Interesting experience 1.4->2.0

[dlittman999]

I tried the bootstrap process posted on the wiki, following it to the letter. When I started 2.0 it found all the right files, worked part way through them, and then started throwing exceptions related to wrong date format or something.

I stopped tomcat, deleted folders in the 2.0 alf_data directory, copied the folders in the 1.4 alf_data directory into 2.0 alf_data, started 2.0 and it is now working "fine" and *appears* to have preserved the 1.4 repository, users, etc. (Of course I am not sure, which makes me nervous, and this is clearly not the basis for a migration strategy I would feel comfortable using with a real installation.)

So:
1. The instructions on the wiki are apparently not correct, or at least not complete.
2. They are apparently not needed, at least for a vanilla install, and
3. I do not understand why there is not a set of complete, well-vetted "For Dummies" procedures to help newbies through the Top 20. Many of us are installing to demo for companies and if we cannot even get past the basics using the catch-as-catch-can instructions and scattered advice from the Alfresco Team,  it is unlikely we would feel confident enough in the Alfresco Team to move to a paid service license.

Does this make sense to anyone at Alfresco or am I expecting too much? I posted a similar observation a week ago and got no reply to it. Weird.

[jeromebrock]

I'd like to sort of second the final thoughts here. 

First, this looks like an exceptional product, and for the developers to bring this from a pre-release product in 2005 to a 2.0 release in 2007 is spectacular, so I'm definitely not trying to criticize anybody.

On the other hand, I'm putting together a demo for a client where, if we can get it out of the "pilot" phase, I've already recommended going Enterprise with support.  It's quite difficult to convince the upper management that we're going to be able to get the product built in a fault tolerant, high capacity way when I have incredible difficulty migrating from 1.4/hsql (on an ill-configured box) to 2.0/mysql (on a much more optimal machine).

Another thing I'd mention, It could be very handy to make a VMware Appliance available (like Zenoss does).  I've built one on CentOS with MySQL and Alf 2.0, and would be happy to give it back to the community, but I don't have the bandwidth to host it.

-j

[derek]

Hi,

The issues are more than likely going to be small configuration problems.  If you post the issues on the forums, then you may or may not get a reply.  You might find help from the community, or you may find help from a developer - but that is increasingly unlikely as we have to support our growing numbers of customers.

We have administration courses available is many locations.  With one of those, you'll not need to rely on the terse and single-dimensional README files.

At any rate, post your configuration files for the working HSQL server and the beefier server.  Also, give a detailed account of how you are doing the migration.

Regards

[derek]

Hi,

If you are a potential customer, then you may be able to get some direct support by contacting sales at alfresco.com.

Regards