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Migrating from DB2 on Windows to DB2 on Linux


Tim McDaniel (401146) | asked Jul 21 '10, 9:13 a.m.
My apologies: I don't know a lot about RBF internals, so please ask if
I'm unclear or incorrect.

Our RBF server is a virtual machine running Windows Server 2003.
RBF's database is running on the same machine. We've noticed some
performance weirdness, like DB2 processes taking all the CPU time for
hours at a time.

The local guy who set it up has heard that there are known issues with
this configuration, and would like to try migrating the database to a
Linux virtual machine. LGWSIU, however, says that IBM has no
supported procedure for migrating data from DB2 running under Windows
to DB2 running under Linux. (Editorial comment: !!!)

I've looked into the alternative of exporting RBF data into text files
of some sort. (Aside from possible use in migration or as a small
backup, I'd like text so that I can use standard tools on it, like
grepping all the environments for a specific pattern.)

However, the dot command ".export" only exports the current project.
The example XML in the on-line help appears to show that it includes
the steps, class, and selector, but I'm not *certain* that I'm reading
the last two correctly.

As far as I can tell, the bfexport utility exports only projects,
notification info, servers, LDAP information, and collectors, and it's
not clear to me just from the documentation whether it exports all the
info for servers etc. or just references to them.

I don't see a way to export environments, jobs, schedules, jobs, or
any other Build Forge data.

Is there a way to export absolutely EVERYTHING in BuildForge without
exception?

Less likely to be answered here, but what the heck: anyone have
experience in migrating RBF's database, especially from Windows to
Linux?

--
Tim McDaniel, tmcd@panix.com

3 answers



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Robert haig (1.0k16) | answered Jul 21 '10, 9:40 p.m.
FORUM MODERATOR / JAZZ DEVELOPER
buildforge itself doesn't care about the architecture of the backend system. From a BF point of view, you'd just have to change the DB host in the config files.

You are correct that .export (or the bfexport command) does not export EVERYTHING. it only exports artifacts directly related to projects.

I know that virtualization of DB servers isn't typically a problem, but if you're putting your data files on virtualized storage, you're not getting all the IOs available out of your disk. Most VM host technologies don't give you near the potential number of IOs available from your hardware. You could put the data files on network attatched storage on physical disk somewhere and access that through NFS on your linux VM.

I don't know enough about DB2 to suggest a migration method from windows to linux. Can't help there.

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Brent Ulbricht (2.5k11) | answered Jul 22 '10, 9:34 a.m.
JAZZ DEVELOPER

As far as I can tell, the bfexport utility exports only projects,
notification info, servers, LDAP information, and collectors, and it's
not clear to me just from the documentation whether it exports all the
info for servers etc. or just references to them.


Hi Tim,

While this information will not help with your current release, if you've got time to check out the 2011 M3 Milestone demo build, it would be great to hear your feedback. The download page is at https://jazz.net/downloads/rational-build-forge/milestones/2011M3?p=allDownloads .

These are some quotes off the new & noteworthy page for export features in the 2011 M3 Milestone build.


# Export (command-line only)

* Provides an export that is no longer project-based; specify the name or ID of an object and the export operation recursively exports the object's dependencies based on your inclusions/exclusions
* Exports any top-level user-configured artifact in the system (except system configuration settings)
* Provides an exclusion flag on the command line so you can export everything except the specified objects
* Generates a command-processing log that returns the status of the export operation; instead of sending the XML contents to STDOUT, the log specifies the path name of the export file
* Supports a file that specifies multiple top-level targets for export in the same operation
* Includes significant performance improvements



If there are any features for export that you'd like to see, feel free to submit a feature request or let me know and I can write one.

bju

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Dan Zentgraf (11) | answered Jul 23 '10, 12:11 a.m.
JAZZ DEVELOPER

Is there a way to export absolutely EVERYTHING in BuildForge without
exception?

Less likely to be answered here, but what the heck: anyone have
experience in migrating RBF's database, especially from Windows to
Linux?

--
Tim McDaniel, tmcd@panix.com


Hi Tim-

DB2 has a set of utilities specifically for this sort of thing. They are described usually under the "Administering" twistie in the InfoCenter docs on the IBM website.

For example, if you look here:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9/index.jsp

And then expand the table of contents to Administering / Database Systems / Moving Data / Overview, the first item "Data Movement Options" lists through the various DB2 utilities and even says whether they are cross-platform or not.

You should, of course, check your version of DB2 and be sure to check compatibility. But this is probably the surest-fire way to do it. It goes in one shot, you will definitely get every last thing for sure, and it doesn't have any export/import tedium and fiddling. It tends to work great and be well supported by the DB guys because you are effectively using stuff related to the DB's backup/restore or disaster recovery features. And those tend to work VERY well.

I can't claim to have done this with DB2, but I have done it with other DBs. It's the easiest way to get everything in one shot.

-Dan

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