Test Migration

Once your preparations are complete, you should carry out a test migration of part of a publication. You should try to choose a publication that has a wide range of content types in order to ensure as many variations as possible are tested.

Before you start the test migration you need to decide how much of the publication you are going to use for test purposes. You should use enough to ensure good coverage of all the types of content in your publications, but small enough that the migration process doesn't take too long (you may need to repeat it several times). You should aim for a few thousand articles (probably somewhere between a week and a month of content).

The general migration procedure is as follows:

Create a version 5.2.7.2 copy of the publication you have chosen. This involves converting your old publication resources to the new version 5.2.7.2 formats. For details of how to do this, see Convert Publication Resources. For general information on version 5.2.7.2 publication resources, see the Escenic Content Engine Resource Reference. For detailed instructions on how to create a publication in version 5.2.7.2, see Create a New Publication.

You must give your new publication the same name as your old one.

You should also make sure that the new publication you have created is empty, since any content in the publication may conflict with the content migrated from version 4. If the publication archive (WAR file) from which you create the new publication contains a /META-INF/escenic/resources/escenic/content file, its contents are automatically imported as part of the publication creation process. This means that the new publication will have some default content as soon as it is created. In order to avoid this happening you should either:
- Click on the file's Remove uploaded resource link before creating the publication.
- Remove this file from the publication archive before you upload it.
Configure the Migrator plug-in to export the "one-time" items by setting the following parameters in the Migration configuration tool:
- Publications (set to the name of your chosen publication)
- One time exports (set to Yes)
Then click on Reconfigure to apply the changes. The Migrator will then start exporting the selected publication's "one-time" items (section structure, users, user groups, access control lists and so on) to the export folder shown in the configuration tool.
Copy the exported files to the publication's import folder on your version 5.2.7.2 host, and import them. (See Migration Import Filters for the location of this folder.) For details of how to import content to version 5.2.7.2, see the Escenic Content Engine Syndication Reference. It is important to import the exported data in the correct order, which is:
```
users
user groups
sections
access control lists
```
This ensures that all referenced objects already exist in the database and that the required links can be created.
Use Web Studio to verify that the data has been correctly imported: that the new publication has the expected users, section tree and access rights. For information on how to use Web Studio, see the Escenic Content Engine Publication Administrator Guide.
Reconfigure the Migrator to export all articles for the period you have selected by setting the following parameters in the Migration configuration tool:
- Publications (set to the name of your chosen publication)
- Content Type (select all the article types you want to export)
- One time exports (set to No)
- Start Date (set, for example, to one month ago)
- Interval (Setting this to 30 days, for example, will mean that the whole period is exported in a single pass, with one output file for each content type. Setting it to 1 day will result in up to 30 output files for each content type and will take at least about half an hour, since the export passes are started at 1 minute intervals.)
- Reference Types (Check all boxes)
Then click on Reconfigure to apply the changes. The Migrator will then start exporting data to the export folder shown in the configuration tool. How long the entire process takes will depend on how much content you have chosen to export.
Any images in the articles you have exported will result in one or more export files in an images sub-folder - for example

/path-to-export-folder/publication-name/images/images_from_start-date_to_end-date.xml

Along with these files will be all the image files they reference. Copy all the file(s) in the images folder (both the XML files and image files) to your import folder and import them.
Any multimedia objects in the articles you have exported will result in one or more export files in a media sub-folder - for example

/path-to-export-folder/publication-name/media/media_from_start-date_to_end-date.xml

Along with these files will be all the multimedia files they reference. Copy all the file(s) in the media folder (both the XML files and media files) to your import folder and import them.
When the multimedia import is completed (the import folder is empty), copy all the remaining standard article files to the import folder and import them.
When the main import is completed (the import folder is empty), copy all the standard article files to the import folder again, and import them a second time. This is necessary to ensure that all relations between content items are created. A relation can only be created if both related objects are available, and the only way to ensure that this is the case is to import everything twice.
Log into the new publication using Content Studio 5.2.7.2 and examine it carefully, making sure that you find everything you expect to find:
- Images and multimedia objects open and are correct
- URLs are the same
- Relations have been correctly established
Note that the Preview function will not yet work.
Make a copy of your old publication web application, and apply the changes described in Upgrading Publication Web Applications to it.
Deploy the upgraded web application on version 5.2.7.2 (see the Escenic Content Engine Template Developer Guide for more information about this).
Start up a browser and try to view the new publication.