What ... ? (general)

Answer: Foxhound is two products in one: it is both a database monitor and a schema troubleshooter for SQL Anywhere.

A database monitor is a computer program that measures the activity of a database management system and displays those measurements in a meaningful way, so that you can easily see that everything's OK or quickly learn about problems and threats to performance and availability. A monitor can also send email alerts when something goes wrong.

A schema troubleshooter is a computer program that performs a static analysis of the tables, columns, indexes, foreign key relationships and other objects in the database, displays those objects in a way that's easy to understand and easy to navigate, together with various facts, figures and curiosities which may be problems that need attention.

See also...
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?
What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Beta, Evaluation, Basic and Extended?
What are the Foxhound system requirements?
What's new in Foxhound 1.1.3832?
What was new in Foxhound GA 1.3738?
What was new in Foxhound Beta 1.3736?
What was new in Foxhound Beta 1.3707?
What was new in Foxhound Beta 1.3677?
What was new in Foxhound Beta 1.3655?
What is SQL Anywhere?
Foxhound Design Decisions
Foxhound Highlights
What is the history of Foxhound?
What's in the future for Foxhound?

Answer: "SQL Anywhere is a relational database management system (RDBMS) product from the company Sybase iAnywhere, a subsidiary of Sybase."
    - from the Wikipedia page

"SQL Anywhere is a comprehensive suite of solutions that provides data management, synchronization and data exchange technologies that enable the rapid development and deployment of database-powered applications in remote and mobile environments."
    - from the Sybase product page

See also...
What is Foxhound?
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?

Answer: The following chart is subject to change.

General Characteristics
	Beta	Evaluation	Basic	Extended
Type of download file required for installation	Beta	GA	GA	GA
Type of registration key required for activation	Beta	Evaluation	Basic	Extended
How you obtain a registration key	Request via email	Request via email	Purchase online	Purchase online
Installed copy will expire	On a fixed date	After a fixed number of days following activation	No	No
Activation upgrade to a different edition is available	No	Yes, to Basic or Extended	Yes, to Extended	-
Free upgrades to new builds are available	Yes, until Beta testing ends	Yes	Yes, until the Free Upgrade period ends	Yes, until the Free Upgrade period ends
Upgrade to a new build may change the expiry date	Yes, until Beta testing ends	No	-	-
Retail price	Free	Free	US$195.00	US$395.00
Limitations on Database Monitor
	Beta	Evaluation	Basic	Extended
Maximum number of connections to each target database	No limit	No limit	100 *	No limit
Maximum number of physical CPUs used for each target database on a SQL Anywhere Version 10, 11 or 12 server	No limit	No limit	1 **	No limit
Target database may run on a SQL Anywhere 11.0.1 Standard or Advanced Edition server	Yes	Yes	No ***	Yes
Maximum number of target databases which may be monitored at the same time by a single copy of Foxhound	100	100	10 ****	100
Maximum number of different server names which may be used when starting separate instances of Foxhound *****	10	10	1 ******	10

* This limit on connections applies to all versions and editions of SQL Anywhere target databases and servers. The actual limit is 101 connections when you count the connection from Foxhound itself. Internal connections (e.g., connections made by events and web services) are counted in total.

** This limit on physical CPUs does not apply to SQL Anywhere version 5.5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 target databases and servers. Also, it applies to the number of physical processors as given by the NumPhysicalProcessorsUsed server property, not the number of logical processors shown by "Using n CPUs" value in the Foxhound Database Monitor. For example, a single Intel Pentium 4 processor counts as 1 physical processor even though the separate HyperThreading units may show up as "Using 2 CPUs". Similarly, a single Intel Core2 Quad processor also counts as only 1 physical processor even though it may show up as "Using 4 CPUs".

*** This restriction on SQL Anywhere editions does not apply to SQL Anywhere target databases and servers earlier than version 11.0.1, which is when SQL Anywhere introduced the notion of different editions.

**** This limit on the number of monitor sessions does not apply to the Foxhound Beta and Evaluation editions because those editions may be used to fully test and evaluate Foxhound for a limited time before the Extended edition is installed.

***** For all Foxhound editions except the Basic edition, up to 10 separate copies of the Foxhound database may be created, and these separate copies may be started at the same time using separate SQL Anywhere servers running on the same physical computer or on separate computers on the same local network. The following runtime server names are allowed: foxhound1 (the default) and foxhound1b through foxhound1j.

****** This limit on the number of Foxhound copies does not apply to the Foxhound Beta and Evaluation editions because those editions may be used to fully test and evaluate Foxhound for a limited time before the Extended edition is installed.

See also...
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?
How do I get multiple copies of Foxhound?
What happens when a copy of Foxhound expires?
What is the upgrade policy for installing new builds of Foxhound?
What is the Foxhound End-User License Agreement (EULA)?
Foxhound Extended edition is required for ...
What are the Foxhound system requirements?
How many target databases can one copy of Foxhound monitor?
How do I start multiple copies of Foxhound on a single computer?

