Total Visual Agent Product Guide
Thank you for your interest in Total Visual Agent. FMS is pleased
to provide you with this Product Guide to assist in your evaluation
of this exciting product that is part of the FMS family of
integrated development products. The contents of this document are
organized as follows:
Contents
Microsoft Access databases are relatively easy to create and deploy.
Over time, they contain more and more critical data and perform more
sophisticated tasks. As a file server database, Jet databases need
periodic maintenance (visit the Microsoft site for
keeping Jet databases working in top condition).
Bottom line: Access/Jet databases need periodic system administration
to perform optimally. Total Visual Agent institutionalizes these tasks
so you don't need to worry about them!
Total Visual Agent: a
system administrator's dream!
People and computers run on different schedules. The best time to
perform routine maintenance tasks on your databases—compacting,
repairing, and backing them up—is when nobody is actively using the
databases. For most organizations, this means the middle of the night or
the weekend, but nobody wants to be the one to stay behind to compact
and repair the databases.
Total Visual Agent solves this problem by automating your most
tedious maintenance chores. You schedule the Events for Total Visual
Agent to execute, and Total Visual Agent performs the specified
Actions on your behalf while you are sleeping or at a ball game.
Events can be scheduled multiple times per hour, hourly, daily,
weekly, monthly, or on a one-time basis.
Total Visual Agent can also perform a variety of other tasks:
- Track statistics on the number of objects in your databases.
- Track statistics on the number of records in your tables.
- Create rolling "archive" versions (copies) of your
databases.
- Extract data from selected tables and write them into
another database while users are in the database.
- Run macros and command line Actions.
- Create named Task Groups containing the Actions to perform
against several different databases.
- Automatically perform Actions on all of the databases or
other files found in a specified directory.
The latest version of Total Visual Agent supports all versions of
Access through 2007, as well as Visual Basic 6.0 and Jet. It manages
databases in MDB, ACCDB and ADP formats.
System Administrator Features and Benefits
|
Feature
|
Benefit
|
|
Manage multiple databases (including secured and password
protected databases)
|
An unlimited number of databases can be managed by one
installation of Total Visual Agent (provided the machine can
see across the network and has sufficient rights).
|
|
Perform multiple tasks on each database
|
Several tasks can be performed on each database in the
order you specify.
|
|
Automated, "hands-off" execution
|
Once setup, the tasks are executed on schedule without the
need for user intervention. Even use the Total Visual Agent
Service to run on a server, without having a user logged on!
|
|
Complete audit trail
|
Every task on every database is documented with start and
end times.
|
|
Email notification of problems
|
An email is automatically sent to the system administrator
if a problem is encountered.
|
|
Create named Task Groups to contain a list of actions to
perform against a group of databases
|
An advanced enterprise feature to simplify the execution of
the same tasks on multiple databases.
|
|
Automatically perform actions on all the databases or files
located in a specified directory
|
An advanced enterprise feature to simplify the management
of all databases or files in a directory (no need to know
names in advance).
|
Available Actions (Tasks)
|
Action
|
Benefit
|
|
Compact/Repair the database
|
Recover unused disk space, optimize the database, and
update query statistics, which can improve query performance.
The database is repaired if Jet determines it is necessary.
|
|
Copy and zip databases or create rolling "archive" versions
|
Multiple backups ensure you can easily fall back to a
previously saved copy of your database.
|
|
Perform "live" data extracts
|
Databases cannot be copied while users are in it. Data
extracts backs up data when you would otherwise not be able to
make a copy. Ideal for 24 hour a day operations.
|
|
Run macros and other command line actions on a database
|
Provides the flexibility to schedule any action you can
launch from an Access macro such as downloading or uploading
data, printing nightly reports, running reconciliation
analysis, etc.
|
|
Track statistics on the number of objects in your database
|
Keep tabs on the growth of your important databases.
|
|
Track statistics on the number of records in your tables
|
Track trends in data acquisition. Can be used to monitor
usage by hour of day.
|
The latest version of Total Visual Agent includes several
significant enhancements from previous versions, including:
Supports Microsoft Access/Office 2007 and ACCDBs
The latest version of Total Visual Agent supports Microsoft Access 2007
and the new Access 2007 file format (*.ACCDB). It continues to support all
earlier versions of Microsoft Access (1.0 through 2003) and Visual Basic
(3.0 through 6.0).
