How to migrate from older versions to the new Visure 8.3

Recommendations before starting

While performing a migration (upgrading from a previous mayor version to the latest), we recommend following the steps listed below:

• Run Maintenance for the DB to make the process smoother and faster.
• Backup the DB, a full backup of your DB is always recommended to ensure that you don't experience any unforeseen event or behavior (this recommendation will be seen in multiple parts of the guide).
• Take notes from all the Visure software installed (Visure Client, Visure Authoring, Visure Contributor, etc.).
• Take notes from all the plugins and integrations from Visure (Read the list of plugins and integrations here!). Those plugins and integrations also need to be updated. Contact with your sales representative in order to request the updated paid plugins and integrations. For the free plugins, the Customer Success Team can provide the updated versions.
• Backup all the configurations for the plugins, those plugins with the default configurations can be skipped.
• Read the list of dependencies required for the Visure toolsuite (Read the software dependencies here!).
• Ask for assistance if you want to ensure that the migration is made in the best way possible by contacting with [e-mail]. The Customer Success Team is always ready to schedule a meeting to assist you in the migration process and solve any possible issue that could happen in the middle of the migration.

Start the Migration

Before starting:

• Ensure that you have the admin password for Visure (for the user called “admin”).
• Ensure that you also have the password for the DB (the user and password used in when the connection was established) and the password for the DB Engine (SQL Server or PostgreSQL).
• Ensure that you have a user with admin rights to perform any necessary step.

I. Backups:

• Backup the following files:
  • VRSettings.json ⇾ By default is in the “C:\Program Files\Visure Solutions, Inc\Visure Server X” (the X is your installed version).
  • appsettings.json ⇾ If you have Visure Authoring installed, this file will be located in the “C:\inetpub\Visure Authoring X” (the X is your installed version).
• Backup or take notes for the following information from the Visure Server Settings (most of the information is already located in the VRSettings.json):
  • In the Service tab, the port number and if the secure connection is enabled (if it is enabled, make sure that you have the certificate and the private key). By default, the port is 9091 (9090 for older versions).
  • In the Connections tab, the name of the connections you have (this can be omitted, as it is also in the VRSettings.json backup made earlier). The image below is an example.
    
  • In the Authentication systems tab, all the authentications that you have there with the information for every authentication that you configured (Windows Domain, OpenID Connect, Azure Entra ID, etc.).
  • In the Licensing tab, the server name and the port (usually is localhost and 6200).
• Backup your DB ⇾ Run a maintenance and then make a backup of all your information.

II. Uninstalling the software:

Before installing the latest versions of Visure, you must need to uninstall the previous versions to avoid having obsolete files, folders, or registry keys in your system.

All the Visure software can be removed through the Control Panel ().

The recommended way to uninstall the software is the following:

1. Visure Authoring (the web version, it takes more time than the others).
2. Visure Requirements ALM Client (the desktop version).
3. Any other Visure software installed on your environment.
4. Visure Server.

From this point you can uninstall all the obsolete dependencies if those still remaining in your system. Remember that some dependencies are also being used by different applications in your system, always make sure that the dependencies are not needed for any software in your system before uninstalling.

III. Installing the software:

• First, download all the required software files from the Download Area.
• Start the following path to perform the migration smoother and to avoid any possible mistake or problem that could be introduced:
  1. Install Visure Server ⇾ Set the server name and port for the license server, as well as the port for the Visure Server port (by default 9091).
  2. Install Visure Client ⇾ Set the server name and port for the connection Client-Server.
  3. Install Visure Authoring ⇾ If you are new to Visure Authoring, follow this guide. Otherwise, install the software as usual, you need to modify the installation parameters to match the previous installation (appsettings.json). It is recommended to install nested of the Default Website in IIS  (Website instead of Web Application). After the installation finishes, you need to restart the IIS Service.

IV. Configuring the installation:

After the installation of the Visure Toolsuite, you must need to verify that all the configuration is the same as you had before. The following steps will explain how to do it:

1. Open the Visure Server Settings and configure the port number as the same port that you have in the VRSettings.json, if you previously had the secure connection enabled, configure that too.
2. Then, in the Connections tab, add the connections that you had before by using the (2nd option), do not use the 1st option because the connection already exists.
   If you click on the Test button when a connection is established, the following error should prompt:
   
   This is a good indicative that the steps are being followed correctly.
3. In the Authentication systems tab, add all the authentication systems that you had previously (see those in your VRSettings.json).
4. In the Licensing tab, if you were using the default values, you can skip this step. If not, configure the parameters for the server name and port (this need to target the server where the LM-X is installed).
5. Click on OK (the server settings will close automatically, you may need to open it again and make sure that all the changes were saved).
    
6. In the server settings (after opening it again), go back to the Service tab and stop the service (), then use multiple times the refresh button () until the service is stopped. After the label says stopped, start the service (), then use multiple times the refresh button () until the services is started (the label must say “Running”).

V. Performing the DB schema migration:

A migration schema is needed when before start working with visure again. In order to perform the migration for the schema, the following steps must be followed:

1. Open the Administration Center () and a message will appear that says that a migration will start, this part could take from 1 minute to a few hours (depending on the size of your DB).
   • The message is similar to this:
     
2. In the prompted message, click on YES and do not close Visure Requirements ALM X Administration Center until the process is finished. Even if the application seems to be frozen or not doing anything, the migration process is going in the background and any interruption could end with the process being aborted or finished uncompleted.

VI. Verify the applications:

After the process is done, verify that you can access the application as you do normally.

• Log into the Visure Client and see if the login is successfully.
• Log into the Visure Authoring through your preferred browser and see if the login is successfully.

If everything is ok, proceed installing all the other applications that you had or need from Visure, like the Visure Contributor, Visure Report Manager or Visure Remote Admin Server.

VII. Update the plugins:

After finishing with all the applications, start adding the plugins and integrations by following the instructions below.

Plugins:

1. Extract the plugin (it should come in a folder containing all the files and documentation, if applicable).
2. Then, open the configurations that come with the plugin and the configuration from your backup.
3. Compare the differences and update the newest configuration with the parameters from your backup.
4. Repeat this process for all the plugins.

Integrations:

1. Extract the integration (this should come in a folder that contains all the files, the unattended version and the documentation).
2. If you are using a corporate path for the plugins and integrations, make sure that all the users have access to the path. If is not the case, you can go to the projects that you want to have the plugins and integrations installed and remove all the string from the corporate path field.
3. Start uploading all the plugins and integrations () one by one (remember that each plugin and integration should be contained in a separated folder).
4. Then, configure the projects that will have every single plugin applied ().

Now, as a last step, log in into any of your projects with the plugins/integrations applied and wait until a message prompts for every plugin/integration applied to the project.

If you experience any issue configuring this, please reach to our support team by emailing to [e-mail].