In the past few weeks we have been working on a migration from BusinessObjects XI R2 to XI R3.1. This should be a simple upgrade that can be implemented by following the BusinessObjectsXI R3.1 wizard. But what happens if something goes wrong during the upgrade? We were asking ourselves this question before migrating production for one of our customers. Then an idea came to us: we decided to leave BusinessObjects XI R2 as it was and also install XI R3.1 on the same machine.
For this to be possible, we had a couple of things to consider first:
- Two tomcat servers working on the same port
- BusinessObjects XI R2 and XI R3 services working on the same ports
Moreover, we decided not to use any BIAR files to migrate the BusinessObjects content to the new release.
Our Implementation Steps:
- We stopped Tomcat and BusinessObjects XI R2 servers (and made sure they wouldn’t start up automatically in the future).
- Next we installed BusinessObjects XI R3.1 (during the installation we selected new installation instead of upgrade). Note: If you have Tomcat on a different machine then choose to install your web server later (XI R3.1 allows the users to install only the webserver and connect it to the CMS by using the setup wizard).
- Once the installation was complete we copied the FileStore folders (Input and Output) to the new locations (Business Objects Enterprise 12/FileStore/).
Configuring the CMS database:
- From the SIA (Server Intelligence Agent), go to properties -> configuration -> setup of the database using the Specify button.
- Select the option to copy the database from another Data source.
- Select that the source comes from BusinessObjects XI R2 and choose the R2 database.
- BusinessObjects XI R3.1 will copy and adapt the R2 database to the R3 one.
- At the end of the database configuration BusinessObjects will ask you to restart the servers and update the objects (it will interface the CMS database with the FileStore folders).
The user can now login to Business Objects R3.1 and check that the security, the schedules and all the objects are there and working fine. If the environment is not working as expected, then you can stop the new Tomcat and the BusinessObjects XI R3 servers and bring up the old Tomcat and the BusinessObjects XI R2 server once again without losing any data. The recovery takes less than 5 minutes.
We are always interested in feedback. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments about this XI Migration trick.
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Hi,
Can we use this method to install a BO setup in a completely different machine?
I am concerned, as the servers names will be totally different in that case.
Will I be facing any issue regarding rights?
Thanks for this awesome article..
Hi JD,
yes you can use it. It is a nice workaround to get rid of the import wizard. The machines are not a problem, you can do it either in the same or in different ones.
By the way, what do you mean for issues regarding rights?
Your users will be imported as well as folders and groups (the whole CMS DB will be moved). The users that you need to set are the AD ones because they will keep the link to the old machine.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
Thanks for your nice comment!
Best Regards,
Luca
Tanks Luca.
I did the same thing. But now I can see only the CMS server is running. Other servers are gone missing. If I tried to add the from CMS (As an Administrator) it says,
“Sorry, you do not have the right to execute this action. If you require this right, please see your system administrator.”
Please advise.. I really need to migrate
Hi JD,
when you do this excercise, you need to make sure you also do the “update objects” from the CCM. it is meant to restore the links and also recreate all the servers. otherwise you will only see the CMS inside the SIA. reimport the CMS, then click on the update objects link.
Let me know if any further questions.
Best Regards,
Luca
Hi Luca,
When File servers are missing update objects can’t work.
Anyway, I finally got a solution. I created a new SIA using different ports. Then used update objects. Everything started to work then
My heartiest thanks to your blog, as it saved me A LOT of troubles.
JD
Hey Luca,
We used the same procedure to upgrade from BO XI R2 to R3.1,all went well but now when m checking the security,rights I can’t the same privileges as it was there in R2 for access privileges do we nee do some more steps.
Regards
Piyush Verma
Hi Piyush,
the security should not change as you are copying the whole CMS database from R2. Did you double check it with the Query builder? Remember you can always (carefully)shut down R3.1 and start R2 if you need to check something.
The only think that I can think right now is that BOXI R3.1 has “no access” as default grant for the users so the risk is that some of the users (everyone) that were able to see some objects now are not allowed anymore.
I will think about some other actions you might need to implement.
Let me know if any improvements.
Best Regards,
Luca
Hey Luca,
Thnx for the reply…I cross checked and the priviliges were same.
Can u also help me with the Hyperlinks in BO XI r3.
I changed the hyperlink syntax as suggested by SAP but now whenevn a hperlink is clicked a new blank window is opended.
How to get rid of this window??
hi
i want to know about the difference between the crystal report xi and the business object xi r3
thanks
hi i magrated the all the objects(users groups connections) from r2 to r3 but in r3 i did not get any objetcs.I checked r3 cmc .In user list i find only default users but in r2 i have 100 usersplz help me regarding this iisue.
Hi Luca,
Thanks for publishing the valuable information.. I Question is.. If I migrate the BO from Xi-R2 to R3 and approach is same as you describe above (Copy FileStore and paste at BO-R3 FileStore location and Configure CMS database with the help of Server Intelligence Agent) Right..So by this mathod can be migrate BO 6.5 to BO xi R3.. As I do not found the options in source ?
Second question.. Will all security policies copy from source (BO xi-R2) to BO xi-R3 with this method of migration ??
Please reply soon.
Thanks in advance..
Mukesh
We migrated to R3 a few months ago.
We have problems with scheduled reports because in R2 we named the report with parameters, like ‘%SI_NAME%’, but can’t do that in R3.
Any suggestions?
Thanks