Answer:

1. Windows - Foxhound works with target databases running on other operating systems but the Foxhound engine itself only runs on Windows, and has been tested on Microsoft Windows XP SP3, Vista SP1 and Windows 7.

2. ODBC - Foxhound itself uses ODBC to connect to your target databases. You don't necessarily need ODBC installed on the servers running your target databases, and you can specify DSN-less connections for Foxhound by using the "String" tab on the main menu page.

3. Firefox or IE - The Foxhound client has been tested using Mozilla Firefox 3 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.

4. JavaScript - Foxhound needs "JavaScript" or "Active scripting" to be enabled in the browser; here's how:

Firefox 3: Tools - Options - Content - check "Enable JavaScript"

IE 8: Tools - Internet Options - Security - Local intranet - Custom level... - Scripting - Active scripting - check "Enable"

6. SQL Anywhere 32-bit version 11.0.1.2276 or later for Foxhound - Foxhound works with target databases using 5.5 to 12 of SQL Anywhere including 64-bit versions, but the Foxhound engine itself needs the x86 version of SQL Anywhere 11.0.1.2276 or later to run.

7. SQLANY11 - The delivered *.bat files expect that the SQLANY11 environment variable points to SQL Anywhere 11. If that is not the case you may have to modify the *.bat files. Here is the default setting on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7:

SET SQLANY11=C:\Program Files\SQL Anywhere 11

8. FOXHOUND1 - The delivered *.bat files expect that the FOXHOUND1 environment variable will be created by the Foxhound installation (which will happen by default). If that is not the case you may have to modify the *.bat files. Here is the default setting for Windows XP:

SET FOXHOUND1=C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\RisingRoad\Foxhound1\

SET FOXHOUND1=C:\ProgramData\RisingRoad\Foxhound\

9. Disk space - When re-installing or upgrading Foxhound, 60% or more extra disk space may be required during the post-setup process. The "60% or more" figure applies to the amount of disk space occupied by the existing Foxhound installation, not the total used disk space on the drive.

See also...
What is Foxhound?
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?
What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Beta, Evaluation, Basic and Extended?
How do I install version 11 of SQL Anywhere on the same machine used to run an earlier version of SQL Anywhere?

Answer: RisingRoad - 3QC Inc. License Terms

Foxhound Version 1

By using the software, you accept the following terms. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THEM, DO NOT USE THE SOFTWARE.

1. No-Nonsense License Agreement

The Foxhound software is protected by United States and Canadian copyright law and international copyright treaty provisions. Therefore, you must treat Foxhound just like a book, except that you may copy it onto a computer to be used and you may make archival copies of Foxhound for the sole purpose of backing-up our software and your data and protecting your investment from loss.

By saying "just like a book," RisingRoad means, for example, that one copy of Foxhound may be executed on any number of computers, and may be freely moved from one computer to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being executed on one computer while it's being executed on another.

By saying "one copy of Foxhound", RisingRoad means a copy of the Foxhound software that has been activated by the application of one single unique registration key obtained from RisingRoad.

Just like one copy of a book can't be read by two different people in two different places at the same time, neither can one copy of Foxhound be executed on two different computers at the same time. (Unless, of course, this License Agreement has been violated, or a Multiple-Copy License has been obtained as explained below.)

2. Simple Bulk Purchase

A simple bulk purchase involves the purchase of multiple registration keys where each registration key is used to activate a separate copy of Foxhound, and each resulting copy meets the definition of "one copy of Foxhound" given earlier. This is analogous to the bulk purchase of multiple copies of a book. Simple bulk purchases are covered by this License Agreement; they do not require a Multiple-Copy License.

3. Use on a Network or the Internet

One copy of Foxhound may be executed on a computer attached to a local area network and/or the internet, with multiple users accessing the single Foxhound database from browsers running on different computers. The "just like a book" analogy begins to weaken at this point, but it still applies if you think of more than one person reading the same book over someone else's shoulder... it's still one copy of the book, and one copy of Foxhound executing.

4. Multiple-Copy License

A Multiple-Copy License involves the purchase of the right to make a limited number of identical copies after one original copy of Foxhound has been activated with one registration key, and to run these identical copies on different computers at the same time. This is analogous to making multiple photocopies of a book, an operation that is normally forbidden by the book's copyright terms. A Multiple-Copy License requires express written permission from RisingRoad, separate from this License Agreement.

5. Further Explanation of Copyright Law and the Scope of This License Statement

You may not download or transmit your copy of Foxhound electronically (either by direct connection or telecommunication transmission) for the purpose of executing it on multiple computers at the same time, except as may be specifically allowed by a Multiple-Copy License.

You may transfer all of your rights to use your copy of Foxhound to another person, provided that you transfer to that person (or destroy) all of the software and documentation provided in this package, together with all copies, tangible or intangible, including copies in RAM or installed on a disk, as well as all back-up copies. Remember, once you transfer your copy of Foxhound, it may only be executed on the single computer to which it is transferred and, of course, only in accordance with copyright law and international treaty provisions.

