Hi Team,

I have a request to take one entire PMF environment (code, database, users, BIDs) from one server and copy it onto a second server. It is likely the second server will already have an existing PMF, so it would need to over-write.

Picture deploying from QA to Production, but moving EVERYTHING instead of just the most recent fexes.

Is there anything in place (SQL scripts, ECT) that can be used to accomplish this, or a portion of this?

Cheers,

Joey

This'd be a carefully planned undertaking since you're varying OS and RDBMS, not just moving the system from the same to the same.

Because these steps vary so much, no-one has ever built a single, monolithic automated tool for doing it. Steps would be direct but the migration would be multi-step.

We're pretty sure of the customer you're talking about since you mentioned the release is 5.1.4. We'd recommend you hold off until 5.2.1 is released, since that's only a few weeks from now (mid-Feb); you want to make sure the same features that customer had are in the software, and 5.1.4 only went out to your customer; we know that all those features are production and public in 5.2.1 so we recommend you wait for that.

Considerations:

• MR users would need to be migrated; how to do this would depend on whether you were usign Realm (where the system of record is not inside the WebFOCUS client) or the MR repos as your user/groups storage medium.
  
• Since you should not restore an older version snapshot over a newer DDL, you must follow the DB restore steps verrry carefully.
  
• There are two systems in these instructions - the Old and the New. Only do the steps below on the system indicated. Rehearse them carefully. Moving a WebFOCUS app from one server to another is never simple; doing so with a packaged app like PMF requires equal if nor more care.
  
• If there are additional operational reports used, you will need to make sure the New system has the same DB connections and master files used by these reports as the old system. You will need to move any app folders that contain the operational reports to the new system, and to make sure that app is in the New system's app path.
  

Steps:
1. New only: Install WebFOCUS 7.6.8 - Server, Client, Portal, Caster
2. New only: Install PMF 5.2.1.
3. Old-to-New: Migrate MR users - either using MR migration tool or by hooking new system up to same Realm driver location (LDAP, whatever).
4. Old-to-New: Migrate MR Domains (except the PMF Domain) using the Domain migration tool.
5. Old-to-New Copy any PMFCUSTOM folder from the old server to the new
6. New only: Build empty Oracle DB with 5.1.4 DDL. You will need to obtain the Oracle DDL from us.
7. Old only: Make a snapshot of the SQL DB to the snapshot file (use the PMF snapshot tool in the PMF Admin Console - it's an MR app in the PMF Domain).
8. New only: Restore the 5.1.4 snapshot to the Oracle server
9. New only: Start PMF, log in as admin, upgrade the Oracle data mart from 5.1.4 to 5.2.1 using auto-migrate.
10. Test everything and ensure it all works as desired.

That's pretty much it.

Hope this helps.

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the prompt reply.

First, sorry for the out-dated signature. I fixed it now, as I'm not with THAT client anymore. This question is on behalf of my hospital client, who is concerned with moving work between environments. For instance, if they create a bunch of new measures and users and custom fexes in QA, how do they get them into prod? Assume OS and DB are the same versions. Current process is to re-create the PMF content, move the fexes and as for the users... the current process has caused some problems to say the least.

I think I asked once about the ability to move certain pieces of content from one PMF to another. This question is a little different, since the user is willing to move the whole DB is required, as long as it can be automated. Is this where the snapshot utility you mentioned comes in? If so, a few more details about that would be helpful.


Based on your post, it seems we would need a few steps:

-move the users and BIDs with MR migrate utility
-move the pmf_custom folder contents manually
-take a db snapshot and then restore to the target environment

Is that correct or am I missing something?

Cheers,

Joey

If you're going from SQL Server to Oracle you need to use snapshot and restore (PMF feature). That moves the mart from one server/RDBMS to another. Snapshot can only restore to exact same version of PMF; it does not upgrade the mart, just moves it.

You cannot migrate from 5.1.4 to 5.1.3. It is not possible to back-migrate.

Since 5.2.1 is a few weeks away, why not migrate to 5.2.1? It's had extensive Beta testing and will be very stable.

thanks

Sorry, I've muddied the water once again. Ignore my Previous Client signature.

Same RDMS, Same version (PMF 5.1.3), just a different server.

Steps to move 'everything' from one PMF to another PMF, as automated as possible, please.

Cheers,

Joey

Same version? Same RDBMS?
Then it's easy, you can probably get it done under a half hour.
All you have to do is:

1. Old only: Snapshot the DB from the old machine
2. New only: Restore the snapshot to the new machine
3. Old-to-New: In MR, Migrate the MR users and non-PMF part of the repos
4. Old-to-New: Copy any PMFCUSTOM app and content

that's it.

bjf

That all makes sense, and it matches what I told my client ("there's no script to do it all, sorry"). I did promise to double-check.

Here's a follow-up question that you might be able to answer, although it's very WebFOCUS admin oriented:

We use an Oracle database for our MR Repository. I just used the Managed Reporting Change Management Extract utility to build an extract file and store it on the server. I deleted one of the users, and then used the Managed Reporting Change Management Load utility to restore the extract file. I expected to see the user back in the system, but it is NOT there. The question is, "Can the MR CM Load utility WRITE to an external repository?"

If yes then I did something wrong. If no, then how does this work into the process you described above?

Cheers,

Joey

Sorry, we don't know the answer to that particular one... can anyone else help on this?