Configure History Logging
New in Version 2021, if you are using a SQL Server or custom SQL Server database (version 2016 or higher), you can now configure XFRACAS to log each time a record is changed. This allows users to generate reports that show a historical “snapshot” of data for a specified data and time. (See Viewing Historical Data in the user help for more information.)
To implement history logging, you’ll need to make some modifications to the configuration file:
- Open the XFRACAS Admin Utility (search for “XFRACAS2021 Admin” in the Start menu).
- Click Update XFRACAS Configuration File and then click the Settings tab.
- In the SQL Server Options section, enable the Enable Temporal Tables option. This allows time-stamp information to be captured and stored in the database.
- From the Retention Period drop-down list, select an option to specify how long you want data to be available, and then click OK. Any records that are older than this period will be deleted from the database and cannot be recovered.
Note: By default, this is set to 1 year; however, you must have sufficient disk space to store data for the specified period. Exceeding the available space will result in a loss of data. Keep in mind that you can export report results if you need to retain data for longer periods.
You can disable the Enable Temporal Tables option at any time. This will not delete any data that is within your specified retention period; instead, XFRACAS will simply stop collecting and storing this information.