Migrating Facility CMIS to a New Server

[ANiceEnglishman]

Has anyone done this? How did you get on? Any tips?

Serco Learning support say there is no documentation available.

[Trapper]

We did this with an afternoon of help from our LEA.

From what I understand it is actually fairly simple as you load Facility from the server anyway. The hardest part we had was replacing all the config files locally/

I've go through my paperwork in the morning and see if they left us the exact details of what they did.

If you can afford to get your LEA applications team to do this, I would highly advise it. With the criticality and scope of information that CMIS holds, if anything goes wrong I'd prefer it to be on someone else's head, not mine!

[robk]

I seem to remember seeing a installation guide on the Serco support site.

There are also docs on optimizing the server install.

I would suggest a clean install on new servers then restore facility backup, followed by photos and doc store files.

May be try support again just incase someone was having a bad day?

[michael2k6]

Hi,

There are installation guides available. There are two aproches you could take. Get it all up and running on the new server before you take down the old one, then just restore the data again to get the latest copy before going live, or you could purchase consultancy from us in the form of half day remote session or an on site session (remote is cheaper and does the same job).
I don't want to be seen as advertising here, as i do work for Serco so rather than give all the details i'd rather just say those are the options open to you, and you're welcome to contact us for more information on either.

Regards
Mic Sanderson
Technical Engineer
Serco Learning

[Banjo]

Has anyone done this? How did you get on? Any tips?

Serco Learning support say there is no documentation available.

If you are using eportal don't forget you settings, make sure you copy or replicate these on the new server. Also copy the photos across if you have any.

The hardest part will be distributing the new clientfiles folder (.CDB file) to users. Some users tend to create their own shortcuts and have a local copy of the connection file that wont be updated to point to the new server.

Config files can be coped across, don't bother to install Facility Admin on the new server, just copy the root folder structure across.

You only need to install Eportal on the new server(from setup.exe), say no to reboot, fire the services up manually (creates eportal folder in Webapps), wait 2 minutes, and close them back down.

Now you can edit the setting/config files.

Tip:- Remove the events bitlet from the home page, as this 'can' cause tomcat to crash.

[bart21]

hi
I did this 2 weeks ago, we got it up and running on the new server during school hours then restored a backup/changed dns after hours, all in all half a day.

If you need more help please email or pm me.

we started by installing sql onto the server (we were moving our sql server aswell, however even if you are using the same sql server as the current setup i would start with a new DB, just easier)

Use the serco guide to create the DB then install facility plus other modules if you have them (doc storage etc), create your new connection dsn and cdb file, let it crete tables and then restore the backup.

Now go through facility master config and copy over/change the relevant locations (student photos etc)

set up IIS and install eportal configure eportal

finally OOH do another data backup/restore and copy the folders over again to check data is upto date, and copy your client files over to users.

[ANiceEnglishman]

Thanks all for the various tips.

I think we will get the new server up and running as though it was a new install then transfer the data by backup / restore, switch off the old server and rename the new one to the same name as the old one. I think in this way we will get away without changing the client files.

The new server will have v10.1 whereas the old one has 9.2. Will that cause any problems?

[Banjo]

Thanks all for the various tips.

I think we will get the new server up and running as though it was a new install then transfer the data by backup / restore, switch off the old server and rename the new one to the same name as the old one. I think in this way we will get away without changing the client files.

The new server will have v10.1 whereas the old one has 9.2. Will that cause any problems?

It may, it depends on how you are transferring the data from one SQL server to the other.

If you do it via backup files (bdb) then the file structure is different between the two versions, (extra exam tables in the newer version). This route would not be a good idea.

You could detach the mdf/ldf files from the old server and copy and past them across to the new server and attach them. Connect with Admin 10.1 and it will upgrade the database, then install the same version of Eportal.

The best way would be to create the blank database on the new sever using the older version of Admin (the same as on the old server). Restore the backups in that, then upgrade to 10.1, then install Eportal.

[ANiceEnglishman]

...
The best way would be to create the blank database on the new sever using the older version of Admin (the same as on the old server). Restore the backups in that, then upgrade to 10.1, then install Eportal.

Thanks. That sounds good. I have asked the same questions of Serco support and will see what they advise.

[ANiceEnglishman]

According to Serco, you can backup in 9.2 and restore straight into 10.1. They gave the following procedure:


1) Take bdb backups from the current server of admin.

2) Install SQL on new server

3) Create a new database in new version of SQL (there's document on support site about creating new SQL DB)

4) Install facility admin 10.1 on new server

5) Connect Admin to new database and then restore data

6) Install eportal 10.1 on new server

[Banjo]

According to Serco, you can backup in 9.2 and restore straight into 10.1. They gave the following procedure:


1) Take bdb backups from the current server of admin.

2) Install SQL on new server

3) Create a new database in new version of SQL (there's document on support site about creating new SQL DB)

4) Install facility admin 10.1 on new server

5) Connect Admin to new database and then restore data

6) Install eportal 10.1 on new server

You might be ok if this was a minor upgrade, no SQL table changes, just an update to the application, but I wouldn't risk restoring exam data into tables that may not exist/changed name in the newer version.