DBxtra 7 – Migrate the DBxtra Repository from a Network Share to Report Web Service

February 17th, 2012

This guide is for those customers who upgrade to DBxtra 7 having previously another DBxtra version installed on your computer and who also access their repository from a Network Share (\\Server\Shared) or a Mapped Drive (Z:\Shared). Starting from DBxtra version 7, we no longer support repositories in Network Shares, that’s mainly because we have done several improvements that made impractical this approach so we encourage to upgrade to a Report Web Service, even if you’re not familiar with IIS we have an internal web server that can be configured easily from within DBxtra and offers most of the functionality of IIS, and makes the repository less prone to damage by accessing it by several users at the same time. First this guide assume you read it before updating anything, for those who have upgraded before reading this guide we recommend you to contact support, giving the version you were using before the upgrade and the version you upgraded to. Second, before doing anything make backups, mainly from your current repository and the installer of your current version of DBxtra, they may come handy if you make a mistake and want to rollback Third, if you run in troubles with this guide we recommend you to contact support explaining in which step you are struck and if you receive an error message (screenshot will help us a lot) 1.- Get the DBxtra 7 installer from our website, you can download it from your customer panel. 2.- Backup your current repository, if you don’t know where it is you can find it if you open DBxtra and go to: Utilities->DBxtra Repository->DBxtra Repository Path. 3.- Now, you need to change DBxtra from a Network Share to a Report Web Service before installing the new version, to do it copy your current repository to a local folder in the computer you will use as server, if your Network Share is in a Windows server already we recommend you to use that server as the Report Web Service Server, otherwise you may use the computer that remains turned on most of the time or that uses DBxtra more frequently. 4.- In the computer that will be used as a server, open DBxtra and go to Report Web Service->Report Web Service->Configure Report Web Service. 5.- In the resulting window, select the server that will be used for the Report Web Service, if you have IIS installed in your computer and you’re familiar with it select Internet Information Server, otherwise we recommend you to use the DBxtra Web server. 6.- Select an Alias for the Report Web Service (or leave the default one). 7.- If you selected the DBxtra Web Server select a port for it, by default is 8080, but if you have other applications in that port you can change it, otherwise we recommend you to leave it as is, also, if you change it, select a number greater than 1024 as if you select a lower number you will require administrator privileges and the service may not run properly or will conflict with other applications/services. 8.- Click Create Report Web Service. 9.- Wait till the configuration finishes, you will see that several buttons appear in the Ribbon menu of DBxtra when it finishes. 10.- Now, close DBxtra and install the new DBxtra 7. Additional steps If you were sharing the Repository in the Network Share, you will need also to configure the other DBxtra clients that were sharing it to use the Report Web Service, to do this follow this steps: 1.- Open DBxtra in the computers you want to connect to the same repository. 2.- Go to Utilities->DBxtra Repository->Connect to DBxtra Repository. 3.- In the resulting window, select Report Web Service and write the address to access the Report Web Service from this computer, if you’re in a LAN enviroment you can use the computer’s name like JonhPC or if you prefer the IP addres if they’re static, an example will be like this: http://JonhPC:8080/DBxtra.NET, to be sure you may write the address in a web browser and you must see DBxtra’s login page, also, if you don’t know the name of the computer you want to connect to you can use the “hostname” command in a Command Prompt in the computer you want to connect to (in this case in Jonh’s PC). 4.- Once you’ve set this up, click in the Connect button, this will restart the application and it must connect to your repository in your Report Web Service. 5.- Just to be sure you’re connected to the right repository, go to Utilities->DBxtra Repository->DBxtra Repository Path, you must see two lines in the resulting window, one for Website and one for Physical Path, this path refers to the server, so don’t worry if the physical path doesn’t exist in your computer, it’s ok.