Problem in Export & Import data from alfresco

[ashwin_cse]

Hi,

I have one alfresco instance that has been running for quite some time now without any problem. By this time it has collected lots of data. Now i want to move the alfresco to a bigger machine along with all data/users preserved. In short i want to move alfresco as is to another system. For this i did the following actions,
1) I installed the same version of alfresco as installed in current running instance.
2) Then i exported by using the complete export option. This step created following files ;
completeZanecAlf_spaces.acp
completeZanecAlf_spaces_archive.acp
completeZanecAlf_system.acp
completeZanecAlf_systeminfo.xml
completeZanecAlf_users.acp
completeZanecAlf_versions.acp
I used the export name as completeZanecAlf instead of the default export.

3) Then i renamed C:\alfresco\tomcat\shared\classes\alfresco\extension\restore-context.xml.sample to restore-context.xml & renamed all occurrence of export with  completeZanecAlf .
4) Created a folder called restore in C:\alfresco\tomcat\shared\classes\alfresco\extension and placed all files the above files in that restore dir.
5) Then i start alfresco. Alfresco starts normally without any error message. But when i log in i get to see only a fresh installation of alfresco. None of the old users or data are there.

What could have gone wrong. How do i restore the users & data into alfresco?

Thank you,

with regards,
ashwin_cse

[janv]

What version/build of Alfresco are you using ?

It looks as if you have followed the correct steps, as per:

http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Export_and_Import#Bootstrap_destination_Repository_from_ACP_files_expo...

For some reason the 'bootstrap restore' is not being performed. Please double-check your edits and location of your restore-context.xml file.

You can also edit the log4j.properties, and add:

log4j.logger.org.alfresco.repo.importer=debug

The .acp files are zip files, so you can check that they contain the users and data that you expect.

Please also ensure that the new install is pointing to an empty database and content store. If you wish to re-run the 'bootstrap restore' then you will need to re-create the database with an empty user/schema and delete the existing dir.root.

Thanks,
Jan

[ashwin_cse]

Thanks for your efforts to help me. I am in very much need of help. Yes the i followed the instructions from the  same url as you have said. http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Export_and_Import#Bootstrap_destination_Repository_from_ACP_files_expo...
The version of alfresco that i used is alfresco-community-tomcat-2.1.0 . I use this because it was the version thats currently being used & is the one i am trying to backup & restore in a different machine. In short alfresco-community-tomcat-2.1.0 is the version i am using for all my needs. I am using this because it was the latest version available some 3 or 4 months ago. I fear using a newer version for restoring the backup may break things.
I am using the default database (HSQL ) since the number of users & content is quiet low. The location of restore-context.xml file is C:\alfresco\tomcat\shared\classes\alfresco\extension . The completeZanecAlf_spaces.acp inside restore folder is a 111MB file. Which contains lots of txt, bin, doc, xls, ppt,etc files. So this clears out the doubt that whether the .acp are corrupted. All of them are cleanly exported.
For the database issue, I deleted c:\alfresco & re-created it using alfresco-community-tomcat-2.1.0.zip & went through the same steps again(The steps mentioned in the url). It still in vain.
In log4j.properties there is no
log4j.logger.org.alfresco.repo.importer
but there is commented out line as below
#log4j.logger.org.alfresco.repo.importer.ImporterBootstrap=info
Is this what you are referring to ? This log4j.properties is at C:\alfresco\tomcat\webapps\alfresco\WEB-INF\classes

[janv]

You can temporarily add a line at the end of log4j.properties file:

log4j.logger.org.alfresco.repo.importer=debug

The log output may help to determine whether the import is proceeding as expected.

You should not rely on HSQL except for trials, so you may wish to setup an empty MySQL instance. See also:

http://forums.alfresco.com/viewtopic.php?t=8528
http://forums.alfresco.com/viewtopic.php?t=9474

Thanks,
Jan

[ashwin_cse]

Here is my alfresco.log with this log4j.logger.org.alfresco.repo.importer=debug set in log4j.properties .

15:37:06,286 WARN  [org.springframework.remoting.rmi.RmiRegistryFactoryBean] Could not detect RMI registry - creating new one
15:37:13,740 WARN  [org.alfresco.util.OpenOfficeConnectionTester] A connection to OpenOffice could not be established.
15:37:19,631 INFO  [org.alfresco.repo.domain.schema.SchemaBootstrap] Schema managed by database dialect org.hibernate.dialect.HSQLDialect.
15:37:19,631 INFO  [org.alfresco.repo.domain.schema.SchemaBootstrap] Alfresco is using the HSQL default database. Please only use this while evaluating Alfresco, it is NOT recommended for production or deployment!
15:37:23,209 INFO  [org.alfresco.repo.domain.schema.SchemaBootstrap] No changes were made to the schema.
15:37:23,428 DEBUG [org.alfresco.repo.importer.ImporterBootstrap] Store exists - bootstrap ignored: user://alfrescoUserStore
15:37:23,428 DEBUG [org.alfresco.repo.importer.ImporterBootstrap] Store exists - bootstrap ignored: system://system
15:37:23,443 DEBUG [org.alfresco.repo.importer.ImporterBootstrap] Store exists - bootstrap ignored: workspace://lightWeightVersionStore
15:37:23,443 DEBUG [org.alfresco.repo.importer.ImporterBootstrap] Store exists - bootstrap ignored: archive://SpacesStore
15:37:23,443 DEBUG [org.alfresco.repo.importer.ImporterBootstrap] Store exists - bootstrap ignored: workspace://SpacesStore
15:37:26,537 WARN  [org.alfresco.repo.admin.ConfigurationChecker] The Alfresco 'dir.root' property is set to a relative path './alf_data'.  'dir.root' should be overridden to point to a specific folder.
15:37:26,537 INFO  [org.alfresco.repo.admin.ConfigurationChecker] The Alfresco root data directory ('dir.root') is: .\alf_data
15:37:28,631 INFO  [org.alfresco.repo.admin.patch.PatchExecuter] Checking for patches to apply …
15:37:28,943 INFO  [org.alfresco.repo.module.ModuleServiceImpl] Found 0 module(s).
15:37:29,646 INFO  [org.alfresco.service.descriptor.DescriptorService] Alfresco JVM - v1.5.0_12-b04; maximum heap size 506.313MB
15:37:29,646 INFO  [org.alfresco.service.descriptor.DescriptorService] Alfresco started (Community Network): Current version 2.1.0 (482) schema 64 - Installed version 2.1.0 (482) schema 64


WHat is going wrong. Why am i not able to see my backed up content or users. Any help is highly appreciated.

Thanks & regards,
ashwin_cse

[mikef]

Looks like you have started your server i.e. bootstrapped it, before trying to do the import. You must NOT start the new server before doing the restore. As the restore will not overwrite an existing server install (a good thing), you must configure the restore before you start the server for the first time.