Admin Tools
Utility tools for system maintenance and operations
UserVote provides various administrative tools for system maintenance, data management, and troubleshooting. This guide covers the available tools and how to use them safely.
Tools Overview
Available Tools:
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Backup & Restore | Data backup management |
| Import/Export | Bulk data operations |
| Cache Management | Clear and refresh caches |
| Health Check | System diagnostics |
| Logs Viewer | Application logs |
| API Explorer | Test API endpoints |
Access Requirements:
- Super Admin or Tenant Admin role
- Some tools require Super Admin only
- All actions are audit logged
Navigation:
Admin → Tools
System Health Check
Running Health Check:
- Go to Tools → Health Check
- Click Run Check
- Review results
What's Checked:
| Component | Checks |
|---|---|
| Database | Connection, response time |
| Cache | Redis connection, hit rate |
| Storage | Disk space, write access |
| SMTP connection | |
| Queue | Job processing status |
| External | Third-party integrations |
Status Indicators:
- ✓ Healthy: Operating normally
- ⚠ Warning: Degraded performance
- ✗ Error: Requires attention
Automated Checks:
- Run automatically daily
- Alerts sent on failures
- History available for trending
Cache Management
Understanding Caches:
| Cache Type | Contents |
|---|---|
| Data | Query results, aggregations |
| Session | User sessions, tokens |
| Static | Compiled assets, templates |
| CDN | Edge-cached content |
Clearing Caches:
- Go to Tools → Cache
- Select cache type(s)
- Click Clear Selected
- Confirm action
When to Clear:
- After configuration changes
- When seeing stale data
- After deployment issues
- Troubleshooting display problems
Cautions:
- Clearing sessions logs out users
- May cause temporary slowdown
- Some caches rebuild automatically
- CDN purge may take minutes
Import & Export
Export Data:
What Can Be Exported:
- Ideas (all or filtered)
- Users list
- Vote data
- Comments
- Products configuration
- Settings
Exporting:
- Go to Tools → Export
- Select data type
- Apply filters if needed
- Choose format (CSV, JSON)
- Click Export
- Download file
Import Data:
What Can Be Imported:
- Ideas (bulk creation)
- Users (bulk invite)
- Historical votes
- Categories and tags
Importing:
- Go to Tools → Import
- Download template
- Fill in your data
- Upload file
- Preview changes
- Confirm import
Import Validation:
- Format checking
- Duplicate detection
- Reference validation
- Error reporting
Logs Viewer
Accessing Logs:
Tools → Logs
Log Types:
| Type | Contains |
|---|---|
| Application | Errors, warnings, info |
| Access | Request logs |
| Audit | Admin actions |
| Security | Auth events, threats |
| Send/receive logs |
Filtering Logs:
- Time range: Last hour to 30 days
- Level: Error, warning, info, debug
- Source: Component or service
- Search: Text search in messages
Log Details:
Each entry shows:
- Timestamp
- Level/severity
- Message
- Context/metadata
- Stack trace (if error)
Log Retention:
- Application: 30 days
- Audit: 1 year
- Security: 2 years
- Configurable per type
API Explorer
What is API Explorer?
Interactive tool to test API endpoints.
Using API Explorer:
- Go to Tools → API Explorer
- Select endpoint category
- Choose specific endpoint
- Fill in parameters
- Click Execute
- View response
Features:
- Authentication handled
- Request/response display
- Code examples generated
- History of requests
Categories:
- Ideas API
- Users API
- Products API
- Comments API
- Analytics API
Use Cases:
- Testing integrations
- Debugging issues
- Learning the API
- Generating code samples
Database Tools
Available Operations:
Maintenance:
- Run vacuum/analyze
- Check table sizes
- View slow queries
- Index optimization
Data Operations:
- Bulk updates (with caution)
- Data cleanup
- Orphan record removal
- Reference integrity check
Accessing:
- Go to Tools → Database
- Select operation
- Review impact
- Execute with confirmation
Safety Features:
- Dry run mode
- Transaction rollback
- Backup requirement
- Rate limiting
Super Admin Only:
- Direct query execution
- Schema inspection
- Performance analysis
Scheduled Tasks
System Tasks:
| Task | Schedule | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Cleanup | Daily | Remove expired data |
| Digest | Weekly | Send digest emails |
| Reports | Weekly | Generate reports |
| Health | Daily | Run health checks |
| Backup | Daily | Automated backup |
Managing Tasks:
- Go to Tools → Scheduled Tasks
- View all scheduled tasks
- See last run status
- Manually trigger if needed
Task Status:
- ✓ Success: Completed normally
- ⚠ Partial: Some errors
- ✗ Failed: Needs attention
- ⏳ Running: In progress
- ⏸ Paused: Manually disabled
Custom Tasks:
- Create custom schedules
- Set cron expressions
- Define task actions
- Configure notifications
Troubleshooting
Common Issues:
Slow Performance:
- Check Health status
- Review slow query logs
- Clear caches
- Check resource usage
Missing Data:
- Check audit logs
- Verify permissions
- Check visibility settings
- Review recent changes
Email Not Sending:
- Check email configuration
- Test SMTP connection
- Review email logs
- Check rate limits
Authentication Issues:
- Check session status
- Review security logs
- Verify user status
- Test login flow
Getting Help:
- Check documentation
- Review error logs
- Contact support
- Submit bug report
Debug Mode:
Enable for detailed logging:
- Tools → Settings
- Enable Debug Mode
- Reproduce issue
- Check detailed logs
- Disable when done