Upgrading DPR Archives from Version 9.0 to 10.x

After upgrading the Digital Print Room product from version 9.x to version 10.x, existing 9.x archives will not be compatible with DPR 10.x archives. The existing 9.x archives will still be available to view on the web but they exist in a frozen state and cannot be populated. A utility is delivered with DPR 10.x to assist administrators in upgrading the older 9.x archives to the new 10.x DPR format and allow them to be populated once again.

Archive structure has changed between DPR 9.x and DPR 10.x archives. In DPR 9.x, static HTML files were used to create the information that the user viewed from the web page. In DPR 9.x, both web pages and data files were stored in the same directory. In addition, security with 9.x did not allow permissions on the remote file stores. Null Session Shares were used on the 9.x plot server to give access for InterPlot to write the data on the remote shares. In DPR 10.x, web files and drawing data can be stored in separate directories and DPR now uses the Microsoft Security model to control access to local and remote files. New archive administration tools allow more control over your stored data.

Before upgrading your archives, it is assumed that you have installed DPR 10.x without removing DPR 9.x. The 9.x archives are still accessible via the web and no new 10.x archives have been created. The next step is to upgrade the 9.x archives to the new 10.x format. This document will guide you through the preparation and actual upgrade of your archives from 9.x to 10.x.

Preparing for the Archive Upgrade
There are a few steps that need to be followed to prepare for this upgrade.

1. Since DPR 10.x uses the NT security model, it is recommended that you create a new user account to be used for the DPR plotting/archiving process. This new user account should be a domain account with full administrative privileges to the plot server. This special user account will be referred to in this document as the “dpruser” account.
2. After this “dpruser” account has been created, you must add this user to the “Log on as a Service” User Right using the User Manager on the plot server. Information on how to do this procedure can be found in the Digital Print Room Help entitled "Configuring the Plot Server" or contact your network administrator for further help.
3. Now you must configure the plot server. The first step in configuring the plot server is to run the DCOMCNFG utility. Please refer to Digital Print Room Help entitled “Configuring the Plot Server” for instructions on performing this task.
4. Before upgrading archives, it is suggested that you create new web and data directories and a new database for the new format of the 10.x DPR files. This is not mandatory but will help to completely delete all old information after the upgrade has been completed. To do this, simply create two directories on the machine you will use as the file server. Create one directory for web files and one directory for data files. These directories will be used later in the upgrade.
5. Share both of these new web and data directories. This is a UNC file share.
6. Create a Virtual Directory Alias (VDA) for each of the two new directories. Create the VDA on the web server machine. Help with creating a VDA can be found in the Digital Print Room Help entitled "Configuring the Plot Server" or contact your web administrator for further help in doing this procedure. If you are having your web administrator create the VDA's, you will need to give them the alias name for each directory such as “drpweb” for the web storage directory and “dprfile” for the file storage directory. You will also need to let the web administrator know which directory the dprweb and dprfile aliases point to. This would be the two new directories that you created and shared earlier. In DPR 9.x, there was a single VDA pointing to a single shared directory that contained both web and data files. In DPR 10.x, two directories are used. One directory is used to store web files and one directory is used to store actual data files. You should create a different VDA than the original one since a single VDA cannot point to two different directories at the same time. If you need to use the original VDA then you will need to modify the original VDA and point it to the new web storage directory before performing the upgrade.
7. The next step is to create the database and the System Data Source Name (DSN) that points to the new database. Help with creating a DSN can be found in the Digital Print Room Help entitled “Configuring the Web Server” or contact your database administrator for further help in doing this procedure.

Upgrading the Old Archives
To display the upgrade window, on the plot server, browse to Start > Programs > InterPlot Utilities > Digital Print Room Configure (Figure 1).

This presents you with the DPR configuration menu below. (Figure 2)

Select the Upgrade Archives button which will present you with the “Digital Print Room - Upgrade 9.x Archives” dialog (Figure 3).

Archives are upgraded one at a time. You can enter the name of the new 10.x archive to be created; the default will be the original archive name. Select the first archive that you wish to upgrade and click the Upgrade button.

The Upgrade Utility will show you a window containing the progress (Figure 4).

When the upgrade process gets to the “Creating DPR 10 archive”, you will be taken to the “Create Archive Wizard” (Figure 5). This wizard will help step you through creating your archive.

