DBA Console

1 Access & gating

The DBA Console lives at /dba-console and is deliberately hard to reach — it can run arbitrary SQL, upgrade the database and replace a company’s data. Two gates apply, both enforced on the server for every call:

• DBA user. You must be signed in as the internal DBA account. No other user — not even ADMIN — can open the console.
• Support password. Every action that changes data, schema or files additionally requires the support password — the same date-based code used on the login form. Type it into the field at the top of the console once per session; it is re-checked on the server for each mutating call.

Two-factor authentication is optional for the DBA account. If it is enrolled (under My Account), the code is asked at login; the console itself does not require it.

2 Console layout

Two controls sit in the console header and apply to whichever tab you are on:

• Target company — the company most actions run against (back up this company, run this SQL as this company, replace this company’s data, install a key here). It defaults to the company the DBA signed into.
• Support password — enter it once; every mutating action re-uses it. If you skip it, the action stops with a reminder to enter it first.

3 The tabs at a glance

4 Modules — choosing and adding them

Accounts is part of every company. The other modules are optional: Cargo (ticked by default), Liner, Marine, Warehousing, Transport, Shipchandling, Payroll and CRM / Sales Pipeline. Every optional module, Cargo included, is also licensed separately (see the Licensing guide). Each of them stands on its own: Liner, Marine, Transport, Warehousing and Shipchandling no longer need Cargo. The same applies when adding modules later.

When the company is created

The new-company wizard (Companies → Add Company, or the Company Setup on the login page, or the Set up Ritzy screen on a new install) has a Modules step after the company details. Tick the modules the company needs. Only those are switched on; the administrator account and the DBA are made administrators of each one, and job numbering is created for the ones that have jobs (Liner, Marine, Transport, Shipchandling).

The same wizard asks for the Base Currency from a list of all ISO currencies. It is pre-filled only when the browser’s language setting names a country; otherwise pick one. A currency that is not in the standard currency master is added to it automatically.

Whichever modules are ticked, a new company starts with short lists of common sea ports, airports, airlines, service types, commodities, package types and container types, and a Currency master of 40 common currencies with their standard decimal places. These are ordinary records the company can edit or delete.

Adding a module later

1. Set Target company in the header and enter the support password.
2. Open the Modules tab. Each module shows Always included, Installed or Not installed.
3. Tick one or more modules that are not installed and click Add selected modules, then confirm.

Adding a module creates its tables and menu entries (this also works on an older database that never had them), makes the DBA and every Accounts administrator its administrators, and adds its job numbering to each financial year. Users see the new module after they sign in again. Other user groups need their rights granted in Tools → User Manager → Rights as usual.

Modules cannot be removed from this tab, because removing one would hide data that was already entered in it.

4a New company from the login page

A company can be created without signing in first:

1. On the login page, type DBA in User ID. A Company Setup button appears; click it.
2. Enter the support (setup) password.
3. The Company List panel opens. New Company runs the full New Company wizard: it creates the company, installs the chosen modules, creates the administrator user, and offers the optional activation step. Existing companies can be renamed or removed from the list here too; the server checks the setup password again for each change.

The first-run Set up Ritzy screen (shown when no company exists yet) is unchanged.

4b Activating a company later

If the activation step in the wizard is skipped, the company can be activated later in either of two ways:

• The DBA user, in DBA Console → Licensing: enter the activation code from the email. Fill in the License Server URL only if it is not already configured.
• Any administrator (a member of the ADMINISTRATOR group, such as ADMIN): click Activate beside the licence message at the top of the screen and enter the code. If the trial has already ended, the administrator can still sign in; they see only the Activate Ritzy screen until the licence is activated, then sign in again.

4c Delete a company permanently

Remove only takes a company off the list; all its records stay in the database. To get rid of a company completely — typically a test company — use Delete permanently… on the Companies tab. Companies already removed from the list are shown there too, tagged Removed, so they can be deleted as well.

1. Unregister the company from the License Server first, in the License Server console. Ritzy One does not do this for you, and the delete will not go ahead until you confirm it is done.
2. Sign in to a different company as DBA and enter the support password. The company you are signed into cannot be deleted (its button is greyed out).
3. On the Companies tab, click Delete permanently… beside the company.
4. In the dialog, tick I have unregistered <code> from the License Server and type the company code. The Delete permanently button is enabled only when both are done.
5. Click Delete permanently. The result lists the safety backup’s file name and how many records were deleted.

What happens

• A safety backup of the company is written first to the backup folder (ACME_pre-delete-….pgbk).
• Every record of the company in every table is deleted, then the company itself, in one transaction. If anything fails, nothing is deleted.
• The company’s entry in this install’s licence settings is removed, if it has one.
• If another company still refers to it — for example as its parent in group ownership, or as the counterparty of an intercompany voucher — the delete stops and names the table. Remove that link, then try again.

