What Does "The Database Is Being Updated" Mean?
The database is being updated is the notice everybody in ABM Service sees, covering the whole window, while a new version brings its own tables in your company's database up to date. The update itself normally takes moments and needs nothing from you, but the notice stays on screen until you select Try again, which loads the page again. It is separate from the recommended changes on the Database screen, which are yours to apply and never block anybody.
Why does everybody see "The database is being updated"?
Everybody sees The database is being updated when a new version of ABM Service needs its own tables in your company's database changed, and that has not finished yet. Until it has, no screen can load or save anything, so the notice covers every screen, for every user, the system administrator included.
ABM Service keeps a few small tables of its own in your company's database, for things such as sign-in settings, Customer portal sign-ins and the Database screen's history. Each version knows which version of those tables it needs. The first time a new version is used, by anybody in the browser or the ABM Service desktop app, it brings them up to date by itself. Screens wait up to five seconds for that before the notice is shown, so when the update is quick most people never see the notice at all.
This happens automatically and cannot be postponed. It is all or nothing: if any part of it fails, nothing is changed and the tables stay exactly as they were. ABM's own tables and your data are never altered by it.
The notice has one button, Try again, which reloads the page.
Read the sentence under The database is being updated: it says which case you are in. If it says the update is running now, or that another process is bringing it up to date, wait a moment and select Try again. If it says the database could not be brought up to date, copy or note the whole sentence first, then wait a few seconds and select Try again: each try after a few seconds attempts the update again, and a passing interruption, such as a dropped connection to the database, can clear this way. If the same sentence comes back, nobody can work until the cause is fixed, so send it to your software supplier's support team or your IT contact straight away.
This notice is not the recommended changes on the Database screen. There is nothing to Apply and nothing the system administrator can press to hurry it; the Database screen is blocked by the same notice while it shows.
Does pressing Try again on "The database is being updated" affect anybody else's work?
No. Try again on The database is being updated notice reloads the page in the one window it is pressed in, and nothing else. Each person sees their own notice with their own Try again, so the system administrator pressing it never touches anybody else's screen, and nobody loses work because somebody else pressed it.
Where a person has unsaved changes in their own window, for example a call they were typing, their browser asks before reloading. Choosing to leave at that question loses what was not saved. Choosing to stay keeps the work on screen behind the notice, but it still cannot be saved: nothing can be saved while The database is being updated shows, and the notice stays until Try again is pressed. So work that had not been saved before the notice appeared is lost when the page reloads, and the only thing to do is type it again once ABM Service is back. The update itself changes nothing anybody had already saved.
What does each version of the database updating message mean?
The sentence on The database is being updated notice starts with the version your company's database is on and the version this ABM Service needs, in the form This site's database is on version (a number) and this build needs version (a higher number), and then says why it is not there yet:
- it is being brought up to date now. Try again in a moment. — the update is running. Wait a moment and select Try again.
- another process is bringing it up to date. Try again in a moment. — another computer or server using the same database started the update first, such as a colleague's desktop app or your ABM Service Server. Only one can do it at a time; the others wait for it.
- another process has been bringing it up to date for more than 2 minutes. Try again. — the other update is taking longer than expected. Try again; if it keeps happening, contact your software supplier's support team.
- and it could not be brought up to date. followed by the step that failed and the database's own error, or by The update stopped: and the reason — the update did not work. Wait a few seconds and select Try again once, because a passing interruption can clear; if the same sentence comes back, the cause has to be fixed first.
While ABM Service is still reading which version your company's database is on, and that is taking longer than five seconds, the notice says This site's database is being checked before this build uses it. Try again in a moment. Wait a moment and select Try again.
If the notice says only This site's database is being updated. Try again in a moment., without version numbers, ABM Service could not read the exact reason. Treat it the same way: wait a moment and select Try again, and if it keeps coming back, tell your software supplier's support team.
What should I do when the database could not be brought up to date?
When The database is being updated says the database could not be brought up to date, nobody can use ABM Service until the update succeeds. Copy or note the whole sentence, wait a few seconds and select Try again: every try after a few seconds attempts the update again, so a passing problem, such as the connection to the database dropping in the middle (the sentence then says The update stopped:), can clear by itself. If the same sentence comes back, the cause will not go away on its own: send the sentence to your software supplier's support team or your IT contact straight away.
The sentence names the step that failed and gives the database software's own error, which is what support needs. The most common cause is permissions: the database sign-in ABM Service uses is allowed to read and write your data but not to create tables. Whoever looks after your database server fixes that, and the next Try again after the fix brings the tables up to date.
Nothing was changed by the failed attempt. Your data is exactly as it was, and people can go on using ABM itself while this is sorted out.
How is this different from the recommended changes on the Database screen?
The database is being updated and the recommended changes on the Database screen are two separate things that never affect each other:
- ABM Service's own tables are needed for screens to work, so they update themselves as soon as a new version is first used, for everybody, and the notice blocks every screen until they have. You have nothing to decide.
- Recommended changes are indexes on large tables that only make screens faster. Nothing breaks without them, so ABM Service waits for the system administrator to apply them from the Database screen at a quiet moment.
The last line of the Database screen shows the version of ABM Service's own tables, marked Up to date, with when and from which computer they were last updated. Because every screen is blocked while those tables are behind, you will normally only ever see Up to date there.