Moving Ouvvi with the Existing Database

If you are going to keep your existing Ouvvi Database in your SQL Server and not move the database, or you are copying the database to a new SQL Server then you can follow the steps below.

In short you will need to point the Ouvvi tenant to the SQL Server database before installing Ouvvi.

Configuration

Start by downloading and installing Data Sync onto the new server. You then need to open Data Sync and go to Tools > Ouvvi Deployment Manager.

You can now either import your existing Ouvvi tenant using the import button, or you can create a new tenant.

Create a New Tenant

Let's say we want to create a new tenant, for this we can take the default install and make a few changes or we can create one from scratch.

To create a new Ouvvi Tenant within the Deployment Manager choose File > New Tenant.

Double clicking onto the tenant will open the configuration window where you can set the configuration settings for your tenant; such as the Tenant Name, Tenant Path and the Site Port you wish to use to browse to your Ouvvi site.

You can now make any changes you need to for the website details so that this matches your previous installation.

Please note that a random IIS Port will be assigned by default when you add a new Tenant so you may wish to change this to be the same as your previous install. If you plan to make Ouvvi available externally from this server be sure to configure SSL/TLS in IIS after you install this instance to keep your instance secure.

If your SQL Server is on another machine you should configure a Windows Service Account that will be the IISAppPool Identity used to authenticate with your SQL Database.

The default NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE is a machine account and can be used when you have a single server set-up. i.e. Ouvvi Website, Service and Database are on the same server.

Database Setup

To point the configuration to your Database to either an existing or new copy you need to go to the Database tab.

Enter the path to the SQL Server instance that hosts your Ouvvi SQL Database. Then select the Ouvvi database from the drop down options.

SQL Authentication is only required when you cannot use Integrated Security and is not recommended unless this is your only option. Therefore, SQL Authentication is usually left blank.

The install will add the IISAppPool identity as DBO to the Ouvvi Database only when creating the Database. If you attach to an existing database ensure that the IISAppPool identity has permission to access the SQL Database.

If your SQL Server supports connection encryption make sure to set the Encrypt and Trust Server Certificate settings appropriately for your SQL Server connection.

Service Setup

The Ouvvi Windows Service should be configured to run under a network domain account as this account will be used as the security context to run the steps within Ouvvi.

The default account NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE is a machine account and can be used to access local machine resources and internet based services with a username and password. For Local Domain services SQL Servers, SharePoint Servers, FileShares etc a Domain User account must be used.

If you decide to change this from the default you will need to ensure that the service account has Admin+Agent permission set in Ouvvi. For more information on how to set admin and agent permissions please visit the Agents page.

Install Ouvvi

The next step is to install your Tenant. To do this right click onto your tenant and choose Install.

Browse to Ouvvi Site

Then browse to your Ouvvi site by right clicking and choosing Browse. Then try navigating to your projects overview page.

As this is using an existing database you may find that there are schema updates to be applied if the version you installed is greater than the one you were using previously. Ouvvi will automatically redirect you to this page if you try navigating to any page that is not the homepage.

The browser will walk you through applying the schema updates (simply click "Upgrade Database") but we would highly recommend backing up your Ouvvi database before applying them.

If you are getting permission errors then please check that the service account has read/write permissions within the Ouvvi database.

Make sure to also input your license key under Settings > Register License otherwise your projects will not run.

Start the Service

Now go back to the deployment manager and start your services. You can do this either by clicking the green play button in the menu or by right clicking on your instance and selecting Start Service from the list.

Then browse to your Ouvvi site to confirm all services are running correctly (Services > System Services).

You should now be able to see and run all of your projects, connections, triggers and settings.

Considerations

Services

If your services are registered to a particular machine then you will need to update the server name in the Ouvvi database in the services table.

Using a . as the service name assumes that it is the local machine.

If you use a specific name, you need to ensure that the machine you are on can access that machine.

The services talk to the web application so if the services are on another machine then the web app needs to be made public in order to connect. Without the services your projects will not run.

If the web application is made public but it is not a private network then you must install an SSL certificate in IIS.

Projects running in two locations

If you point your new instance to the existing database or import the projects make sure to stop the services on the old instance so that the projects do not run in two locations.

Running the same project in two locations can lead to data loss and data being overwritten. Making sure that you only run the projects in one location saved you from lots of future issues.

ThisServiceEndpoint

This is a setting in user settings which isn't commonly used but you may be using it. It points to the URL of the ouvvi instance. If your Ouvvi is now on a different machine or your Ouvvi site is using a different port then this will need updating. This can be updated in the User Settings table in the Ouvvi Database.