Technical Desk - Moving A Commence Database

As technology rapidly changes and people are updating their PCs more and more frequently, a  common question that we are asked is, how do you move a Commence database to a new PC.

There are two basic types of Commence databases; Commence Servers and Commence Clients. Moving a Commence database is not a very difficult process, providing you follow the correct procedures.

Moving a Commence Client database

There are usually two reason to move to a new PC for most people. Either you just want to move to a newer/faster PC or you want to move to a laptop. In both cases to move the Commence Client database, you need the new PC/laptop to have access to the network.

Steps for moving a Commence client database from one PC to another:

0) Firstly make sure the Commence client has synced and is up-to-date. You can manually force a sync in Commence from File -> Workgroup Sync. Wait for a couple of minutes for the sync to complete in both directions before continuing.

1) On the Commence client, make a backup of the database. File -> Open/Manage and then select the database from the list and click on the Backup button - this will create one .XFR file.  Put the backup file in a directory that the new PC will be able to access - a mapped network drive is probably best for this.

2) Install the Commence Client software on the new PC. 

- If you have any version of Commence prior to Commence RM3.0 then on the new PC, you need to give the user's account Administrator rights. Then log-in under the users account and install the Commence client software. Once this is complete, you can set rights for the user's account back to what it was previously.

If other people have accounts set-up on the new PC and want to use Commence also, then you will have to follow this process again for each account/ profile on the new PC.  

- If you have Commence RM3.0 then you can simply log in on the Administrator account on the new PC and install the Commence software. Commence will then be available to all accounts/ profiles on the new PC.

3) On the new PC, open the Commence Client and add a new database from File -> Open/Manage Database -> Add. Put the new database in a different directory to the program directory. You can use the same name for the new database if you wish.

* Note the size of the database may be very large so ensure that the directory where you put the database has enough space on the hard disk for future expansion.

4) Highlight the new database from the list and click on the Restore button. Restore the backup file (.XFR) created in step 1. 

5)  For new PC's you will need to map a new network drive to the Commence Shared directory on the Commence server. 

6) On the Commence Client, go to Customise -> Workgroup and change the Shared LAN directory to the new mapped network drive created in step 5). Also ensure the sync interval is set to 60 seconds.

7) In Customise ->Preferences, set the External data files directory, icon directory, Connect for Email settings and make sure all other settings are correct 

8) Also in Customise ->Preferences, on the Personal Info tab, check under Category: User,  that the correct person's name is set.

9) Edit some data on the new Commence client and make sure it syncs to the other Commence clients and vice versa.

10) Make a backup of the new Commence client with everything now working.

Moving a Commence Server database

Firstly a word of warning, we hear a lot of people casually saying to us that they are simply going to "copy the Commence database files to the new server and everything should work - shouldn't it?". While this seems like a good idea, IT IS NOT! This method is NOT SUPPORTED by Commence Corp. and it certainly won't work.

Before you begin to move a database, there are a few requirements that you need to have in place:

-  It is essential that the old server PC with the existing Commence Server database and the new server are both available

- the old server and new server must be networked at the time of moving the Commence Server database

- the Commence clients also need network access to the new server.

- sometimes we have observed problems with synchronising of document templates, if Word is not already installed on the new server so it is a good idea to install Word on the Server before the installation of Commence.

Users can still use their PCs while you are moving the Server database, just not their Commence clients.

Steps for moving a Commence server database from one PC to another:

0) Firstly make sure all Commence clients have synced and are up-to-date. You can manually force a sync for each client from File -> Workgroup Sync. Wait for a couple of minutes for the sync to complete in both directions before continuing. Then shut down all the Commence clients

1) Create a backup of the old Commence server database on the old PC using File -> Open/Manage Database -> Backup - This will create one .XFR file.

Close the Commence server database and exit the Commence program.

2) In Windows Explorer, locate the Commence program directory and copy the WGFiles6 folder to a safe location (it is OK to put in same directory as the backup file above). 

* Note for other versions of Commence the folder may be called WGFiles5, WGFiles6 or WGFiles7 etc.

3) Install the Commence Server software on the new server PC using the Administrator account.

4) On the Commence Server, add a new database from File -> Open/Manage Database -> Add. Put the new database in a different directory to the program directory

* Note the size of the database may be very large so ensure that the directory where you put the database has enough space on the hard disk for future expansion.

5) Highlight the new database from the list and click on the Restore button. Restore the backup file (.XFR) created in step 1.  When the restore is complete, DO NOT OPEN the new database. Close and Exit Commence.

6) Locate the Commence program directory on the new server and rename the WGFiles6 directory to WGFiles.old.

7) Copy the WGFiles6 directory created in step 2 to the Commence program directory on the new server.

8) Start the Comadmin program from Start->Programs->Commence Workgroup->Comadmin.

By default the username is "admin" and the password is left blank. 

When the Comadmin program opens:

- select Databases and confirm that the path to the new shared database is valid. Edit if necessary

- select Users and confirm that all the Commence users are in the list. If not you have copied the WGFiles6 folder to the wrong directory

9) In windows explorer, map a new network drive to the new server

10) Open the Commence program and the Server database. Using Customize ->Workgroup (or Tools -> Customize -> Workgroup), change the Shared LAN directory to the new mapped network drive from step 9). Also ensure  the sync interval is set to 15 seconds.

* Note if you are using FTP syncing, check that these settings are also correct

11) Start one Commence client, go to Customise -> Workgroup and change the Shared LAN directory to the new mapped network drive from step 9).

12) Edit some data on the client and make sure it syncs to the new Commence server and vice versa. If it does not, the communications settings are incorrect at the the client and/or server. Once this is working then start another Commence client and repeat steps 11 and 12 but this time make sure sync also occurs between the two clients. Continue until all Commence clients are up and syncing.

13) Edit the Commence server backup agents so that the backup files are now placed on the new server

14) Make a backup of the new Commence server with everything working 

15) Once everything is else is working and has been thoroughly tested, remove the Commence Server software from the old PC and delete the old shared directory so there is no confusion as to which is the correct Commence server.

Since everything is working, now is also a good time to set up the Workgroup Expert on the new server. The Workgroup Expert gathers information about the Commence workgroup and emails a report to the system admin once a day. This allows you to quickly see if any clients have any problems and where their latest sync is up to. You can install this from the normal Commence installation CD.