5 Backup / Restore — how it works

Every company lives in one PostgreSQL database. A company backup is a single .pgbk file holding all of that company’s data and nothing of any other company. It is read in one consistent snapshot, so a company can be backed up safely while people are using it.

Backups are made on the server, in the backup folder. From there you can:

A backup restores into an install at the same or a newer version: tables and columns added since the backup was made take their defaults. A backup from a newer version than this install is refused; upgrade the install first.

All Backup / Restore actions require the support password.

6 Back up a company

1. Set Target company in the header to the company you want to back up.
2. Enter the Support password.
3. Click Back Up “…” Now.

A timestamped file named like ACME_20261031-143022.pgbk appears in the list. The Backup / restore log panel below the list shows the details if you need them. Use Refresh List to re-read the folder.

7 Download a backup to your PC

Each row in the backup list has a Download button. Click it to save that .pgbk to your own machine — for off-site storage, to move it to another install, or to keep an archive copy.

8 Upload a backup from your PC

To restore a backup that is not already on the server — one you archived earlier, or took from another install — upload it first:

1. Enter the Support password.
2. Click Upload Backup (.pgbk) in the toolbar and choose the .pgbk file on your PC.
3. The file is copied into the server backup folder and appears in the list. If a file of the same name already exists, a timestamp is added so nothing is overwritten.
4. Restore it like any other backup (next section).

Only .pgbk files are accepted (a company from the Delphi system is brought in with Import from Firebird, not here); the upload streams straight to disk on the server, so even large backups don’t need to fit in memory.

9 Restore a backup

Click Restore on a backup row. Pick one of two modes:

Restore as a NEW company

Loads the backup as a new company. You supply a new company code (1–5 letters/digits) and name. This never touches any existing company — use it to make a copy for testing, or to bring a customer’s backup onto your own server for investigation.

Replace the target company

Overwrites the target company’s data with the backup. The restore is done safely:

1. A pre-restore backup of the company as it is now is written to the backup folder (ACME_pre-restore-….pgbk).
2. The company’s data is removed and the backup’s loaded, in one transaction. If anything fails, nothing changes.

10 Backup folder

The info banner on the tab shows the exact backup folder in use. By default it is <RITZY_ROOT>/Backups; override it with the RITZY_BACKUP_DIR environment variable.

The Delete button on each row removes a backup file from the server folder. Downloaded copies on your PC are unaffected.

11 Import from Firebird (Delphi Ritzy 8)

Moves one company from a Delphi Ritzy 8 database into this install. The source is the company’s DB_<code>.FDB; a DOC_<code>.FDB in the same folder is read too, for the attachments.

1. Enter the Support password and open the Import from Firebird tab.
2. The list shows the DB_*.FDB files in the server’s data folder (<RITZY_ROOT>/Data, or RITZY_FB_DATA_DIR). Type another folder and click List Files, or type the full path of a file.
3. Click a file (or Check). The console reads its company code, name, base currency and Ritzy version, and says whether that code already exists here. Nothing is written.
4. Choose A NEW company (give it a code and name) or Replace an existing company, then click Import.
5. The import runs on the server; the log panel follows it. A company of a few hundred thousand rows takes a few minutes. You can leave the tab and come back: it shows the running or last import.
6. When it finishes, an Import process is finished message stays on the screen. Click Log Out and log in again to use the company. If it fails, the error stays on the screen, nothing was changed, and you stay logged in.

What happens

• The Delphi file is never changed. It is copied with gbak into a work folder (the system temp folder, or RITZY_IMPORT_WORK_DIR; allow room for the database’s size), the web upgrades are applied to the copy, and the copy is read. Errors on S_* shipping objects in a company without shipping are expected.
• The company’s rows load in one transaction. If anything fails, nothing changes in this install.
• The company keeps the modules it had in Delphi: the log lists them. The web upgrades add every module to the copy, and the ones the company did not have are switched off again. The Modules tab can add one later.
• Delphi’s Shipping package also ran Liner and Marine jobs, which are separate modules here. If the company has data in a module that stays off, the import log and the closing message say so (for example Liner (894 jobs)), and the Modules tab keeps showing it. Nothing is switched on by itself, because modules are licensed separately: check the customer has the module, then add it. Adding one makes the DBA and every Accounts administrator its administrators; give other users access in User Manager.
• Replace first writes a safety backup of the company as it is now (ACME_pre-import-….pgbk), which Backup / Restore can put back. Ask that company’s users to log out; other companies keep working.
• A new company gets this install’s licence and is registered with the License Server, as the new-company wizard does.
• Old data that breaks a rule the new database keeps is reported in the log, not hidden: a row that repeats a unique key is left out (the first one is kept), and a check that old rows break (a missing parent account, a negative amount) then applies to new and changed rows only.

12 Troubleshooting