Move BO to new server - PMW import all objects ignored and RPT files not found in repository

[wokeefe9]

I am trying to migrate our BO 4.3 installation from a Windows 2012 server to Windows 2022. I've installed BO 4.3 on the new server and used the PMW to do a full export from the old server to a LCMBIAR file.

I tried to do an import on the new server and the summary results show all objects with resolution and outcome IGNORED.

When I log into the CMC on the new server I see all the information relating to my old server such as all the Crystal Reports and Excel files that were loaded. All of my folders that were created are there too. My user accounts seem to have migrated fine too because I logged into the new server via one of the logins and saw all my recently opened reports.

But, if I try to open a Crystal Report on the new server, I get an error about the RPT file cannot be found in the file repository.

Can someone help me understand how I can get all the content from my old server over to the new server?

[DellSC]

The only time I have done a full copy using PMW is when there are few objects, including reports and instances, to copy over. PMW does not handle large numbers of objects (more than 1K to 2K) well. Instead, when working with my clients I break the migration down into multiple steps.

Run PMW from the destination system to pull from the source system. You may have to tweak the command line for the PMW to add a -Xmx parameter to increase the amount of Java heap space that's available to the program.

1. Copy users and groups, including security. If you're using third party authentication, such as Windows AD, configure that in the new system first, delete any AD user group and users you may have used for testing, and them migrate them all from the old system. If you have many users who have many reports in their favorites, you might have to split the user copy into multiple sets.

2. Copy Universes and Connections including security.

3. Copy Calendars and Events including security.

4. Copy Folders, Reports, and Repository Objects including security and dependencies. You may have to break this down to copy just a couple of folders at a time - especially if there are many instances. "Repository Objects" gets the objects that are configured in the Business View Manager for use with Crystal Reports.

Depending on how many objects are in the source system and how much RAM is on the destination system, this may take a couple of days to get through. I will usually do this in production a week or so prior to go-live. Then, at go-live time, I'll do a "differential" migration that grabs objects that are newer than when I started the original migration.

-Dell

[wokeefe9]

So I think doing a partial promotion worked. The wizard now says 4000+ items were successful. When I look at the repository folder in Windows explorer on the new server, I also see the number of folders and files has increased so it does look like they got moved this time.

Now another problem, I logged in as a user and tried to open one of the reports. It's prompting me for a logon to the database. On the old server this didn't happen. When I clicked a report, it would just pop up a prompt for the parameters I wanted to run the report with, but nothing about database logon information.

I thought that information was stored in the Crystal Report? Is there a way to copy that information with the reports?

[DellSC]

The information is not stored in the report itself - Crystal doesn't store passwords. However, it should have come through in the migration as it is a property of the InfoObject in the CMC database.

Do you have the same versions of database drivers on the new server as you had on the old one?

Does the report use dynamic prompts? I have seen issues where the passwords don't get migrated properly for connections in the Business View Manager, so that might be what you're seeing.

-Dell

[wokeefe9]

Thank you for your help Dell. The database driver versions should be the same because I used the same installer I had on the old server to install the new server.

As for dynamic prompts, no we don't use those.

Just for a clear example, on the old server, one report I tried to run, when I click it, it automatically prompts for some date values as we are pulling info from two different date ranges to compare, but on the new server, when I click the report, it asks for the logon to the database first and then gives me the prompt to enter the dates after providing my credentials.

Sorry I hope I am describing things correctly, I'm not really an SAP guy, I'm just a sys admin who needs to move this existing server to a server with a new OS.

I checked the Database Configuration of the report as well on old and new server and they have identical settings so I'm not really sure what's going on.

I tried a full live promotion again and this time the results were better than when I tried importing from a file. All 9k+ objects showed as imported (most were "overwritten" it looks like as I had already imported them from selective live promotions earlier), but that doesn't seem to have fixed the report as when I click on it, it still prompts for a database logon.

I may just have to ask our report creator to reupload the reports to the new server. We don't have a very big environment so it's not like it is 100s of reports. Open to any other suggestions you might have though.

[DayaJha]

Hi William,

Below are the suggestions regarding your query

• Copy DB and restore it with the help of SIA: Below is the note to perform the same.

1876557 - How to use Copy Data from another Data Source in Crystal Server 2008 Environment

Even though it is for Crystal2008 it is applicable for the BO4.X.

• Copy DB and restore it with the help of External DB Tools: below is the document to have the post DB...

SAP SCN Reference Article: -

Doing a Full install from BI 4.0.6+ to BI 4.1.6 and Retaining FULL content & Settings

How to Restore BI4 from FRS & CMS Backup

Moving BO servers to new environment | SAP Community

What is the Best way for BO migration when we have more than 10 server and thousand reports? | SAP C...

I hope this will help!!!!

Regards,

Daya Jha

[wokeefe9]

Our environment is very small, we are really just using the BO installation to run some scheduled Crystal Reports at the moment (probably 20-30 at the most). Although the export with the PMW found about 9000 items.

I will try doing a live migration wit PMW just copying the folders and see if that changes anything then I will take a look at the links Daya posted. But, in theory, the PMW should be able to move everything including the files in the file repository right? I don't have the wrong expectactions or am using the wrong tool?