Crystal Management Server

Note:    In previous versions of Crystal Enterprise, the Crystal Management Server (CMS) was known as the Automated Process Scheduler (APS).

The CMS is responsible for maintaining a database of information about your Crystal Enterprise system; the other components can therefore access that data as required. The data stored by the CMS includes information about users and groups, security levels, Crystal Enterprise content, and servers. The CMS also maintains the Crystal Repository, and a separate audit database of information about user actions. This data allows the CMS to perform its four main tasks:

• Maintaining security

  By maintaining a database of users and their associated object rights, the CMS enforces who has access to Crystal Enterprise and the types of tasks they are able to perform. This also includes enforcing and maintaining the licensing policy of your Crystal Enterprise system.

• Managing objects

  The CMS keeps track of the location of objects and maintains the folder hierarchy. By communicating with the Report and Program Job Servers, the CMS is able to ensure that scheduled jobs run at the appropriate times.

• Managing servers

  By staying in frequent contact with each of the servers in the system, the CMS is able to maintain a list of server status. Report viewers access this list, for instance, to identify which Cache Server is free to use for a report viewing request.

• Managing auditing

  By collecting information about user actions from each Crystal Enterprise server, and then writing these records to a central audit database, the CMS acts as the system auditor. This audit information allows system administrators to better manage their Crystal Enterprise deployment.

Typically, you provide the CMS with database connectivity and credentials when you install Crystal Enterprise, so the CMS can create its own system database and Crystal Repository database using your organization's preferred database server. For details about setting up CMS databases, see the Crystal Enterprise Installation Guide, and Configuring the auditing database. See the Platforms.txt file included with your product distribution for a complete list of tested database software and version requirements.

Note:    

• It is strongly recommended that you back up the CMS system database, and the audit database frequently. The backup procedure depends upon your database software. If you are unsure of the procedure, consult with your database administrator.
• The CMS database should not be accessed directly. System information should only be retrieved using the calls that are provided in the Crystal Enterprise Software Development Kit (SDK). For more information, see the developer documentation available on your product CD.
• You can access the audit database directly to create custom audit reports. See Reporting on audit results for more information.

On Windows, the Setup program can install and configure its own Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) database if necessary. MSDE is a client/server data engine that provides local data storage and is compatible with Microsoft SQL Server. If you already have the MSDE or SQL Server installed, the installation program uses it to create the CMS system database. You can migrate your default CMS system database to a supported database server later.

For details about configuring the CMS, its system database, and CMS clusters, see Configuring the intelligence tier. For more information about Auditing, see Managing Auditing.

Related topics

• Intelligence tier