Is manually editing a database contained in the Vault SQL instance supported?

Autodesk Support

Mar 11, 2024

Products and versions covered

Issue:

Sometimes manually editing a table or the properties of a table in any Vault database resolves a problem, is this process supported?

Solution:

Directly accessing and editing any database contained within the Vault SQL instance, is strictly prohibited. Autodesk will provide NO ASSISTANCE to a Vault environment where it has been determined that the database has been modified manually, or not using the Vaults Web Service API. This also applies to the Filestore.

All access to the Vault server data must go through the Web Service API. If it is not possible to achieve the desired functionality through the Web Service API, it should be assumed that it is outside Vault's design parameters and therefore not supported. In this situation, you can log a case on Vaults Ideastation.

Here are some examples of prohibited actions:

Adding rows to a Vault table
Updating rows in a Vault table
Creating an index
Adding or updating triggers to Vault tables
Adding or updating Vault stored procedures
Adding or updating Vault table constraints
Adding columns to a Vault table
Adding tables to a Vault database
Adding databases to a Vault SQL Server instance
Replacing a file in the file store
Deleting anything in a Vault database or file store
Re-creating SQL Replication with SQL Management Studio.

Database maintenance actions are allowed. These actions include things like re-indexing, backup, and defragment.
For performance reasons, SELECT queries and database shrinks are not recommended, unless sanctioned by Autodesk Support.

If the database is ever modified outside the above parameters, it should be considered as a disaster. The Disaster Recovery Plan should then be implemented before the database could be considered again, supported.

What is a Vault Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)?

Why does Autodesk have this policy?

Autodesk does all its quality and regression testing using supported workflows through the Vault Web Service API. It does not perform any testing of workflows that directly accesses a Vaults database. Workflows that directly access the SQL database are unsupported because they would require obtaining copies of each customers edited database and test every supported workflow through every future Vault Server release, in addition, and in parallel to its long-established testing program for Web Service API workflows.

In other words, Autodesk does not support directly database editing because it undermines its ability to provide a competitively priced data management solution to its customers.

Products:

Vault Basic; Vault Professional; Vault Workgroup;

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