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BF_1381190014-Alexandrite
14-Alexandrite
December 10, 2025
Solved

Configuration Migration

  • December 10, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 356 views

Version: Windchill 13.0

 

Use Case: I am trying to migrate the full configuration of a development instance of Windchill into a production instance on a separate server. I have identified the aspects of configuration below that I would like to bring across: 1. Attributes (Local & Global) 2. Enumerations 3. Policies 4. Object Initialization Rules 5. Object Sub-Types 6. Workflows 7. Lifecycles 8. Users 9. User Groups 10. Change Task Templates 11. Folder Structure 12. Profiles? 13. Preferences (site, organization, context, and user) 14. Config of Local Team Roles and Members Having looked into this first, I understand that it is important to import certain elements of config into my production instance first so that the other elements can be created successfully. For example, it would probably not be a good idea to import object sub-types in before importing the attributes that the sub-types make use of first. Based on this, I have decided that a good starting point would be migrating my set of preferences first as I suspect the success of importing my preferences configuration is not dependent upon other elements being imported first.


Description:

I have ran the following command from the Windchill Shell in my development environment to extract a full set of the preferences - windchill wt.preference.ExportPreferences. I been able to use this command to successfully create a file which appears to feature all of the preferences within my development instance of Windchill (this file seems to include data relating to preference definitions, categories, instances and clients. I am not entirely sure what these types of objects are used to represent so if anybody could shed light on this, that would be appreciated. I am only trying to ensure that the preferences that I have set in the GUI as a site/org/product admin on my client are copied to the prod environment so I'm not sure if all of the content in the export file is relevant to me). I have then copied this file to my production server and made use of the following command to try and complete the import - wt.preference.ImportPreferences -importfile=myexportfilename.xml. However, this fails in the shell with the following error message:

 

ERROR wt.preference - java.rmi.ServerRuntimeException: Server exception; nested exception is:

        java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.lang.Throwable.fillInStackTrace()" because "<local18>" is null

 

When I check the method server log, I can see the execution of the command produced this message in the log:

 

ERROR wt.preference - java.rmi.ServerRuntimeException: Server exception; nested exception is:

        java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.lang.Throwable.fillInStackTrace()" because "<local18>" is null

 

Can anybody explain why I am experiencing these issues or provide any other helpful advice?

 

 

Best answer by tarik_p

@BF_13811900  This is called configuration loading from lower-env to production.

 

I wonder why you are still using a shell utility???

 

Please consider using the BAC utility, it's UI friendly and supports most of the object types you are trying to load:

 

Business Administrative Change Promotion

Article - CS330275 - [Knowledge Hub] Windchill PLM - Business Administrative Change Utility (BAC)

 

Only go with the shell utilities when it's necessary!

 

Tarik W.

2 replies

avillanueva
23-Emerald I
avillanueva23-Emerald I
23-Emerald I
December 10, 2025

Did anything change with any resource bundles? You might need to make sure those are loaded first. 

B
BF_1381190014-AlexandriteAuthor
14-Alexandrite
December 10, 2025

I don't think I have intentionally made any changes to any resource bundles on my production server as of yet. I am not entirely familiar with what a resource bundle is. However, I think you're referring to any .properties files stored on the servers? If so, I have probably modified the OOTB .properties files in my dev environment but not on production. Are you suggesting I bring these across before trying again?

T
tarik_p14-AlexandriteAnswer
14-Alexandrite
December 10, 2025

@BF_13811900  This is called configuration loading from lower-env to production.

 

I wonder why you are still using a shell utility???

 

Please consider using the BAC utility, it's UI friendly and supports most of the object types you are trying to load:

 

Business Administrative Change Promotion

Article - CS330275 - [Knowledge Hub] Windchill PLM - Business Administrative Change Utility (BAC)

 

Only go with the shell utilities when it's necessary!

 

Tarik W.

    B
    BF_1381190014-AlexandriteAuthor
    14-Alexandrite
    December 11, 2025

    Hello Tarik. Thanks very much for this. I am actually partially through the "Windchill: Code & Configuration Deployment" courses on available in PTC university and they say the same as you i it is better to use the BAC utility where possible. Thanks for sending the links across. It's good to see that a lot/all of the configuration elements I am looking to migrate is supported by the BAC utility. I will go down this route. Thanks again!

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