Your Online Database

If you want RPS (RecoveryPro Solutions) to host your online database, follow the steps below.

1)  Make sure to register RecoveryPro.

2)  In RecoveryPro, on the Online Database tab in Preferences, go to Step #1. You will have to check the box.

3)  In Step #2, you select the radio button for RPS to host your online database.

4)  (see #4 and #8 in the section above)

5)  (see #10 through #13 in the section above)

6)  If you plan to have RPS host your online database and you plan to have 1000's of accounts, please call (before you do all the steps above) so we can set you up on your own private database. Databases are limited in size and can easily handle 8,000 - 10,000 accounts. Above that, other arrangements will have to be made.

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