Backup size is different or not run

Sometimes when starting Theatre Manager, you can get a message that indicates the database size is different (smaller) than the previous backup or that the backup has not been run for a period of time. If you receive a message like this, there are some possible explanations.

Backups Not Run for x Days

Please try to run the backup script manually. If that runs (and backups were running previously) it probably means that somebody changed the password of the user id that runs the scheduled backups. Please refer how to set up the backups on a PC and set up the userid/password in the scheduled tasks. It rarely happens on OX servers, but you may need to set up the cron job again.

Backups Ran but are Smaller

Theatre Manager tracks the size of the current backup file and the prior backup file. It generally a safe assumption that data is always being added to the database. If that is true, then the size of the backup should increase each day. If Theatre Manager detects that the size of the backup shrank, it will warn you when you log in so that you can look to see if there are further problems.

Please look very carefully at the two numbers that Theatre Manager provides you and the percentage difference. If the difference in the numbers are small, it is probably not an issue. However, think of what might have happened in the prior day. Possible causes of a smaller database are:

• Somebody deleted a number of mail lists that are no longer required
• Some patrons have been merged
• A number of older 'anonymous' shopping carts have been purged
• a significant number of old credit card numbers were shredded

If you recall any data actively being deleted or merges, and the size difference is small, then do not worry.

However, please look at the actual database backup folder and see if there is a significant difference in the trend from prior to current backups. If you've lost a few bytes, don't worry. If you've lost several megabytes, then please try run a manual backup to see if the backup script cannot back up one file. If that occurs, please contact us immediately.

If Theatre Manager reports that both numbers for current and prior database sizes are ZERO, it means that the backup script was not updated as part of the version 8 to 9 upgrade process. Please refer to the following steps.