Migration and consolidation - two machines to a single machine

[acerier]

Hello all,

I have a complicated migration task, and I would appreciate getting feedback and/or pointers to KB articles that would assist me. 

The task is this: I have two Windows XP machines running Act! 2010 Premium.  They are used by different departments.  I need to move these on a single Microsoft 2008 Enterprise server.  Being a production environment, this brings up issues with availability.

I'm new to the Act! product line.

I do not see documentation for co-existing previously deployed Act! solutions (though, it's a remarkably specific task, so I'm not surprised).  I see documentation for importing/exporting data, but I'm not sure if this is more appropriate than a backup/restore operation. 

Again, any help would be great.

-Alex

[jonmklub]

1) All computers in both environments need to be on the same version of ACT

2) move both existing databases to the new server and share them out.

3) both groups use their respective databases.

It basically is a backup restore to the new server.  There will be special considerations if there are sync databases deployed or if the two companies are not on the same network or geographic location.

[acerier]

Thanks Jon,

1) All machines appear to be on the same version of ACT (12.0.409.0), but they are on different hotfixes (1 vs 3). 

2) By "sharing them out", I take it that this lets clients know of the new server as per #13878 .  So I need to go on each of the clients and update the location of the .PAD file?  

3) For this step, in the restore dialog, I see three options: "restore", "restore as", and "unpack and restore remote database".  For my first database I will select the first option, but for my second database I will need to pick option two and save it to a different location.  My clients should be aware of the new database by changing the .PAD file, and they will have the most recent data, so option #3 does not apply to my situation.  Do I have all this right?

I'll be testing of course but I'd like your professional advice first. 

-Alex

[acerier]

As another note, yes there is syncing.  Multiple people are syncing to the same sync set.

[acerier]

Okay, this morning I found a specific guide that is close to describing my situation: How To Retain Synchronization When the Publisher and/or Subscriber Database is Moved to a Different...

The only real problem is that it assumes a single database is being moved, so I'm not sure how it would handle two.  This procedure can't really be tested without affecting the clients (that is the impression I with the "detach database" section).

So here's my rough draft for this procedure.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basic production upgrade path:

* Even though this process does not break synchronization, clients will not be able to interact with the system after step B2a has been executed (their changes will not be committed as the main database will be unavailable).  This procedure may need to be done after hours.

A. Install Act!  2010 Premium on the new server

1. Install it [2]
2. Verify version numbers are the same for all servers as well as clients
   1. Help > About Act! > main tab
   2. Add licenses and go through the activation process [3]
      1. Needs to be done ahead of time because online reg. response can take one day

B. Migrate the production data from each old server

1. Backup each of the XP databases as per backup guide [1]
   1. Store copy on another machine for restore purposes
   2. Follow the procedure for “moving a database while retaining synchronization” [4], which has three sub steps:  
      1. Detach the databases
      2. Copy ALF, ADF, supplemental files to the new 2008 VM

                                          i.    Do not copy PAD

                                         ii.    Make sure to keep naming conventions as specified when moving the folders (some may need to be re-named)

1. Re-attach the database to the SQL Server

C. Restore connectivity

1. Go through the collapsed section, “Publisher:You have moved your Publisher (main) database to another computer”, for each of the machines that subscribes to the database.
   1. This will re-establish synchronization
   2. On the 2008 VM, ports may need to be permitted (65100 default)

D. Test

1. On a client device, try synchronizing
2. If the migration succeeds
   1. Shutdown XP VMs and retain for a while until any issues are ironed out and the new VM is confirmed to be stable
   2. Delete XP VMs
   3. If the migration fails
      1. Go through the collapsed section, “Publisher: You have moved your Publisher (main) database to another computer”, for each of the machines that subscribes to the database, and specify the original database
      2. Restore the database on the XP machines
      3. Verify connectivity

[jonmklub]

Without going through the steps, it does look very through.  Main thing is have all users sync before attempting. At worst, you are left with recreating remotes.

I've sent you a private message.