Except as stated in this paragraph, you may not otherwise transfer, rent, lease, sub-license, time-share, or lend the Foxhound software or documentation. Your use of Foxhound is limited to acts that are essential steps in the use of Foxhound on your computer as described in the documentation. You may not otherwise modify, alter, adapt, merge, decompile or reverse-engineer Foxhound, and you may not remove or obscure RisingRoad copyright notices.

6. Disclaimer of Warranty

The software is licensed "as is". You bear the risk of using it. RisingRoad gives no express warranties, guarantees or conditions. RisingRoad excludes the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

See also...
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?
How do I get multiple copies of Foxhound?
What is the upgrade policy for installing new builds of Foxhound?
What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Beta, Evaluation, Basic and Extended?
What happens when a copy of Foxhound expires?

Answer: You can always install a new build of Foxhound on top of an old one, and your data will be copied and upgraded.

However, in some cases you may be required to provide a new registration key after the data upgrade and installation is complete:

• A new Beta build can be installed on top of an old Beta build without providing a registration key.

  A new Beta build may push the expiry date into the future, but eventually the testing period will end.

  At some later date, another Beta testing period may begin, and for that you will need a new Beta registration key.

• A new Evaluation build can be installed on top of an old Evaluation build without providing a registration key.

  A new Evaluation build will not change the expiry date.

  Only one Evaluation period is allowed per customer.

• A new Basic build can be installed on top of an old Basic build, and a new Extended build can be installed on top of an old Extended build, without providing a registration key, until the "free upgrade" period ends.

  The end of the current free upgrade period has not been announced. When such an announcement is made, you may be able to use your "Original Full Build Number" to determine if you need a new registration key.

  Your Original Full Build Number is shown on the About page.

• You can also switch from Basic or Extended to Beta, and vice versa, when installing a new build. In each case you will be required to provide a registration key.

  When switching from Beta back to Basic or Extended, you will be able to use your original Basic or Extended registration key (until the "free upgrade" period ends). This allows you to participate in future Beta programs without losing the ability to return to your original activation status when the Beta period ends.

• An Evaluation copy may be upgraded to Basic or Extended, and a Basic copy may be upgraded to Extended, at any time by providing a registration key on the About page. This process does not require you to install a new build.

See also...
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?
What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Beta, Evaluation, Basic and Extended?
How do I install Foxhound?
How do I restore the old build of Foxhound after installing a new build?

Answer: If your installed Beta or Evaluation copy of Foxhound expires, you will be still able to view the History portion of the Monitor Database feature, as well as view your Foxhound Options and Alerts Criteria settings. However, the Monitor Database process will not gather any new samples and by implication the Alert process will cease to function. Also, the Display Schema feature will be disabled.

Other limitations may be applied to the installation of new builds; e.g., the end of the "Free Upgrade" period. These limitations are not yet fully defined, but they will take the form of requiring you to provide a new registration key to activate the new build. This is not the same as expiration which prevents full use of your old build: if you don't have a new registration key for the new build, you can always go back to your old build.

See also...
What is the upgrade policy for installing new builds of Foxhound?
What is the Foxhound End-User License Agreement (EULA)?
What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Beta, Evaluation, Basic and Extended?

Answer:

xxx - xxx

See also...
What is Foxhound?
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?
What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Beta, Evaluation, Basic and Extended?

Answer:

SQL Anywhere 12 Support - Foxhound now supports SQL Anywhere Version 12 target databases, in addition to versions 5.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11.

• This applies to both sides of Foxhound: the Monitor and the Schema Display.

Better Performance, Lower Overhead - The Foxhound Monitor now runs faster and uses fewer resources.

• This screenshot shows an idle target database with 1,005 connections that aren't doing anything. Prior to being shut down at 9.08 AM, the previous version of Foxhound was taking over 2 minutes to record each sample, and the target database server was using over 2% CPU to satisfy Foxhound's requests for information about those connections.

  

  By 9:17 AM the new version of Foxhound was up and running. Now Foxhound was able to record a sample in 5 seconds or less, bringing the interval between samples closer to the standard 10 seconds. Also, the CPU load on the target database is lower.

100 Targets - You can now monitor up to 100 different target databases using a single copy of the Extended edition of Foxhound.

• You can also run up to 10 copies of Foxhound on one computer; see How do I start multiple copies of Foxhound on a single computer?
• See also What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Beta, Evaluation, Basic and Extended?

Faster Upgrade - Foxhound now takes less time and uses less disk space when re-installing or upgrading.

• The post-setup data upgrade process is now approximately 90% faster. This translates into minutes instead of hours when upgrading a multi-gigabyte Foxhound database.

• The high-water mark for extra disk space required during the upgrade is now approximately 60%, down from the 100% extra space that was previously required.

• Foxhound now pre-allocates space for the new database file when re-installing or upgrading, rather than just letting the new database grow in size as the old data is copied.

