2.2 Before Upgrading Portability Suite Software

2.2.1 Backing Up the Portability Suite Database Files

During an upgrade, the Portability Suite installation program transparently exports data from the existing Portability Suite database and reimports it into a new database instance as required. However, as an additional measure of precaution, consider backing up your Portability Suite data prior to the upgrade.

You can back up your data by either making copies of your SQL Server database files or by exporting your data from the Portability Suite Server to a temporary location.

Making Copies of your SQL Server Database Files

  1. On your Portability Suite Server host, stop MS SQL services:

    1. On the Start menu, click Run, type services.msc, then click OK.

    2. In the Services window, right-click the SQL Server items, then select Stop.

  2. Copy all *.mdf and *.ldf files located in your ..\Program Files\PlateSpin Portability Suite Server\Database directory to a location outside the product installation directory.

  3. Restart MS SQL services that you stopped in Step 1.

Proceed with the upgrade, as detailed in Upgrade Procedure.

Exporting Data from the Portability Suite Server Database

  1. In your Portability Suite Server’s bin directory (..\PlateSpin Portability Suite Server\bin), execute the following command:

    PortabilitySuite.ImportExport.exe /export /forceall /dir=c:\temp

    Depending on the amount of data, this might take several minutes to complete.

  2. (Optional) If you have more than one Portability Suite Network to recover, run the command for each Portability Suite Network. Use the following syntax:

    PortabilitySuite.ImportExport.exe /export /forceall /network=network_name /dir=c:\temp\network_name

2.2.2 Minimizing the Disruption of Existing Workload Protection Contracts

The Block-based Transfer Component included in Portability Suite version 8.1 is incompatible with the component’s earlier versions, which were distributed with Portability Suite version 8.0.0 and earlier, including the former PowerConvert product.

During the Portability Suite Server upgrade process, existing workload protection contracts (ongoing workload synchronizations of Protect jobs) that are configured to use the Block-based Transfer Component are suspended until the component on your protected (source) workloads is upgraded, too. After the upgrade, source workloads are rebooted.

To minimize the disruption of existing workload protection contracts that use the Block-based Transfer Component, perform the product upgrade during a planned maintenance window. After the product upgrade is complete, upgrade the Block-based Transfer Component and resume synchronization schedules. See Manually Installing and Uninstalling Block-Based Components in your User Guide.