The Registered SQL Servers pane

The Registered SQL Servers pane displays a list of the SQL Server instances you have registered with SQL Backup, and their databases.

You use this list to select the SQL Server instance or database that you want to back up or restore, or for which you want to view details such as the activity history.

Navigating the Registered SQL Servers pane

The SQL Server instances are organized into groups. You choose the group to which you want an instance to belong when you register it. To change the group to which an instance belongs, in the Registered SQL Servers pane, drag the SQL Server instance to the group. For information about creating and managing groups, see Managing SQL Server Groups.

The SQL Server groups, instances, and databases are displayed in a tree structure. To expand an item, click . The time line also expands to show activities for the databases. To collapse an item, click .

You can scroll through the list of SQL Server instances and databases by using the scroll bar to the right of the time line, or by moving the mouse pointer over the Registered SQL Servers pane and rotating your mouse wheel button.

Display

The connection status of each SQL Server instance is displayed to the left of the instance:

	Connected.
	SQL Backup has not attempted to connect to the SQL Server because you are using SQL Server authentication and you chose not to save the password when you entered the authentication details. Double-click the icon or click , and then type the password. If you want to save the password in future, select the Remember Password check box.
	SQL Backup could not connect to the SQL Server because of an authentication error, such as an incorrect password. Click the icon to enter the correct details.
	SQL Backup could not connect to the SQL Server. Click the icon to see the associated error messages. Note that you can specify the time for which SQL Backup will attempt to connect each SQL Server in the connection properties.
	SQL Backup is connecting to the SQL Server instance, or refreshing the connection.

You may also see following icons displayed to the right of the SQL Server instance name:

	SQL Backup is installed and activated on this SQL Server, but the version of server components is not up-to-date compared with your version of the graphical user interface. Click the icon to upgrade the server components. Note that this icon does not show you when new versions of SQL Backup become available for download; you can use Check for Updates for this.
	SQL Backup is activated for a trial period on this SQL Server. Click the icon if you have purchased a license and you would like to activate it. For more information, see Activating SQL Backup.
	The SQL Backup trial period has expired. To use SQL Backup with this SQL Server instance, you must activate SQL Backup for the SQL Server. Click the icon if you have purchased a license and you would like to activate it. For more information, see Activating SQL Backup.
	A previous version of SQL Backup is installed on the SQL Server. You must upgrade the server components to use SQL Backup 5 with this SQL Server instance. Click the icon to upgrade the version of SQL Backup on the SQL Server. For more information, see Installing and Upgrading SQL Backup.
	You have not installed the SQL Backup server components on the SQL Server. Click the icon to install the server components. For more information, see Installing and Upgrading SQL Backup.

For each connected SQL Server instance, you can click to see the databases on the instance. The status of each database is displayed:

	Operational. The database is fully usable. Transaction log backups and differential backups cannot be restored to this database.
	The database is being restored, or it has been left in a non-operational state (using WITH NORECOVERY) so that differential backups and transaction log backups can be restored to it.
	The database is read-only. If the database is read-only because it has been left in a standby state (using WITH STANDBY), transaction log backups and differential backups can be restored to this database.
	The database is unavailable because it has been set to a SUSPECT or EMERGENCY state. Refer to your SQL Server documentation for more information.
	The database is offline or in an unknown state.

Refreshing the data

For the selected SQL Server, and for all databases that are visible in the time line, SQL Backup refreshes the display every 30 seconds. For other SQL Servers, SQL Backup updates the data every five minutes.

To refresh the display for a SQL Server, click the SQL Server in the Registered SQL Servers pane, and press F5. is displayed next to the SQL Server instance while SQL Backup refreshes the connection. Note that if the SQL Server is busy, there may be a short delay before the display refreshes.

Interaction

Whenever applicable, the SQL Backup features and displays act on the item you select in the Registered SQL Servers pane. For example, if you have a database selected and you click Backup, the Backup wizard pre-selects the database for you (you can change the selection in the wizard).

Similarly, the Activity History, In Progress, or Jobs tab is updated with information related to the selected item. For example, if the Activity History tab is displayed and you click a SQL Server instance name, all activities that have occurred on that instance are shown in the tab; if you then click a database, only those activities that occurred on the selected database are shown in the tab.

To see the properties of a SQL Server or database, right-click on the item of interest and click Properties. For more information, see SQL Server and Database Properties.