  1. The post-setup data upgrade process calculates the actual disk space used for data in the current Foxhound database. If the Foxhound purge process has deleted a lot of data, then the calculated amount will be a lot smaller than the size of the current Foxhound database file.

  2. 10% is added to the calculated amount to allow for future growth.

  3. If necessary, the calculated amount is reduced to be no larger than the current Foxhound database file.

  4. The ALTER DBSPACE SYSTEM ADD statement is then used to pre-allocate space for the new Foxhound database file, and the process of copying data from the old database is begun.

Faster, Better Purge - The Foxhound purge process has been completely rewritten to be faster and more effective at dealing with giant Foxhound databases.

• The new Purge uninteresting connection data setting specifies how soon uninteresting connection-level Monitor sample data will be deleted.

• The new Purge speed setting specifies how aggressively the purge process will pursue its goal of deleting old data.

• The new Purge Run report shows how well the purge settings are working.

  

• Also, the "after 1 day / week / ..." calculations are based on the most recent successful sample, not the current timestamp, so you don't lose the most recent significant data just because sampling has been turned off for a while.

Better Diagnostics - It's now easier to diagnose problems which occur when starting and running Foxhound.

• These Foxhound command files have been modified to display the SQL Anywhere console log messages and write them to the foxhound1_debug.txt file (see How do I see Foxhound diagnostics, errors and exceptions?):

        $backup_foxhound1.bat       - used by the shortcut All Programs - Foxhound1 - Tools - Backup Foxhound Database
        $start_foxhound1_engine.bat - used by the shortcut All Programs - Foxhound1 - Tools - Start Foxhound Engine
        $post_setup.bat             - used by the Post Setup process when installing or upgrading Foxhound

• The ECHO OFF command has been removed from the "debug" startup command files so you can see everything that's going on:

        $start_foxhound1_firefox_debug.bat - used by the shortcut All Programs - Foxhound1 - Tools - Start Foxhound via Firefox - debug
        $start_foxhound1_ie_debug.bat      - used by the shortcut All Programs - Foxhound1 - Tools - Start Foxhound via IE - debug

Ad-hoc Queries - The Export Samples feature has been replaced with the ability to perform ad-hoc queries against the Foxhound database via dbisql and other client software.

• For more information about writing and running ad-hoc queries contact Breck.Carter@gmail.com.

Better Docs - The Frequently Asked Questions now have different "alias" questions pointing to the same answers, to make the answers easier to find.

• Here are the new and updated FAQ entries...

  How do I run the Foxhound "unsetup" process?

  How do I see Foxhound diagnostics, errors and exceptions?

  How do I specify the HTTPS transport-layer security for Foxhound?

  How do I start Foxhound in "debug mode"?

  How do I start multiple copies of Foxhound on a single computer?

  How many target databases can one copy of Foxhound monitor?

  What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Beta, Evaluation, Basic and Extended?

  What are the Foxhound system requirements?

  What happened to Foxhound Options - Export Samples?

  Why aren't more "Uninteresting Connections" being deleted by the Foxhound purge process?

  Why is Alert #1 - Database unresponsive issued and cleared with every sample gathered?

  Why do I see so many "Timed out" messages on the Monitor display?

  Why does Foxhound issue Alert #1 - Database unresponsive immediately after Foxhound is started?

  Why does Foxhound keep sending emails even though "Send Alert emails" is unchecked on the Foxhound Options page?

  Why is the "bytes per row" larger than the actual amount of data in each row?

• Here are the new and updated Message explanations...

  404 Not Found

  Access is denied.

  I/O error Fatal error: A disk read from file "...\foxhound1.db" failed with error code: (23) -- transaction rolled back --

  Item 'rroad_..._properties' already exists

  Procedure rroad_... not used; build number ... is more recent than Foxhound build number ...

  Statement interrupted by user

  Target SQL Anywhere server version ... not supported

  The database engine is stopping. Use an acceptable server and database name.

  The database engine is stopping. Use the Extended edition when starting multiple copies of Foxhound.

  The system could not find the environment option that was entered.

  Unacceptable SQL Anywhere server edition: The database engine is stopping.

See also...
What is Foxhound?
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?
What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Beta, Evaluation, Basic and Extended?

Answer:

What's new in GA? Some minor fixes and some new docs:

What are the Foxhound system requirements?
How do I backup my Foxhound database?
How do I shrink the size of the Foxhound database?
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?
How do I get multiple copies of Foxhound?
How do I install the Basic Edition of Foxhound?
How do I install the Evaluation Edition of Foxhound?
How do I install the Extended Edition of Foxhound?
How do I tell a Beta Foxhound setup file apart from a Generally Available (GA) setup?
How many target databases can one copy of Foxhound monitor?
Why do I get an ALERT #28 - Long transaction when there are no connections running long transactions?
Why is the Alert #15 threshold still set at 10 incomplete file I/O operations, instead of the new default value of 256?

Messages...

