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Data Access Tab of the Application Preferences Dialog Box

Use this tab to set certain application data access level options in Cobra.

Warning: When you make changes on this tab, you must exit Cobra for the changes to take effect. You must also stop and restart all Cobra Web Service instances, including those that are deployed in PM Compass.

Contents

Field Description
Use incremental deletion when deleting a project When Cobra deletes a project, it issues a single delete transaction for each table that contains the project’s data. For tables that contain a lot of data (such as the time-phase table) a single delete transaction can result in a transaction that is too large for the database’s rollback logs to accommodate.

This option instructs Cobra to use an incremental delete of project data, whereby Cobra will delete one control account’s worth of data at a time, resulting in multiple delete statements.

Using this option reduces the size of each delete transaction at the cost of increasing the time it takes to delete a project.

Debug Log Use this group box to control the creation and contents of Cobra’s debug logs.
  • Generate processlog.xml: Select this checkbox to send debug information to the Processlog.xml file when you run a process. Selecting this checkbox enables the Include SQL Statements and Include Cobra data checkboxes.
    • Include SQL Statements: Select this checkbox to log the SQL statements to a table in the database. The SQL calls are logged in the Processlog.xml file, which is located on the application server if you have an n-tier installation setup and on the client server for other types of installation setup.
      • If you have an n-tier installation setup and running the BOS Service as the local system account, the Processlog.xml file is stored in C:\Deltek\Cobra\Logs.
      • If the BOS Service is running under your account, the file is stored in the My Documents\Deltek\Cobra\Logs folder.

      In a standalone or client/server installation, the file is created in the folder My Documents\Deltek\Cobra\Logs. In an n-tier installation, the file is created in the My Documents\Deltek\Cobra\Logs folder of the user ID used to start the service.

    • Include Cobra data: Select this checkbox if you want the raw data generated by processes to be included in the log.
  • Clientdebuglog.xml : Select the Include SQL Statements checkbox to log the SQL statements used by Cobra to the ClientDebugLog.xml file for stand-alone setup or to the ServerDebugLog.xml file for n-tier setup. This includes the queries for the summary time-phased data.
    Note: Selecting this option will cause most of the SQL queries used by Cobra to be logged to the ClientDebugLog.xml or to the ServerDebugLog.xml file. This will potentially affect the application’s performance. Clear this option if not needed.
Process Log Use this group box to configure Cobra to store process log messages to a text file.
  • Write process logs to a text file: Select this checkbox to store process log information to a text file in a local folder instead of the database. All Cobra processes will store the process log files to the specified location. Selecting this checkbox enables the Location field.
  • Location: Enter a valid directory or click to navigate to the directory where you want to store the process log files.
    Note: You can enable logging of process log messages to a text file only when running in a standalone or client/server deployment.
Data Locking Use this group box to define how Cobra locks data while a global process is running.
  • Project lock setting: Select one of the following options from the drop-down list:
    • Process: Select this option to lock the entire project while a global process is running. Deltek recommends this option when there is one Cobra user who accesses a project.
    • Control Account: Select this option to lock only one control account at a time while a global process is running. This allows you to work in the project while the global process is running, but it locks each control account during the process.
  • Interval to wait before retrying project lock: Select or enter the number of seconds Cobra should wait before retrying to obtain a lock on a project or file that a process needs.
  • Maximum number of retries to open a busy file: Select or enter the number of times Cobra should retry to open a busy file. This setting is used only if the file is being used by someone else or an error occurs in the file.
    Note: You must not enter zero or negative numbers in this field.
Process Server Use this group box to define the queue name and the shared folder location when you run a process that supports concurrency (integration of import file with multiple projects or apportionment calculations) in PM Compass.
  • Queue: This field displays the queues defined in the Queue field on the Process Queue Manager screen in PM Compass. Select the dedicated Process Queue for Cobra-initiated jobs which you created in EPM Security Administrator. Cobra will send the job to this queue. Select the queue on the Process server to which Cobra will send the job. This is not a required field. By default, this is blank.
  • Shared Folder: Use this field to specify a shared folder path (for example, \\<server name>\<shared folder name>) with at least a modify permission and that is accessible to:
    • The Cobra user who will run the concurrent process, if you are in a standalone or client/server environment
    • The n-tier server machine, if you are in an n-tier environment
    • The Cobra Concurrency machine
    • The machines where the Cobra Web Services are hosted
    • The dedicated Windows Domain Account that runs the Cobra Web Service and the Gateway

    This folder, which is maintained by Cobra, stores the temporary files executed by the Process server for each job. After a job is completed, Cobra automatically deletes the temporary files. For failed jobs, Cobra automatically deletes the temporary files that are older than 1 day.

  • Control Accounts per queue: Use this field to specify the number of control accounts to process per batch when running a concurrent process. By default, this field is set to 100. Possible values are between 1 and 999.

    If the Queue field is cleared, this field becomes disabled but the specified value is retained.

    You must specify this field if you are running the concurrent processes such as apportionment calculations, progress calculations, and forecast calculations.

    If CALCAPPORTIONMENTBATCHSIZE is defined in the SETTING table, Cobra will ignore it and use the value specified in this field instead.

Attention: For more information on processes that support concurrency, see Concurrency in Cobra.