Microsoft Publishes DTM Database Options and Maintenance Best Practices

Driver Test Manager (DTM) is the new logo testing infrastructure used for both Windows Vista and Windows XP logo submissions. The default installation on the WDK installer DVD makes use of the MSDE SQL Desktop engine, which is limited to 2 GB of storage per database. This is more than enough to get started, but probably not enough for serious test labs that need to keep large amounts of data online access.

This publication from Microsoft outlines the techniques needed to successfully archive, backup, and restore your DTM test logs. Microsoft goes on to mention that other SQL products have either higher limits on database size, or the limits are removed altogether. A chart on the Microsoft SQL website shows that Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition supports databases up to 4 GB in size, while the more expensive Workgroup, Standard, and Enterprise versions remove the database size limitation altogether.

If you don't have the budget for one of the unlimited versions, you can still double your DTM storage capacity for free by installing Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition on your DTM Controller prior to installing the DTM from the WDK. For best results, reinstall the DTM controller system from the bottom up. First install Windows Server 2003, then install Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, and then install the DTM controller from the WDK

Regardless, you will need to develop a backup and retention strategy for your DTM test results that meets your business requirements. Because SQL Server is involved, it's not as simple as it might sound.

Read the complete Microsoft DTM Database Options and Maintenance Best Practices paper at http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/WDK/DTM/DB_opts.mspx .

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