RES PowerFuse 2010 upgrade test scenarios

This blog will be interesting if you already have a RES PowerFuse 2008 environment running and want to upgrade to RES PowerFuse 2010. Especially if you do not have a test environment running yet to test the upgrade. And of course explore the new possibilities, features and enhancements of RES PowerFuse 2010.   

Why do you need to test?
You can ask yourself why you should need to test this upgrade? Doesn’t RES Software test its own products?   

Well, we do test all of our products very intensive. Of course all supported Operating Systems are tested together with many known scenario’s we’ve learned from our customers through the years. Also, RES PowerFuse 2010 (and all previous interim and RC releases) was already running in our own production environment prior to the official release supporting Terminal Server and Laptop users which are spread out in Europe and the USA.   

“Eat your own dog food”
 
However, RES PowerFuse integrates with the OS, Citrix, your applications, security etc. and every environment is unique. If you run into any issues it’s best to encounter and solve these in your test environment, having your users experience business as usual in production.   

Also, the complete layout of the console completely changed in the 2010 release. It’s recommended to get more comfortable with the new console, prior to upgrading your production environment. As you might find yourself in a situation where you need to find a setting NOW and not feel like looking for it.   

We strongly recommend you to test the upgrade first so you can guarantee your users business as usual after the upgrade.   

Upgrade complexity RES PowerFuse 2005 -> 2008 -> 2010
First of all I need to refer to the upgrade guide for RES PowerFuse 2008. Remember the important changes between RES PowerFuse 2005 release and RES PowerFuse 2008:
- No more Foxpro file share
- Other licensing format (XML instead of keys)
- New architecture   

The Foxpro file share in combination with the new architecture made creating a test environment somewhat complex. Due to the new license format, you also needed more preparation if you did not have an direct internet connection.   

In RES PowerFuse 2010 the architecture, licensing etc was not changed. So creating a test situation is much easier!   

Scenarios
With all described scenarios in this blog you will end up with a copy of your RES PowerFuse 2008 production environment which is ready for upgrading.   

• Scenario 1: Using Building Blocks from production to import your settings in a test database. Then upgrade.
• Scenario 2: Copy your RES PowerFuse 2008 production database and connect to this database using a test server with RES PowerFuse 2008 installed. Then upgrade.
• Scenario 3: Choose for an entire new RES PowerFuse setup and recreate all settings as well. Leaving old and unnecessary configuration behind. We will not discuss this scenario.

Scenario 1: Using Building Blocks to copy your settings to a test database   

Retrieve the Building Blocks from your production environment   

1. Open the RES PowerFuse Management Console which is connected your existing production environment
2. Choose Action -> Select items for Building Blocks. Everything that can be exported to a Building Block will be selected automatically.
   
3. Choose Action ->Create Building Blocks of selected items… Choose Single File and save this file locally.
4. Make sure you have the file available in your test environment i.e. by using a USB stick or copying it to a network location.

Create a test database    

1. You will need a machine which is dedicated for testing and install RES PowerFuse 2008 on this machine. Please reboot after installation has finished.
2. Open the RES PowerFuse Management Console and answer “Yes” to the question for creating a new datastore.
   
3. Follow the instructions and complete the wizard to create a new datastore.
4. Open the RES PowerFuse Management Console which is now connected to your test database.
5. Choose File -> Import Building Blocks… and import the Building Block you have created in your production environment.
   

     

1. Open the RES PowerFuse Management Console which is connected to your existing production environment.
2. Browse to the Licensing node, which you can find at RES PowerFuse Setup.
3. Choose Action -> Create Instant Report… and save this file.
4. Send an email to Backoffice@ressoftware.com requesting for your license XML files. Please state the customer name and attach the instant report.
   
5. After receiving the license XML files, browse to the licensing node from your RES PowerFuse Management Console which is connected to your test database.
6. Open the License Wizard and follow the instructions to import and activate your licenses.

Scenario 2: Using a copy of your production database to configure this as test database   

Copy your production SQL database to the test environment   

1. Create a backup of your production database.
   
2. Restore the backup on a test database server.
   Note: If you want to restore on the same production database server instead of using a test database server: – You will need to create an empty database first. – When restoring, choose to “Overwrite the existing database (WITH REPLACE)”.- Rename the database files using the new database name.
   
3. Create a login with dbo permission.
   - At General: Default database needs to be the test RES PowerFuse datastore
   - At General: You might want to disable password expiration
   - At User Mapping: Map the test RES PowerFuse datastore
   - At User Mapping: While having the RES PowerFuse datastore selected, choose db_owner.  Remember these credentials as you will need these to connect to your test database!    
   Connect to the test database

     

   1. You will need a machine which is dedicated for testing and install RES PowerFuse 2008 on this machine. Please reboot after installation has finished.

   >Open the RES PowerFuse Management Console and answer “No” to the question for creating a new datastore.    

   2. Connect to the test datastore which you have created in de steps above.
      

      

   Upgrading your test environment
   Upgrading the test environment can be done by using a Powerpack, which can be downloaded here (SA required).    

   Tips    

   • Please keep in mind that Windows 2000 as client OS is no longer supported.
   • The RES PowerFuse Help has chapter about finding your way in the new console:
     
   • The Release Notes contain a page with renamed features:
     
   • When you are at the Release Notes anyway, don’t forget to learn about the New Technologies!
   • In the RES PowerFuse Management Console, choose Help -> About. In the popup click the Credits button. These are the fine people who made this release possible :)