Access is denied.
Authentication failed
Cannot access ... foxhound1.db ... another process may be using the file
Can't open Message window log file: foxhound1_debug.txt
dbspawn/dbeng11 set ERRORLEVEL = 0
dbspawn/dbeng11 set ERRORLEVEL = 1
DBSPAWN ERROR: -81
The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
Unable to stop database server -- Request to start/stop database denied.
Windows cannot find 'C:\\Program Files\\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe'

Here's a list of the outstanding issues...

Database Monitor sometimes shows wrong timestamp for "Foxhound stopped at" sample
Foxhound upgrade fails with message Authentication failed
Incorrect "Commits / Rollbacks" counts are displayed by the Database Monitor after a gap in sampling
Shortcuts fail with message Windows cannot find 'C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe'

...fixes will be delivered in the next Generally Available build of Foxhound:

See also...
What is Foxhound?
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?

Answer:

The Database Monitor and History pages have been enhanced to allow you to specify how the Connection section is sorted.

The up or down arrow to the left of a single column title in the Connection section indicates that entries are sorted in ascending or descending order by that column. Click on that column title to change the direction of that sort (ascending to or from descending), or click on a different column title to sort the entries by that column.

The tie-breaker sort column is Conn #; if multiple entries in this section have the same value in the selected sort column, those entries are sorted in ascending order by Connection Number.

Alert emails have been enhanced by sorting the current connections section in an order that is relevant to the alert condition.

For example, the email for Alert 28 - Long transaction will show this in the title line for the Connection section:

(sorted in descending order by the "Transaction Running Time" column)

Here's the full list:

Alert Email	Connection Sort Order	Connections Sorted On
1 - Database unresponsive	descending	CPU Time
2 - Long heartbeat	descending	CPU Time
3 - Long sample time	descending	CPU Time
4 - CPU usage	descending	CPU Time
5 - Database disk space	descending	Disk Writes
6 - Temp disk space	descending	Disk Writes
7 - Log disk space	descending	Disk Writes
8 - Other disk space	descending	Disk Writes
9 - Arbiter unreachable	descending	CPU Time
10 - Partner unreachable	descending	CPU Time
11 - HA failover	descending	CPU Time
12 - HA mode change	descending	CPU Time
13 - File fragmentation	descending	Disk Writes
14 - Waiting requests	descending	CPU Time
15 - Incomplete I/Os	descending	Disk Writes
16 - I/O operations	descending	Disk Writes
17 - Checkpoint urgency	descending	Disk Writes
18 - Recovery urgency	descending	Disk Writes
19 - Cache size	descending	CPU Time
20 - Cache satisfaction	ascending	Cache Satisfaction
21 - Temp file usage	descending	Temp Space
22 - Conn temp file usage	descending	Temp Space
23 - Blocked connections	descending	Conns Blocked
24 - Conn blocking others	descending	Conns Blocked
25 - Locks	descending	Locks Held
26 - Connections	descending	CPU Time
27 - Connection CPU	descending	CPU Time
28 - Long transaction	descending	Transaction Running Time
29 - Cache panics	descending	Cache Satisfaction

The Global Database Id value is now displayed in more places, if it is set to a non-default value in the target database. This makes it easier to tell different remote databases apart in a replicating or synchronizing environment:

• Facts & Figures title line

• Database-level Curiosities title line

• Table and Column name list title lines

• CREATE TABLE and CREATE VIEW title lines

The Foxhound License Agreement has been simplified and rewritten in the style of the original Borland "Just like a book" license agreement.

When the Generally-Available (GA) form of Foxhound ships, it will be available in three editions: Evaluation, Basic and Extended.

The Display Schema CREATE VIEW display has been enhanced to behave like the CREATE TABLE display: when you click on a column name in the alphabetical column list in the left frame, not only does the CREATE VIEW containing that column open in the right frame, but it is scrolled down to the specific column. Previously, the CREATE VIEW appeared but it was not scrolled down to the column.

The Foxhound Options - Export Samples functionality has been enhanced to include information about Alerts:

• export7_alert.txt

• export8_all_clear.txt

• export9_alert_cancelled.txt

• export10_alerts_criteria.txt

The "Frequently Asked Questions" section of the Foxhound website has been updated:

How do I backup my Foxhound database?
How do I shrink the size of the Foxhound database?
What is the Foxhound End-User License Agreement (EULA)?
What is the upgrade policy for installing new builds of Foxhound?
What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Beta, Evaluation, Basic and Extended?
What happens when a copy of Foxhound expires?
Why did Foxhound start automatically after I stopped it?

Messages...
ALERT #xx - xxx - xxx(nn)
ALL CLEAR #xx - xxx - xxx(nn)
CANCELLED #xx - xxx - xxx(nn)
CREATE PROCEDURE rroad_..._properties failed ... Item 'rroad_..._properties' already exists
Foxhound Extended edition is required for ...
SQL Anywhere database version ... not supported
SQL Anywhere database server ... not supported
The initial activation was not successful: you cannot activate a BETA copy of Foxhound as FULL.

