9.3 Connecting to a Different Database

To configure an installation of the Maestro User Interface to use a different database than the one currently being used, it is necessary to transfer all data from the old database to the new database. The following steps describe this procedure:

1. Install and prepare the database to be used.
   
   
2. Stop LISTSERV Maestro (or the Maestro User Interface).
   
   
3. Edit the file “lui.ini” in the home folder of the Maestro User Interface. In a default installation that would be in:
   
   “\Program Files\L-Soft\Application Server\lui”
   
   Add the following entry: MaintenanceMode=true
   
   
4. Restart LISTSERV Maestro. The Maestro User Interface component of LISTSERV Maestro is now running in maintenance mode. While in this mode, no users will be able to log into the Maestro User Interface, so it is safe to transfer the data from one database to the other without the danger of a user generating new data or changing data while the transferring process is happening.
   
   
5. Use the inbuilt backup functionality of LISTSERV Maestro to extract all required data from the old database so that it can then be imported into the new database.
   
   
   • Log into the Administration Hub.
   • Click the Global Component Settings link, and then to the Administration Hub link.
   • Set the “Time for daily backup” to a time (hour and minute) that is shortly ahead of the current time (within the next minute or so).
   • In order not to overwrite the regular backup with this “special” backup, enter a special backup folder, such as “C:\temp\mybackup". If the backup folder is changed in this way, it must be changed for all components.
   • Click OK to save settings.
     
     
6. Wait until the Administration Hub triggers the backup. This happens at the time that was configured in the previous step, (check the log file of the Administration Hub to see when the backup will be triggered). Next, wait until the backup has been successfully completed. The backup is completed when the final entries regarding the success of the backup and the end date have been written into the backup report. For more details about backups, see Section 6 Saving and Restoring a Backup.
   
   
7. Go back to the Administration Hub section of the Global Component Settings in the Administration Hub and reset the “Time for daily backup” and the “Backup folder” to the standard settings. Click OK to save changes.
   
   
8. While still in the Global Components Settings section, click on the Maestro User Interface link, and then the Database Connection link.
   
   
9. Select “The following custom connection is used” radio button.
   
   
10. Select the database plugin that matches the database and JDBC-driver configuration. If the required plugin in not listed, it has to be registered. For more information, see Section 9.6 Registering a Database Plugin.
    
    
11. Fill out the connection parameters as required by the plugin. The type and semantics of these parameters depend on the database used. Usually, these are parameters such as the host name of the server where the database is running, the database name, the user name and password, or the connection port.
    
    
12. Click OK to save the settings.
    
    
13. Shut down LISTSERV Maestro.
    
    
14. Edit the file “lui.ini” and remove the “MaintenanceMode” entry (or simply comment it out or change its value to “false”). Then add a new entry into file “lui.ini”, similar to the example below:
    
    RestoreBackup=path_to_backup_folder
    
    “path_to_backup_folder” is replaced with the path name that leads to the backup folder from which the files and folders as described above were copied. This path name may either be a full path name including the drive letter, or it may be an absolute path without the drive letter (starting with “\” or “/”, which is then interpreted as being absolute on the drive/root where the application server is installed, for example, in the default case, the same drive where “\Program Files\L-Soft\Application Server” is located). Or a relative path without a drive letter may be used (not starting with either “\” or “/”, which is then interpreted as being relative to the home folder of the Maestro User Interface component, for example, in the default case, that would be the folder “\Program Files\L-Soft\Application Server\lui”).
    
    Using forward slashes “/” or backslashes “\” as the filename separator is acceptable. However, if backslashes are used, it is necessary to use double backslashes. For example, with the path above, either write:
    
    c:/temp/mybackup
    
    or
    
    C:\\temp\\mybackup
    
    This entry to the “lui.ini” file will be automatically removed during the first startup of the component. It is only present to signal to the component that it should restore all required data from the given folder. This happens automatically during the next startup, whenever this INI-file entry is present.
    
    
15. Restart LISTSERV Maestro.
    
    
16. Verify that the Maestro User Interface is running by checking whether the login page is presented when accessed by a browser. If the login page does not appear, check the log file for error messages to help correct the problem.

Note: Connecting to a different database necessitates that all tracking events be inserted into that new database. This occurs during the next cycle of transferring tracking events from the Maestro Tracker component to the Maestro User Interface component. This may take some time, especially if there already were many events collected. So until the first event transfer (which is triggered after the end of the first event transfer interval after you restart LISTSERV Maestro) is completed, all the reports will result in “No events available”. Please be patient until the transfer has been completed.

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