We have noticed today that an element property has disappeared from the custom properties when we open the element card up.
We have checked a few element xml files and we noticed that the property description is still in the element’s config file. Is there a way that this can be retrieved?
I have raised a task with tech support, but wondered if anyone else has experienced something similar? Unfortunately, it is running DM version 9.6.
Hi Beth,
Is this property available in the PropertyConfiguration.xml? You can find this file on the DMA on C:\Skyline DataMiner.
Hi Michael,
Yes we found the PropertyConfiguration.xml and we noticed the property was missing from that file. But what’s more strange, is that is the only element property that is missing, but we also noticed there are some alarm properties which have also gone missing as well.
We have compared the PropertyConfiguration.xml file with a backup from around a week ago and the missing properties are there in the backup file. So we are not sure as to how this has happened and we have a task open to investigate. But we’re wondering how we can restore the missing properties, possibly using the backup file.
Thanks,
Beth
Hi Beth,
Cube relies on this file to show the properties in Cube. So if the properties are not in the file, they will not be shown in Cube.
The best way to continue is indeed using the backup file, you can either replace the current PropertyConfiguration.xml file with the backup file or you can manually copy the missing properties from the backupfile to the current file.
Hi Michael,
Okay that’s great, we were thinking of replacing the current PropertyConfiguration.xml file with the backup file and then syncing that to all the other DMAs, but weren’t sure if this would cause any other issues.
Do you know if the previous values we had in the property will be restored, once we have replaced the PropertyConfiguration.xml file? For example, if Element X had a property called Service and it’s value was XYZ, that has now disappeared. But if we restore the PropertyConfiguration.xml file, would the Service property value XYZ be automatically restored?
We would just like to know if we will be able to restore all elements with their element properties, as they were before this issue occurred. Or whether we will have to manually add those values back in again?
Hi Beth,
Replacing the current PropertyConfiguration.xml with the backup file and syncing between the DMAs will not cause any issues.
The PropertyConfiguration.xml file is a file that is only used by Cube. By this file Cube knows what properties to show in the UI. The DMA knows these properties as well but they are stored in a different way. If you will have the values of the properties back, it will depend on how the properties got deleted. If they are only removed from the PropertyConfiguration.xml file, you will have the values back. If they are completely removed (so from the server as well) you won’t have the values. Before adding the values manually back I would recommend to get in touch with your Skyline contact to take the necessary logging and dumps. If you add a value to the property manually, the property will be created and it will be more difficult to find the root cause of this problem.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for the explanation. We are in contact with Skyline, so I will wait until I hear back from them before we do anything further.
Cheers,
Beth
Looping myself in.