On-premise/hybrid only

Creating and configuring the database

Last update: September 10, 2024

When you create a database, Adobe Campaign provides two different options:

  1. Creating or recycling a database: choose this options if you want to create a new database or re-use an existing one. Refer to Case 1: Creating/recycling a database.
  2. Using an existing database: choose this option if an empty database has already been created by your administrator and you want to use it; or to extend the structure of an existing database. Refer to Case 2: Using an existing database.

The configuration steps are detailed hereafter.

CAUTION
Names of databases, users and schemas must not start with a number or include special characters.
Only the internal identifier can carry out these operations. For more on this, refer to this section.

Case 1: Creating/recycling a database

The steps for creating a database or recycling an existing base are presented below. Some configurations depend on the database engine used:

The following steps are involved:

Step 1 - Selecting the database engine

Select the database engine among those in the drop-down list.

Supported databases are listed in Campaign Compatibility matrix.

Identify the server and choose the type of operation to perform. In this case, Create or recycle a database.

Depending on the selected database engine, the server identification information may vary.

  • For an Oracle engine, populate the TNS name defined for the application server.

  • For a PostgreSQL engine, you must specify the DNS name (or IP address) defined on the application server to access the database server.

  • For a Microsoft SQL Server engine, you must define: the DNS name (or IP address) defined on the application server to access the database server: DNS or DNS \<instance> (instance mode),

    CAUTION
    Starting 20.3, Windows NT authentication is decommissioned. SQL Server authentication is now the only authentication mode available for Microsoft SQL Server. Read more

Step 2 - Connecting to the server

In the Server access window, define the database server access.

To do this, enter the name and password of an Administration system account which has permission to access the databases, i.e.:

  • system for an Oracle database,
  • sa for a Microsoft SQL Server database,
  • postgres for a PostgreSQL database,

Step 3 - Connection and characteristics of the database

The following step lets you configure the settings for logging on to the database.

You need to define the following settings:

  • Specify the name of the database to be created.

  • Enter the password of the account linked to this database.

  • Indicate whether or not the database must be in Unicode.

    The Unicode database option lets you store all character types in Unicode regardless of language.

    NOTE
    With an Oracle database, the Unicode storage option lets you use NCLOB and NVARCHAR type fields.
    If you do not select this option, the character set (charset) of the Oracle database must enable data storage in all languages (AL32UTF8 is recommended).

  • Choose a time zone for the database and specify whether you want it to be in UTC (if available).

    For more on this, refer to Time zone management.

Step 4 - Packages to install

Select the packages you wish to install.

Refer to your license agreement to check which solutions and options you are entitled to install, such as “Interaction” or “Social Marketing”.

Step 5 - Creation steps

The Creation steps window enables you to display and edit the SQL script used to create the tables.

  • For an Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server or PostgreSQL database, the administrator may also define the storage parameters to be used when creating database objects.

    These parameters receive the exact tablespace names (warning: case sensitive). They are respectively stored in the Administration > Platform > Options node in the following options (see this section):

    • WdbcOptions_TableSpaceUser: user tables based on a schema
    • WdbcOptions_TableSpaceIndex: index of user tables based on a schema
    • WdbcOptions_TableSpaceWork: work tables with no schema
    • WdbcOptions_TableSpaceWorkIndex: index of work tables with no schema

  • For an Oracle database, the Adobe Campaign user must have access to the Oracle libraries, typically as a member of the oinstall group.

  • The Set or change the administrator password option lets you enter the password linked to the Adobe Campaign operator with administrator rights.

    We recommend defining an Adobe Campaign account administrator password for security purposes.