Prepare your Staging Database

The PREPENV (“prepare environment”) action creates the tables and indexes in the Staging Database.

To run PREPENV, open The VIP Server Controller from your desktop or start menu. You must open it as an administrator.

If you have a re-usable Config file for your Subset Actions, load it in The VIP Server Controller. See this article for instructions.

Check and complete all mandatory parameters in the “Flow Cache Server” tab and commit the automated workflows to memory. See this article for instructions.

Next, complete the mandatory parameters in the “Run Flow” tab. In addition to filling out the mandatory fields in the UI, PREPENV generally requires the following Arguments:

parAction – Enter PREPENV to run the PREPENV action:

parAction=PREPENV

parControlExcel – Specify the location of your Excel Configuration spreadsheet. For example:

parControlExcel=C:\Users\VIP1\Documents\Subsetting Documentation 5.0\VIPsubsetStartPoint.xlsx

parDatabaseType – Specify the database type. For example, enter the following argument when working with SQLServer:

parDatabaseType=SQL Server

parReportFile – Specify the name and location to which your Subset Report file will be saved. Include the file name and .txt extension, not just a directory. For example:

parReportFile=C:\Users\VIP1\Documents\Subsetting Documentation 5.0\SubsetReport.txt

parSQLActionsPath – when running any Subset action, you must always specify the location of the SQLActions vip Enter the following arugment:

parSQLActionsPath=C:\VIPTDM\SubsetCloneAndMask\SQLActions.enc.vip

You can also specify any Optional parameters or Arguments at this point. See this Knowledge Base article for a full list of Arguments and example parameters.

See this Knowledge Base article for instructions on parameterising an action.

An example PREPENV action appears as follows in the VIP Server Controller:

Once you have parameterized the PREPENV Action, make sure your Configuration Spreadsheet, Subset Report and Log file are all shut. Next, click “Create File” and then click “Start” to run the action.

In the output dialogue, you will see something like following once the PREPENV Action is complete”:

The Log file will display something like the following after PREPENV is complete:

If you receive an error message in your output dialogue or log, please refer to this article to troubleshoot common issues. You can also run your Action on debug mode for a more detailed log.

Finally, check your Subset Report to check that the PREPENV has run successfully:

Run PREPENV from the Command Line

To perform PREPENV from the Command line, open the template .cmd script called “Subset2_prepenv.cmd”.

Next, specify the mandatory parameters in the .cmd script you are using to perform your Subset. The mandatory parameters are:

1. The Database Type.
2. The location of the Subset.enc.vip flow that will execute the Subsetting;
3. The location of the Basic Control Spreadsheet
4. The Actions that will be executed.

If you have already configured a .cmd script for one Subset Action and wish to edit and re-use that script, you should only need to specify “PREPENV”for  -parAction=””.

You can also specify optional parameters at this stage. parPrepenvAllTables might be relevant at this stage.

Make sure your Control Spreadsheet, the Subset Report, and any Log Files are closed.

Run the script.

Check your log file  and Subset Report to make sure that the PREPENV completed without errors.

If you notice a mistake or error, you will need to Drop and Re-Register your Tables.