See also...
What is Foxhound?
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?

Answer:

Alert emails have been enhanced to include information about recent Monitor samples. This extra information may tell you what you need to know without having to open the full Foxhound display.

The Foxhound upgrade process moves the old foxhound.db and log files to a backup folder before they are replaced. For more information see How do I restore the old build of Foxhound after installing a new build?

The Global Database Id value is displayed on the Monitor and Display Schema pages, as well as in Alert emails, if it is set to a non-default value in the target database. This makes it easier to tell different remote databases apart in a replicating or synchronizing environment.

The maximum number of active connections displayed on the Monitor page has been reduced from 100 to 10 because a long dynamically-refreshed list is not very usable. You may use the manually-refreshed History page to see more connections.

The "Last Statement" column has been moved to a separate line in the Connections section of the Monitor and History pages. This makes the Connections display more readable by reducing the amount of left-right scrolling required. It also makes it less likely the Last Statement will be wrapped.

The Monitor and History displays now show dashes "-" for all omitted column values instead of empty spaces. This makes it clear which values are not available or not applicable, and it also makes the resulting text somewhat easier to read when you use copy-and-paste. For example, the "CPU Time" percentage appears as a dash "-" for the first sample because it can only be calculated for second and later samples.

Note: This use of dashes "-" does not apply to columns which have been entirely omitted because the data is not available for the version of SQL Anywhere being used for the target database; e.g., the "CPU Time" column does not appear at all for version 5 and 6 target databases.

• you won't lose any data when Foxhound goes GA (Generally Available) and you install a new build of Foxhound and activate it with Full functionality,

• you won't lose any data when you try out future Beta builds after activating Foxhound with Full functionality.

• you may have to obtain a new (free) registration key to switch back to Full functionality after testing a Beta build.

The following bug has been fixed: When sampling was started after it was stopped by the "safe startup" process, the first sample was sometimes incorrectly shown as occurring between the "-- Sampling stopped by Safe Startup at --" and "-- Sampling stopped by Safe Startup --" entries:

5:42:55 AM  7m 17.4s  -- Sampling stopped by Safe Startup --  
5:42:06 AM  0s        0s / 0s    1    1 / - / -  1 / 100 / - ...
5:35:38 AM  .5s       -- Sampling stopped by Safe Startup at --  

The following bug has been fixed: Alert #20 was issued for every target database running on SQL Anywhere version 5.5 even though the information required to calculate cache satisfaction is not available for that version. A value of zero is no longer assumed and the following Alert is no longer issued for target databases running on version 5.5:

Alert #20: The cache satisfaction (hits/reads) has fallen to 90% or lower for 10 or more recent samples.

The following bug has been fixed: When Foxhound was stopped and restarted, a successful sample was sometimes incorrectly shown as occurring between the "-- Foxhound stopped at --" and "-- Foxhound stopped --" entries:

8:23:36 AM  10.4s      0s / .3s ...
8:23:26 AM  59.2s      -- Sampling stopped by Safe Startup -- 
8:22:27 AM  1.6s       -- Sampling stopped by Safe Startup at -- 
8:22:25 AM  14m 25.7s  -- Foxhound stopped -- 
8:08:01 AM  10.6s      0s / .1s ...
8:07:59 AM  -          -- Foxhound stopped at -- 
8:07:50 AM  10.0s      0s / 0s ...

The Alerts Criteria page has been fixed so the Restore Factory Settings button no longer wipes out the values you've put in the following fields:

• Send Alert Emails

• Email address(es)

• Use HTML, Host[:port]

The "Frequently Asked Questions" section of the Foxhound website has been updated:

How do I backup my Foxhound database?
How do I backup my Foxhound database on a regular basis?
How do I change the Alerts criteria? (threshold settings, etcetera)
How do I get something to show up in the Last Statement column?
How do I get something to show up in the Total Waits, Waiting Time columns?
How do I install version 11 of SQL Anywhere on the same machine used to run an earlier version of SQL Anywhere?
How do I keep the Foxhound database file from growing so large?
How do I reinstall an earlier build of Foxhound?
How do I restore the Foxhound database from a backup?
How do I restore the old build of Foxhound after installing a new build?
How do I tell different databases apart in Alert emails?

What is the upgrade policy for installing new builds of Foxhound?

Why are my Alert emails garbled?
Why are the values empty in the Last Statement column?
Why are the values empty in the Total Waits, Waiting Time columns?
Why are the values so large in the Interval and Sample Time columns?
Why does the CPU Time for a blocked connection go up over time?
Why does the Foxhound post upgrade process take so long?
Why doesn't the Foxhound backup process create the generation2 subfolder?
Why is the "Choose a DSN:" drop down list empty?

