What's new in Migration Manager

Feature

What it is

How you can take advantage (usage scenario)

Migration Collections application

Migration Collections application is oriented toward the identification and collection of individual system configurations. Multiple options are available to select the desired system configurations and add into a collection. Once a collection is determined to be complete, the application can generate a package definition, on demand, based on the contents of the collection.

Migration Collections enables a new easy-to-use migration approach that lets implementers focus on individual system configurations. Unlike snapshot or change migration approaches that mandate significant knowledge of the Tpae business objects, authoring SQL criteria, planning and preparation, Migration Collections lets implementers collect the candidate configurations very easily and intuitively. Configurations are identified not by the underlying business object, but by navigating to the application of interest and selecting the record using standard Tpae user interface constructs. Implementers can add or remove collection entries as needed. A package definition is generated that matches the contents of the collection thereby eliminating the need to deal with dependencies manually. The result is quicker collection of system configurations.

Migration Collection Validation Scan

Validation scan is a feature in the Migration Collections application that utilizes a number of built-in data dictionary meta-data and rules to identify related system configurations. This feature identifies related system configurations in an automated manner presenting scan results for review in a single screen. Results from the validation scan can be added into the corresponding collection.

Validation scan eases the burden on implementers to identify every single system configuration that requires migration. The validation scan uncovers related system configurations that may potentially need to be migrated. The validation scan user interface enables implementers to search through scan results and add one or multiple scan results into the collection. This approach results in significant time savings when performing migrations.

Migration Collection generated package definition

Once a migration collection is considered to be complete, an action executed from the Migration Collections application generates the corresponding package definition including migration groups. This generated package definition is visible in the Migration Manager application where implementers can proceed with physical package creation and distribution. Based on package exception rules, this action generates multiple package definitions, if necessary and lays down their deployment sequence.

This feature automates the creation of a package definition based on the contents of a migration collection. It is the logical final step in the migration collection process. It results in a hand-off of a ready-to-go package definition from Migration Collections to Migration Manager. From the Migration Manager perspective, implementers no longer need to spend time manually constructing a package definition, attaching SQL criteria and stripping away dependencies. Since the downstream steps to migrate this generated package are no different than the migration steps for snapshots and change packages, the ‘collection’ package is a very attractive option to implementers to quickly design packages.

Migration Collection export / import

From an existing migration collection, one or multiple system configurations can be exported as XML documents downloadable to the client workstation. Similarly, an existing XML document representing a system configuration can be imported into a migration collection and the underlying Tpae database.

XML-representations of a system configuration are frequently moved into and out of source control systems. While Tpae does not offer a seamless integration into source control system, Migration Collections application enables the implementation of a source control model. By importing a set of XML documents using the migration collection import feature, an empty collection can be populated with a set of system configurations. The system configurations are also imported into the Tpae database thereby becoming available in that Tpae instance. By exporting a set of XML documents from a migration collection, it becomes possible for an implementer to move those documents into a specific branch of a source control system (using the tools provided by the particular source control system). This way a migration collection becomes a collection point for system configurations that are managed in source control systems.

Migration Manager Replacement Rules

Value replacement rules can be authored in the target instance of Tpae where migration packages are to be deployed. These rules are automatically executed on system configurations encapsulated in in-flight migration packages resulting in a cleaner deployment. Essentially, value replacement rules look for a specific value of a field and conditionally replace with a new value that is more appropriate to the Tpae instance that is receiving the system configuration.

It is often the case that certain types of data are not the same between development, pre-production and production environments. For example, an organization defined in the development Tpae instance does not necessarily exist in the production Tpae instance. Migration Manager did not accommodate these differences in data between source and target environments. With the example, the organization defined in the development Tpae instance would have to also be created in the target Tpae instance to migrate system configurations that carry that organization reference. With the addition of the replacement rules feature, value replacement rules can be set up one time in the target environment to dynamically change the value of the data in the migration package. These replacement rules can be enabled or disabled at any time through the Migration Manager application. Migration can be accelerated as Migration Manager dynamically replaces the values without the need to move extra data or the need to manually edit the XML contents of a migration package.

Migration Manager Error Correction

Migration packages contain data that sometimes do not pass business object validation. These packages are placed in an ‘error’ state by Migration Manager. Implementers can now review the error, the corresponding system configuration data that gave rise to the error, edit the system configuration and re-submit the corrected package for deployment processing.

In previous Tpae releases, a package placed in the error state usually ends up being discarded. Implementers return to the source environment to create a new package and start the deployment all over again. With the Error Correction feature, validation errors resulting from data contained in the migration package can be reviewed using a user-friendly user interface. The corresponding system configuration can be edited and saved. The package can then be re-submitted for processing. A history of errors and corrections is maintained that reveals to practitioners the quality of the system configuration data and the package design. This feature can result in significant time savings to implementers since an existing package can be brought forward into target environments through error correction.

Migration Manager Comparison

Configure and execute a record-by-record comparison between designated source and target environment. The comparison is executed on the basis of the package definition put together in Migration Manager. Any SQL criteria defined for snapshot packages are ignored.

Migration is often undertaken after significant system configuration and development work have completed in a development environment. There is not always a detailed record of what configurations were created or modified. With the Comparison feature, implementers can simply compare source and target and identify the differences. The differences can then be seamlessly converted in a migration collection which can then be utilized to prepare migration packages. The Comparison feature can also be utilized post-migration to compare source and target and ensure that the system configurations match. With either scenario, the comparison feature significantly reduces the time needed to perform and verify migrations. Comparisons are executed as background jobs in the Tpae application server and return both matches and differences. This gives implements a lot of insight into the two environments that participate in the migration.