Installing, upgrading, and activating - SQL Storage Compress

You install SQL Storage Compress in two parts: the HyperBac Compression Engine Components, and the SQL Storage Compress application. If you are upgrading an existing SQL Storage Compress installation, there are additional steps you must follow.

If you are upgrading: required steps before installing

Important: if you are upgrading an existing version of SQL Storage Compress, and already have active compressed databases managed by SQL Storage Compress on your server, you must do one of the following before proceeding:

• Take each compressed database offline. You can do this in two ways:
  • Right-click each compressed database in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), and select Tasks > Take Offline. You may need to run this task twice before SSMS reports the database as being offline.

  or,

  • Ensure you are connected to the master database, then run the following T-SQL statement for each compressed database:

    ALTER DATABASE <database name> SET OFFLINE

    You may need to run this statement twice before SQL Server reports the database as being offline.

• Stop the SQL Server instance.

  You can do this by right-clicking on the instance in SSMS, then clicking Pause, followed by Stop. Alternatively, stop the service in the Windows services list.

Installation procedure

1. Download the software from the Red Gate web site.
2. Extract the contents of the downloaded zip file (HyperBac_Installer*.exe, and SQL_Storage_Compress_*.exe), and copy the files to the server that will host your compressed databases
3. Run HyperBac_Installer_*.exe

   This installs the HyperBac Compression Engine Components, which are required to create and use SQL Storage Compress databases. The components include a Windows service (the HyperBac Control Service), and several utilities (HyperBac Configuration Manager, HyperBac WinExtractor, and the HyperUtil command-line utility).

   When the components installation completes, you are given the option to open the Activation Dialog for HyperBac Tools.

4. You can activate SQL Storage Compress now, by entering your license serial number, or close the components installer and activate later. See Activating SQL Storage Compress below for more information.
5. Run SQL_Storage_Compress_*.exe

   This installs the SQL Storage Compress application, which includes a wizard to simplify the creation of compressed databases, and a database browser to help you analyze the space savings you could achieve by compressing your databases.

If you are installing SQL Storage Compress for the first time, this step completes the installation process.

If you are upgrading: required steps after installing

Important: if you are upgrading an existing version of SQL Storage Compress, and already have active compressed databases managed by SQL Storage Compress on your server, you must complete the steps below:

1. Re-boot your machine. Until the machine has been rebooted, the latest version of the HyperBac engine components will not be installed.
2. Bring each compressed database back online.

   You can do this using the Bring online task in SQL Server Management Studio, or by running the following T-SQL statement against the master database for each compressed database:

   ALTER DATABASE <database name> SET ONLINE

If you are upgrading: configuring file extensions for encryption

If you are upgrading from a previous version to v6, note that your existing HyperBac configuration file is not overwritten. This is so that any configuration changes you have made are not undone, which could cause access failures.

However, version 6 supports encrypted databases using several new file extensions: .mdfe, .ndfe and .ldfe.  For new installations of v6, these will be pre-configured in the HyperBac configuration file, and so the option to encrypt databases works as expected. If you are upgrading, however, you will need to add these extensions manually using the Config Manager. See Working with file paths, extensions, and processing options.

If you don't manually add these extensions, the wizard will appear to work as expected, but no compression or encryption will result.

About the HyperBac Control Service security context

By default, the HyperBac Control Service is installed to run under the LocalSystem security context. The service uses the calling user, or process security token, for access control to user devices on the local system.

Don't change the security context of the HyperBac Control Service, as other configurations are not supported.

Activating SQL Storage Compress

If you didn't activate SQL Storage Compress when you installed the HyperBac Compression Engine Components, you can always activate later. To do this:

1. Run the SQL Storage Compress application (Start > All Programs > Red Gate > SQL Storage Compress 6)
2. On the Help menu, select Enter Serial Number...
3. Type your serial number and click Activate

If you later need to deactivate SQL Storage Compress (for example, to move the license to another server), use the Deactivate Serial Number... option on the Help menu.

For more information about licensing and activating Red Gate products (including how to activate without an internet connection), see Activating your products on the Red Gate Support Center.

HyperBac Online

If you have upgraded to SQL Storage Compress from HyperBac Online, and already have a HyperBac license, you will need a Red Gate serial number to activate SQL Storage Compress.

To get your Red Gate serial number, contact the Red Gate sales team at dba.info@red-gate.com.