How to Clone Thingworx from Host-to-Host with Exact Same Hostname (different IP)

[RP_9721615]

I am using ThingWorx Platform Release 8.5.

As a required project step to upgrade v8.5 to the latest v9.x of ThingWorx, it is necessary to "move" Production ThingWorx due to failing/EOL hardware. As part of the re-cloning process, ThingWorx fails to start after attempting to clone ThingWorx from Source Server to New Target Server with the exact same Hostname. Tomcat starts and shuts down when attempting to start the Windows Service - fails to fully start. Errors in log files are thrown referencing "APR based Apache Tomcat Native library" and "HTTPS protocol". Is there a documented instructions for how-to properly Clone ThingWorx from host to host?

Here are the errors that I faced
Catalina-log:
- 10-Feb-2025 17:44:56.643 SEVERE [main] org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.handleSubClassException Failed to initialize component [Connector[HTTP/1.1-80]]
org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Protocol handler initialization failed

- 10-Feb-2025 17:44:56.643 INFO [main] org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol.init Initializing ProtocolHandler ["https-jsse-nio-443"]
- 10-Feb-2025 17:44:56.643 SEVERE [main] org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.handleSubClassException Failed to initialize component [Connector[HTTP/1.1-443]]
org.apache.catalina.LifecycleException: Protocol handler initialization failed

[Jimwang · Accepted solution]

The error might be related to the SSL configuration or the port conflict, you can try to disable SSL in Tomcat's server.xml and see if it can be started.

To clone a system, you can refer to the the below steps:

1. On the source system, export all the entities and data

2. On the target system, install same version of Thingworx with the same version of JAVA/Tomcat/Database

3. Make sure the target system can be started successfully

4. Import the source entities and data in the target system.

For detailed steps, you can refer to Manual Migration of Thingworx to 9.x, although it is for Upgrade, but the idea is the same for the clone.

[CharlesJi]

Hi @RP_9721615 

It appears that there is a possible solution to your question.  For the benefit of other Community Members who may have the same question, it would be great if you could designate it as the Accepted Solution.

In the event that this response did not answer your question, please post your current status so that we can continue to support.

Thanks for using the PTC Community!

Regards,
Charles