Note that Total Visual Agent 2007 requires Access 2007, or the free
Access Runtime version, to be installed on the computer or server running
Total Visual Agent. Refer to our
FAQ
page for details.
Enhanced Total Visual Agent Service
Total Visual Agent now supports launching external programs (such as
running Access macros and custom commands) with its NT Service feature.
Before using this feature, keep in mind that launching programs from an NT
Service is potentially dangerous if your program crashes. See our
FAQ page for details.
Streamlined Database Statistics Form
The user interface for viewing Database Statistics is redesigned and
streamlined to make it more modern and user-friendly.
Windows Theme Support
Total Visual Agent 2007 has a more modern user
interface including support for Windows Themes.
New User Manual
Total Visual Agent 2007 includes a new professionally printed 108 page user
manual and online context sensitive help.
Total Visual Agent is made up of four separate components. The
Manager
sets up the schedules and track previous history and statistics.
The Monitor runs in the background, waiting for the time to
process the next scheduled Event Group. The Service
can be used in place of the Monitor to execute scheduled actions in
a more secure manner. The Engine is the part of Total Visual
Agent that actually compacts, repairs, archives, and analyzes your
databases.
The first step is to create the schedule for the activities you
wish to perform on your databases. Launch Total Visual Agent Manager:
Total Visual Agent ships with four sample schedules to get you
started. You can use these schedules, or create your own.
To begin working with Total Visual Agent, select the schedule you
wish to modify in the treeview control, or create a new schedule.
Specify the schedule type (Daily, Weekly, etc.), and the parameters
for that schedule type. In the example above, a schedule named
“Nightly Chores” is set to run on every weekday starting at 1 AM, but
ending no later than 6 AM.
For each schedule created, you can add one or more databases, ADPs,
Task Groups, or Directories. More information on these options is
available in the online help file and manual.
 |
In this example, a database named Sales.mdb is
specified. For each database, you can assign one or more Actions
to perform. |
| Each individual Action has options. For example, you may
specify the location for archived databases, or specify the
particular tables to work with for the Table Data Extract action: |
 |
Once you create the schedule and specify the databases and actions
to perform, launch the Monitor or the Service to perform the work.
Over time, as statistics are collected, or to check on the
history of performed actions, you can use the Manager to view
various informative on-line inquiries:
Use this feature to keep tabs on the activity in your databases.
System Requirements
Total Visual Agent 2007 has the following system
requirements
-
Microsoft Office Access 2007 or its runtime version
-
Hardware and operating system to support Access 2007
-
Internet Explorer 5.01 or higher
-
10 MB free disk space for Total Visual Agent program files;
150 MB free disk space for Microsoft .NET Framework
Total Visual Agent 2007 requires that you have Access 2007,
or the free runtime version of Access 2007, installed prior
to installing Total Visual Agent. See the
FAQ page for details.
If you cannot install Access 2007, or if you do not need to
manage files in Access 2007-format (*.ACCDB), Total Visual
Agent 2003 remains available.
Product Packaging
Total Visual Agent ships on CD, and includes a
printed User’s Guide, extensive online help, and
an automated installation program.
Technical Support
Support is available via
phone, fax, email or through our product
newsgroups.
Licensing and Pricing
Total Visual Agent is licensed on a per installation basis. One
installation can manage databases across an entire network. A single
license is $299, and a 5-license package is available for $899.
Existing Total Access Agent and Total Visual Agent customers can
upgrade for $179. Site licenses are available by contacting FMS, Inc.
Total Visual Agent can be purchased directly from FMS, through most
corporate resellers, and international distributors. All FMS products
offer a 30-day money back guarantee.
Your Microsoft Access and VB6 databases represent a major
investment of time and resources. There is a tendency to forget that
system administrative tasks are required after an application is
deployed. To maintain optimal performance and minimize corruption,
you must be sure that database backups, compacts, and other critical
operations are carried out on a regular basis. With the new Total
Visual Agent, you can manage these tasks with ease and complete
confidence!
Microsoft, Microsoft Access, SQL Server, Visual
Basic, and Microsoft Windows are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Total Visual Agent is a
trademark of FMS Inc. All other trademarks are trademarks of their
respective owners. Total Visual Agent is copyright © FMS Inc.
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