Messages...
404 Not Found
503 Service Temporarily Unavailable
A subdirectory or file backup already exists.
ALERT #xx - xxx - xxx(nn)
Alert #11 - HA failover - ... on ...
ALL CLEAR #xx - xxx - xxx(nn)
CANCELLED #xx - xxx - xxx(nn)
Connection timeout for target ... after ... (timeout threshold is ...; see Foxhound Options)
Data cannot be upgraded from ... to ...
EMAIL FAILURE - SMTP send email failed with return code ... when sending "..."
Specified database file already in use
The system cannot find the file specified.
User "DBA" dropped event connection 1000...... ("rroad_monitor_sample_loop")

See also...
What is Foxhound?
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?

Answer: More support for materialized views has been added. In particular, the "Largest tables" has been renamed "Largest tables and materialized views", and materialized views are included in various counts, rankings and curiosities:

• row count
• bytes per row
• table space
• extension space
• index space
• total space
• relative index space percentage of table space
• column counts
• view column counts
• indexes
• index column counts

The ALTER VIEW ... DISABLE statement is now shown for disabled views.

The $post_setup.bat file has been optimized to MOVE instead of XCOPY the new Foxhound database to speed up the installation process when the existing Foxhound database is very large.

The $backup_foxhound1.bat file has been rewritten to solve several problems. In particular, the backup subfolders are "rotated" (deleted, renamed) only if the backup succeeds to prevent the oldest backup from being deleted when something goes wrong and a new backup is not created.

Many new Frequently Asked Questions have been added, including How do I start Foxhound in "safe mode"?

The following options have been added to the Foxhound database startup commands in order to limit cache growth and to eliminate the time wasted by the cache warming process after a large Foxhound database has been upgraded: -ch 25p -cr-

The process used by the Monitor to connect to the target database has been improved, eliminating false error messages Pick a valid ODBC DSN, and specify the user id and password on the Foxhound DSN tab or inside the DSN itself. Note that Foxhound cannot handle encrypted passwords stored inside ODBC DSNs.

The default threshold for incomplete file I/O operations in Alert #15 has been changed from 10 to 256 because values up to 255 are very common: Alert #15. The current number of incomplete file I/O operations has reached [256] or more for [10] or more recent samples.

Note that for an upgraded Foxhound database this change will only affect the "Restore Factory Settings" values. It does not affect the "Restore Default Settings" or the settings used for any new or existing monitor sessions. To put the new default into more widespread use you must change and save the settings yourself.

For a new Foxhound database (not upgraded) this change affects both the "Restore Factory Settings" and "Restore Default Settings" as well as the initial values used for new monitor sessions.

The following bug has been fixed: When sampling is started after it has been stopped for a while, the first sample is sometimes incorrectly shown as occurring between the "-- Sampling stopped at --" and "-- Sampling stopped --" entries:

Apr 22 5:13:21 PM   1m 18.8s   -- Sampling stopped --  
Apr 22 5:12:21 PM   0s    0s / 0s ...        
Apr 22 5:12:02 PM   1m 24.2s   -- Sampling stopped at --

See also...
What is Foxhound?
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?

Answer: There is improved support for shared global temporary tables in the Display Schema function, including the Facts & Figures section.

There is improved support for materialized views in the Display Schema function. In particular, row counts, space usage and bytes per row are displayed for materialized views, and CREATE INDEX and ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW statements are generated where necessary to fully describe materialized views.

The DESC column sort order is displayed in FOREIGN KEY and UNIQUE constraints, in the Display Schema function.

A bug in the Monitor Database function was fixed, whereby repeated failed attempts to connect to multiple unavailable databases would not be handled properly. Eventually, one of those repeated attempts to connect might succeed in connecting to the wrong database, and the monitor would start sampling that database, instead of continuing to fail to connect to the unavailable database.

The standard Start Foxhound via Firefox and Start Foxhound via IE shortcuts no longer check to see if the dbeng11.exe command worked, nor do they PAUSE or display error messages, before proceeding to display the Foxhound main menu page in the browser. In most cases dbeng11.exe fails because the Foxhound database engine is already running and the PAUSE and error message are simply annoying. If you are actually having problems starting the Foxhound database engine and want to see what's happening, try using one of the "debug" shortcuts: Foxhound - Tools - Start Foxhound via Firefox - debug or Start Foxhound via IE - debug.

The dbeng11.exe -qi option was added to the Start Foxhound via Firefox and Start Foxhound via IE shortcuts, as well as the Foxhound - Tools - Start Foxhound Engine shortcut:

• -qi tells the Foxhound database engine to "operate quietly": no system tray icon or console window.
• this option was not added to the "debug" shortcuts, so you will see the icon and the console window if you use Foxhound - Tools - Start Foxhound via Firefox - debug or Start Foxhound via IE - debug.

The dbeng11.exe -sb 0 -xd options were added to all shortcuts which start the Foxhound database engine:

• -sb 0 and -xd reduce the likelihood that the Foxhound database engine will accidentally act as a "default server" or make any attempt to accept unauthorized database connections... only HTTP connections are expected during normal operations.

See also...
What is Foxhound?
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?

