When it comes to data management and the ability to generate reports or web-based views of data sets, the power of databases is invaluable.
For a long time, users with large monitoring networks have made use of databases to store and manage their most valuable resource – the data.
Getting data from devices in the field into a database has always been a significant task and there are companies who exist with this as their primary business. Until recently, data from Campbell Scientific data loggers had to be imported into databases by using custom-written scripts that moved the data files that had been collected by Loggernet or delivered using some internet protocol such as FTP.
The initial release of LNDB (Loggernet DataBase Software) makes importing data from the Loggernet server into a database a far simpler operation and it means that you don’t have to be a whiz kid with a degree in IT to be able to make use of the power of a database for data management.
There are two main components in LNDB v1.0: LNDB Manager and LNDB Engine.
LNDB Manager is used to select the datalogger tables for which data will be stored in the database. It also provides tools to monitor the LNDB Engine and to review the database data.
LNDB Engine performs the insertion of data from the Loggernet Server data cache into the database. LNDB operates as a service under Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 and has been tested to work successfully with:
- Microsoft® SQL Server® 2005 Express
- Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Express
- Microsoft® SQL Server® Compact 3.5
- MySQL 5.0 and 5.1 (with the MySQL 3.51.27 or 5.1.6 ODBC database driver); earlier versions of 5.x ODBC database drivers are not compatible with LNDB.
When a station is highlighted in the left tree, the station setup screen is shown. On the station setup screen, tables can be enabled/disabled for storage.
The Data Review tab shows tables and data from the database.When a table on the left side is selected, the data for the table is shown on the right side.