Data Collection Server

JustCode : Update a sample record

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This code shows you how to update a sample record from an MRS script.

Dim oConnection

' Start code to check if the field has data in it.
    Set oConnection = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")

' Standard Connection String You need to change this
    oConnection.ConnectionString = "Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Password=MyPassword;Persist Security Info=-1;User ID=MyUser;Initial Catalog=Participants;Data Source=MyServer"
    oConnection.Open()

    If ( oConnection.State = 1 ) Then
        oConnection.Execute("UPDATE TABLE1 SET Queue = 'Fresh' WHERE Queue = 'Completed'")
    End If

    oConnection.Close()

Set oConnection = Null

2×4 Data Collection Interviewer Server Backup Application

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I have been on holiday for the last few weeks and during that time I managed to get some articles written. Whilst on holiday I was asked by 2×4 if I wanted to have a play with their backup tool and of course I excepted. This article is about that app and it shows you what it can do and how you can do it in the first release. To be honest , and I get nothing for saying this , I think this will turn into a “Must Have App” for all those users out there , and I know a few , that struggle with or do not even do backups. With a couple of clicks you have backed up a project or restored it. No Complicate procedures , just a few clicks and you are done. Anyway , here is what I did and the screen shots that go with it.

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What Hardware Part 4 : Simple Cluster Install

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In this article we are going to talk about a simple cluster setup. If there was ever a setup that you should start with , this is the one. Whilst it may not be cheap as it uses 3 machines , it does begin to give you the redundancy that you really should have in a data collection setup.

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What Hardware Part 1 : In-House or Hosted

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When it comes to deciding what hardware you want for your Data Collection Server setup there are lots of things that you need to consider. Once you have an idea on how many concurrents you will be getting we need to build a system that will cope with it. There are many network topologys that we can come up with and it really depends on what resources you have available to use.

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Quick Question : What spec hardware should I buy?

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Recently we where asked what spec hardware should we buy for our new Data Collection Interview Server setup, and we had to honestly reply we don’t know, but we know people that might have an in stite on some rules that they used. So … When you purchased your setup , how did you decide what hardware to buy? Did you use any sort of sizing calculator or was it just a guess?

If you did not use any sort of calculator, but have a setup in use and its working for you, what spec machines do you have , how many emails do you send out , and what is your response rate for WEB and CATI ?  How many questions do you have on average in your surveys? What does DimensionNet or Interview Administrator say your max con-currents are ?

We would love to hear from you be it from a comment on this article or a email to admin@smarterDimensions.com if you are willing to send us all your IVW* log files ( from all servers in the cluster )  then that would be great , we plan to run some articles on how we can write programs to read these and work out actual concurrency and then perhaps come up with a sizing calculator. So anything you send us will help us write a realy cool set of articles and scripts. We promise that all confidentiality will be kept and no names will be given as to whose setup is who’s

Regards
The Smarter Dimensions Team.

PS We cannot do this without your input !!