<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  Reference Section > Installation and Deployment > Moving PrimeCut NE to a New Server

This topic covers moving an existing PrimeCut NE installation onto a different server - replacing ageing hardware, moving into a virtual machine, or consolidating onto a new host. The data lives in the Firebird databases, so the move is essentially a fresh server installation followed by a copy of the databases and a few configuration files.

Read Installing PrimeCut NE on the Server first - the new machine is installed exactly as a new site would be.

Plan the changeover for a time when nobody is using PrimeCut. The database is copied while the services are stopped, and any work done on the old server after the copy is taken will be lost.

Two things to check before you start

These are the two that most often derail a server move, and both are easier to settle beforehand than in the middle of a maintenance window.

1.Release and database version. If you install a newer PrimeCut release on the new server than the old server was running, the copied database will be at an older schema than the new software expects. Note the DBVersion shown against your datastore in PC4LicGUI.exe on the old server. After copying, use the Update Manager to bring the database up to the new schema. Installing the same release on the new server avoids the question entirely.

2.Firebird version. A database file can only be opened by the Firebird version it was created under, or a newer one it has been migrated to. If the old server is running Firebird 2.x and the new installation lays down Firebird 3, a straight file copy will not attach - the database has to be backed up and restored. See Firebird 2.x to Firebird 3 Update.

Consider reusing the server name

Clients and Kinetic machines find PrimeCut by the server name recorded in their own configuration. If the new server takes over the old server's hostname, or your IT team points a DNS alias at it, then no client and no machine needs reconfiguring, and the last two sections of this topic can be skipped entirely. On a site with many clients or several machines this is usually the least disruptive route - raise it with whoever administers your network before the changeover.

On the new server, ahead of time

None of this affects the old server, so it can be done days in advance.

1.Install PrimeCut NE server, leaving all components selected. These instructions assume the default C:\PC4; adjust the paths if you chose somewhere else.

2.Confirm the firewall allows the ports in the table below.

3.Confirm C:\PC4\Primecut4 is shared as UPDATEPRIMECUT. From a client, \\<newserver>\UpdatePrimecut\ should open in File Explorer and contain ClientUpdater.exe together with the Win64 and Win32 folders. The client installers are inside those, as Win64\NE_Client_Setup_x64.exe. The share is created by the installer when the Client Image component is selected.

4.Open C:\PC4\License64\PC4LicGUI.exe as administrator, go Tools → Registration, and send the licence request to Kinetic. A licence is tied to the hardware it is issued for, so a new server always needs a new licence - request it early. See License Registration.

5.Still in PC4LicGUI, set the backup location and schedule under Tools → Schedule backup. See Configuring Backup.

Do not change the Company Name on the licence request. It is what identifies your site to the Kinetic update server, and changing it can stop you downloading updates.

On the old server, at the changeover

Make sure everyone has exited PrimeCut first. You can confirm this, and stop anyone logging back in, from the session list in PC4LicGUI.

1.In PC4LicGUI.exe, stop the STP service and then the licence server, from the Services menu.

2.Stop the Firebird service as well. Stopping the PrimeCut services is not enough on its own - the database is held open by the Firebird engine, and a file copied while the engine still has it open can be silently corrupt. Open Services from Windows Administrative Tools, find Firebird Server - DefaultInstance, and stop it. From an administrator command prompt the equivalent is net stop FirebirdServerDefaultInstance. Confirm it shows as Stopped before copying anything.

3.Copy the database files, normally in C:\PC4\. The production datastore is Primecut4.fdb. Copy any additional datastores your site has alongside it, including any per-user tutorial datastores you want to keep.

4.Copy C:\PC4\STP64\STPService.ini if the site has Touchcut machines.

5.Copy the plugins. Take both C:\PC4\Primecut4\Plugins and C:\PC4\Primecut4\Win64\Plugins if they exist - either may hold plugins depending on how they were delivered.

6.Note down anything else your site has customised on the server, such as report output locations or a shared parts folder.

You do not need to copy the tutorials master, Tutorials.fdm. It is created by the installation and is read only, so the new server already has the copy that matches its own release. Bringing the old one across would only put an out-of-date master in its place.

On the new server

1.Stop the licence and STP services if they are running.

2.Copy the database files into C:\PC4\, replacing the ones the installer created.

3.Put STPService.ini back into C:\PC4\STP64\. Check its Datastore entry matches a datastore name on the new server exactly - it is case sensitive, and a mismatch is the usual reason the STP service starts and then stops again.

4.Put the plugins folders back in the same places they came from.

5.Start the licence server. In PC4LicGUI, right click in the datastore list and register each database you copied across, then right click to enable any tutorial datastores you brought with you.

6.Start the STP service.

7.Check the datastore list shows your production datastore Online, and note its DBVersion. If it is lower than the new installation expects, run the Update Manager to migrate it.

Register the datastores through PC4LicGUI as described above. Do not copy DataStores.xml across from the old server. The licence service reads it at startup and rewrites it on shutdown, so a copied file is easily overwritten without warning, and the old one can carry paths that do not exist on the new machine.

Retire the old server

Do this before letting anyone log back in. Two running PrimeCut servers is the worst outcome of a move: a client or a machine that reconnects to the old one will happily put a day's work into a database nobody is backing up any more, and the two databases then have to be reconciled by hand.

On the old server:

1.In Windows Services, set PC4 License Server x64 and PC4 STP Server to Disabled, not merely stopped. Disabled means they cannot come back on their own after a reboot or a patch cycle.

2.Set Firebird Server - DefaultInstance to Disabled as well, so nothing can attach to the old database.

3.Remove the UPDATEPRIMECUT share, so no client can update itself from the old image.

4.Leave the machine powered but idle for a week or two. It is your fallback if something is found to be missing, and the databases on it are the only copy of the state at changeover.

Once you are satisfied with the new server, take a final copy of the old databases somewhere safe before the machine is wiped or decommissioned.

On the clients

Only needed if the new server has a different name from the old one.

1.Start PrimeCut and select the new server on the login window.

2.Logging in warns that the server has a different version and offers to download it. Click Yes; PrimeCut closes and the client updater appears.

3.Click the update button, let it finish, and open PrimeCut again.

This is the ordinary client update, described in full under Updating PrimeCut NE on the Client Computers. For a workstation that has never had PrimeCut on it, see Installing PrimeCut NE on Client Computers instead.

On the Touchcut machines

Also only needed if the server name has changed. On each machine, go to the Advanced tab, find the PrimeCutNE Scheduler section, and enter the new Server Name. Leave Server Port and MachineID as they are. See Connecting Touchcut To Primecut, and Troubleshooting the Machine Connection if a machine will not connect afterwards.