Answer: Work on the original version of Foxhound began in March 1998. Back then it was called the RisingRoad Dictionary, and it used Oracle PL/SQL scripts to read the catalog views and generate static HTML containing the CREATE TABLE text for each table in a separate page. These pages included hyperlinks for rapid navigation up and down the parent-child foreign key hierarchy.

The original target audience was application programmers working with an enormous Oracle database at the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto. The database was so big and complex that graphical diagrams produced by tools like ERwin were virtually unusable by the programmers.

Graphical tools don't scale well; that is just as true today as it was back in 1998. Following foreign key chains on a diagram is very difficult when there are hundreds or thousands of tables, and any attempt to include the level of detail necessary for a programmer (physical data types and constraints for every column) instantly makes a diagram so large it won't fit on any wall let alone a desk. Subsetting a diagram never seems to work; it always seems to leave out stuff the programmer needs to know.

On the other hand, a text-based display plus hyperlinks and the browser's Back and Forward buttons are ideal for navigating a large database layout... and there's no shortage of screen real estate when you're showing one table at a time, even with all the physical details included.

Foxhound then went through a stage as a multi-platform (Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, SQL Anywhere) documentation tool with the addition of table- and column-level comments stored in its own database (SQL Anywhere).

Eventually, comments were dropped (little demand), as was support for multiple target platforms (too difficult), and Foxhound became a SQL-Anywhere-centric tool. SQL Anywhere's built-in HTTP server made it possible to display HTML on the fly rather than generate static HTML files that rapidly become out of date.

Over the years Foxhound has gradually evolved into a consultant's tool for investigating a client's database: how many tables, what do they look like to a programmer, what are the relationships, how do I get there from here. Foxhound grew to answer questions like how many rows, how much table/index/extension space is this table taking up, what's the average row size in terms of disk usage, where are all the database files and how badly fragmented are they.

The concept of "curiosities" was added: this database doesn't have any clustered indexes, that table doesn't have a primary key, these columns have the same names but different data types, that foreign key has a cascading action, these database options have been changed from their default settings... and this database still has OPTIMIZATION_GOAL set to 'First-row' which might explain why that query takes three hours instead of three minutes.

Then, in early 2007, something really big happened to Foxhound: The "Display Schema" button was joined by "Monitor Database" and a dynamically refreshed HTML display showing what's happening inside the server. By the summer of 2009 the Monitor was producing Alerts and All Clear messages about the availability of your target database and twenty-eight other conditions that fall short of an actual crash.

And now it's 2010... Beta testing is complete and Foxhound has become "GA" (generally available) as a commercial product.\

See also...
What's in the future for Foxhound?
What is Foxhound?
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?

Answer: The to-do list is 200K, so yeah, there's lots of stuff that might get added. That's 200K of ASCII text, by the way, and FWIW the "done" list is 600K.

But exactly WHAT is in the to-do list? Sorry, not going to say, at least not yet. That's Secret Competitive Advantage stuff.

Here's what's NOT going to happen: Foxhound is never going to become an "integrated development environment" like Sybase Central, not even like ISQL. No query building tools, no data transformation utilities, no programming plugins. Way too much competition out there.

And besides, we use Wordpad, so we don't even want an IDE... we wouldn't be dogfooding Foxhound like we do every day.

So we wouldn't do a good job, and you wouldn't buy it.

Maybe we'll add schema comparison... but not a funky abstract comparison like PowerDesigner or a lowest-common-denominator comparison like those generic ODBC utilities do, but something for actual programmers who work with actual SQL Anywhere databases and want to see "what changed in my tables?"

Something like this schema comparison.

Maybe... not soon, it's hard to do it right, to go the extra mile and merge the Compare-It API into the slick Foxhound hypertext navigation structure.

And it's just one of the to-do items in the 200K list.

Here's a couple of items that are planned for the near future, post-GA: Supporting SQL Anywhere 12 as a target platform, and then porting Foxhound itself to run on SQL Anywhere 12. Preliminary indications are the second item's going to be easy and beneficial because proxy tables are a lot faster in Version 12.

Alas, the first item (supporting a new version as target) is never easy... and it's much higher priority than the second.

See also...
What is the history of Foxhound?
What is Foxhound?
How do I get a copy of Foxhound?

Answer: Port 4950 is officially registered to the "Sybase Server Monitor" which is the SQL Anywhere Monitor that ships in the box with SQL Anywhere. If you're not already running the SQL Anywhere Monitor on that port, consider using 4950 for Foxhound.

Alternatively, consider using one of the "Dynamic and/or Private Ports" in the range 49152 through 65535.

See also...
How do I specify the HTTPS transport-layer security for Foxhound?
How do I tell Foxhound to use an HTTP port other than 80?
IANA port number assignments
Can't start HTTP listener on address 127.0.0.1:80
Could not bind to address ...
Database server shutdown due to startup error

Answer: The Foxhound Options - Export Samples feature has been replaced with the ability to perform ad-hoc queries against the Foxhound database via dbisql and other client software.

For more information about writing and running ad-hoc queries contact Breck.Carter@gmail.com.