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Anonymous
April 16, 2015
Question

Simple Migration of Windchill to a New Server

  • April 16, 2015
  • 3 replies
  • 2791 views

I need to migrate Windchill 9.1 M060 to a new server, which I have never done before.


The old server is Windows 2003 x64, The new server is Windows 2008 R2 x64.
Compatibility concerns? Such as Java?


  • Any other potential issues I shoudl watch out for?

P.S. We are currently off maintenance, which is why I'm trying to keep this as simple as possible.
We are not interested in upgrading anything (other than the mandatory OS change).


We have only one vault. No replica servers.
Gerry Champoux
Williams International
Walled Lake, MI

3 replies

S
ssenthil1-Visitor
1-Visitor
April 16, 2015
Hi Gerry

In short and sweet it is a very simple process.

We performed similar activity (more complex than yours) to one of our clients and two years back presented a PTC User conference case study.

For your convenience attached the presentation. Please go through the slides and if you have any questions please let me know.



Thanks and best regards



Swamy Senthil
Principal Solutions Architect, Swasen Inc
swamy.senthil@swasen.com(Email) <">mailto:swamy.senthil@swasen.com(Email)> ; 909 800 8423 <tel:909%20800%208423> (M);






R
RandyJones20-Turquoise
20-Turquoise
April 16, 2015
On 04/16/15 12:29, Gerry Champoux wrote:
>
> I need to migrate Windchill 9.1 M060 to a new server, which I have never done before.
> The current server is simply old and unsupported.
> I'm hoping to make this a simple reinstall & migration.
> All software (including Oracle) and the vaults are centralized on the one current server.
> I intend to set up the new server with identical drives and folders.
> I'll do a base Windchill install on the new server, which includes Oracle (Pro/Intralink).
> That will set up Services and other registry stuff.
> Then I'll simply copy all files (software, database, & vaults) from the old server to the new server in the exact same drives/folders.
>

On a non-windows platform simply copying all the files works fine. Probably will work on a windows platform also.
Some files that need copying that might not be obvious:

  * The .ptc directory
      o This contains the .ptc/windchill/psi_iir_index.xml which tells the PTC solution installers the location(s) of your Windchill instance(s)
      o On Solaris this is located in the home directory of the account from which you ran the installation
          + ie /root/.ptc
      o Don't know on Windows this might be. Maybe somewhere under %APPDATA%?
  * The oracle/oraInst.loc and oracle/oratab files
      o These tell oracle what database instances to fireup
      o On Solaris these are located in /var/opt/oracle

> Possible issues:
>
>   * The old server is Windows 2003 x64, The new server is Windows 2008 R2 x64.
>     Compatibility concerns? Such as Java?
>

Does your Windchill install include the PTC supplied java?
<windchill_install_dir>/Java
If so then you won't have to worry. Simply make sure it gets copied.
If your Windchill install uses the OS's java then you will have to make a site.xconf change if the location of the java install has changed.

>   * The new server will have a temporary name during install.
>     It will be renamed to the original server when migration is complete.
>     Is anything server-name sensitive at the time of the base install?
>

Many items are server-name sensitive at time of install however if you copy over all software after install that should "rename" items to the correct name.

>  *
>
> Has anyone done this type of "simple" migration?
>

Several times however always on Solaris where I just simply "copy" the files. No "pre-install" needed. My "copy" generally consists of a zfs snapshot and clone.

> Any other potential issues I shoudl watch out for?
>
> P.S. We are currently off maintenance, which is why I'm trying to keep this as simple as possible.
> We are not interested in upgrading anything (other than the mandatory OS change).
>
> We have only one vault. No replica servers.
> No integration with Active Directory. Default HTTP protocol (not HTTPS).
> In short, It's a very standard install. No ProductView.
> Users have Creo Elements Pro (AKA: Wildfire 5).
>
> Gerry Champoux
> Williams International
> Walled Lake, MI
>
>
> ----------


--
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Randy Jones
Systems Administrator
Great Plains Mfg., Inc.
1525 E North St
PO Box 5060
Salina, KS USA 67401
email: -
Phone: 785-823-3276
   Fax: 785-667-2695
------------------------------------------------------------------------

C
cc-21-Visitor
1-Visitor
April 16, 2015

Hi, I will very carefully look at the compabitlity matrix


You mention Java, but you need to look at the exact built of your database. I assume Oracle


Also from the end user. the version of Internet explorer. They use


Do you have a CAD worker. Here too I would look at the support configuration and see how close you can get.


Best regards

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