Check SIMS logged in users?

[sparkeh]

Gotta pay a flying visit to a school to do the August upgrade.

 

Is there a quick way to check if anyone is logged in to SIMS? I want to avoid going round every machine to check

 

Also, is there any way to stop people logging in for the duration of the upgrade?

[jamesb]

My Computer | Manage | Shared Folders | Sessions should show you what sessions are open on the machine.

 

If you bring up Services.msc and kill the SQL Server Browser service, that should stop anyone logging on until you restart it.

[sparkeh]

My Computer | Manage | Shared Folders | Sessions should show you what sessions are open on the machine.

 

Ah yes of course - thanks for that.

 

If you bring up Services.msc and kill the SQL Server Browser service, that should stop anyone logging on until you restart it.

 

Just to check, that won't interfere with the upgrade on the server? Does that just stop remote connections to the db?

[Diello]

I prefer using SQL Server Management Studio.

 

Connect to the SIMS instance, then Management --> Activity Monitor. Shared folder sessions aren't always acurate.

 

Think stopping the Browser services just stops people listing SQL instances, not stop anyone connecting to them if they already know what they're connecting to (which connect.ini does).

 

To stop people connecting - Go into SQL Server Surface Area Configuration, then Services & Connections. On the left, open up the SIMS instance, then Database Engine, then Remote Connections. Then on the right pane, change Local & Remote Connections to Local Connections Only, then restart the service. Obviously you'll then need to be on the local server to do the upgrade! Change it back once the upgrade is done.

[sparkeh]

I prefer using SQL Server Management Studio.

 

Oh wow, yeah that looks like the way to go - thanks!

[Steve_T]

I prefer using SQL Server Management Studio.

 

Connect to the SIMS instance, then Management --> Activity Monitor. Shared folder sessions aren't always acurate.

 

Think stopping the Browser services just stops people listing SQL instances, not stop anyone connecting to them if they already know what they're connecting to (which connect.ini does).

 

To stop people connecting - Go into SQL Server Surface Area Configuration, then Services & Connections. On the left, open up the SIMS instance, then Database Engine, then Remote Connections. Then on the right pane, change Local & Remote Connections to Local Connections Only, then restart the service. Obviously you'll then need to be on the local server to do the upgrade! Change it back once the upgrade is done.

 

I thought (may be wrong here) that the new Sims.net homepage effected the Activity Monitor and gave false positives?

[Diello]

I thought (may be wrong here) that the new Sims.net homepage effected the Activity Monitor and gave false positives?

 

Well, the homepage refreshes every so often, so re-establishes the connection. So theorically they could be away from the PC at the time. However, they're still logged into SIMS.

 

Personally - we give them plenty of notice, then follow up any "important" users still logged in when it's time to do the upgrade, the others have been given fair warning!

[sparkeh]

Thanks for the help guys.

 

Turns out I can't actually do the upgrade as the LA have told me that Capita still haven't updated our IP info after combining our networks, so we can't download the updates. Great.

[dwhyte85]

Hello,

 

I'm sure Solus tells you the users logged in if you are using it. Like already said, give plenty of time when you do have to go do it, I was being nagged for ages and ages because I underestimated how long it'd take... angry office staff ftl.

[enjay]

I concur with dwhyte85 - you can see it from within the Solus update screen, if you click on (I think) "Information" it will tell you who is logged in (not where though, so you may need to do a bit of hunting still, depends how/where you use SIMS).

[matt40k]

Doesn't the new dbupgrade lock the database before actually apply the (db) upgrade thus kicking everyone off until it's down?

[enjay]

Not quite - it locks it preventing new logons, but if someone logs in before you start the upgrade, it will fail.

[PhilNeal]

We use transient connections to the database which means you can't work out who is connected. I think we are changing this with SM7.

[PhilNeal]

We could use such a flag - we did way back in the dbase days. I'm pretty sure that we have a solution coming.

[Mark182]

Sorry to drag this from the dead but what's the current best way?

[dapaulio]

When I do an update I generally use Activity monitor in sql management studio to see whose logged in.

[matt40k]

Problem is the homepage etc auto refreshes, so that'll show someone is "active" when really they just left there machine on and logged in and it isn't a question of just killing connections because you could have someone who is actually working. Guess it's a question of checking in SM7, or is 8 years too quick for Capita development

[Rawns]

I can't remember who posted this originally, but I found it on Edugeek a long time ago. This SQL script proves useful for listing access to the SIMS/FMS databases:

 

-- Lists all users logged into either SIMS or FMS databases

use master;

select 	upper (sysprocesses.loginame) [sIMS User],
sysprocesses.hostname [Machine],
sysprocesses.dbid,
--	sysdatabases.dbid,
sysdatabases.name [Database]	
from sysprocesses

join sysdatabases on sysprocesses.dbid = sysdatabases.dbid

where sysdatabases.name like '%sims%' or name like '%fms%'    --change this to your database name

order by sysdatabases.name  -- works for multihosting systems

[LazyD]

Thanks for this Rawns. I seem to get 2 entries for each user though, all details in all columns identical. So if I have 1 user logged into each SIMS and FMS, I get 4 rows. Is this expected?