The description from your original 9.x archive will be entered automatically. You have the option to change the description at this time. No other changes can be made at this time. Select the Next button to continue.

The next dialog you will see will be the “Web Server Setup” dialog (Figure 6). If you are upgrading to DPR Workgroup 10.x, the web server must reside on the same machine as the plot server, therefore, the web server name will be filled in automatically and cannot be changed. If you are upgrading to DPR 12 or DPR Unlimited, you may key in the web server name now. You can use a node name or a fully qualified domain name for the web server. Contact your web administrator for this information.

Next, enter the Virtual Directory Alias (VDA). This is the web share name used to share the root directory where you will store your web files for DPR. This VDA or web share is created on the web server. (If you are upgrading to DPR Workgroup and have not created a VDA or web storage directory, simply key in the name you wish to use as an alias and DPR will create the VDA for you.)

Fill in the web page directory where you would like DPR to store the web pages. The address must be in Universal Naming Convention (UNC) format such as \\servername\dir_share_name. This directory and file share must already exist. If this directory has not been created, refer to the section titled “Preparing for the Archive Upgrade” mentioned earlier in this document. Use the browse button to select a local share if the web pages are to be stored on the plot server. (Note to DPR Workgroup users: This share must be a local share. Use the browse button to select your local share.)

It is best to create a new directory to store your 10.x archive web files. This allows you to be able to clean up and delete the older 9.x web files and directory once all 9.x archives have been upgraded to 10.x archives. After all fields have been filled in with the correct information, click the Next button. If the VDA did not exist, then you will get a pop up window (Figure 7) asking you if you wish DPR to create this. Verify the information in the pop up window is correct and select Yes.

This pop up window (Figure 7) will not be seen if the VDA has been created previously. The next dialog to you will be presented with will be the “Database Server Setup” dialog. Key in or select the DSN that has been created for connection to your database. If you are using the Select button, make sure that you select a DSN from the “System DSN” category in the ODBC Data Source Administrator. Depending on the type of database you are using, you may see pop up dialogs for username/password information specific to the database. Fill in the appropriate dialogs as needed.

If you are using an Oracle database, enter the name of the Tablespace to be used for this database. Contact your database administrator for this information. (Note to DPR Workgroup users: An access database called DPRArchives.mdb will be created for you automatically and placed in the <drive>:\plotwork\archives directory. A DSN corresponding to this file will be created for you automatically as well. None of the information in this dialog can be changed. Simply review this information in this dialog.) If you are using an Access database, the username and password is optional. Select Next to proceed.

The next dialog will be the “File Storage Setup” dialog (Figure 8).

Select the Add button to add a file storage definition. This brings up the “File Storage Properties” dialog (Figure 9).

Key in or browse for the directory where you want DPR to store the archive data. This directory must also be a UNC path. If you want to use a local directory, it must be shared and the UNC path used here. Enter the maximum amount of space you would like to allocate. IMPORTANT: Make sure that the number entered as the maximum space is larger than the size of the total archives you will be upgrading to eliminate an error when reaching the maximum amount of space specified. When this amount of space is reached, DPR will go to the next file storage definition if one exists. If there are no other file storage definitions available then an error will be produced in the InterPlot error log and the archive will fail to populate.

Enter the Virtual Directory Alias (VDA) for the file storage directory. This is a different alias than the one used for the web files directory. A VDA must be created to the directory specified in order for the web server to read the data for the archive. If this VDA has not been created previously, create one now from the web server. If your web server is the same as your plot server, you can click the Internet Service Manager button to create the VDA or use Windows Explorer “Sharing...” to create the VDA. Contact your web server administrator if you need further assistance.

Enter a privileged username/password and confirm the password. This username/password must be entered. The username used here MUST have the “Log on as a Service” Advance User Rights granted to them from User Manager as explained previously in this technical note. Review the information in this dialog and click OK to return to the “File Storage Setup” dialog (Figure 10).

You may add additional file storage definitions at this time if needed. When you have completed, select the Next button to proceed. The last dialog you will see is the “Review” dialog (Figure 11).

This shows you a review of all the parameters you entered during the create archive process. Select the Finish button once you have reviewed the information. This brings you back to the “Digital Print Room 9.x Archive Upgrade” status window (Figure 12).

The status of the upgrade will continue until all plots sets have been copied from the old archive to the new archive. After this process has been completed, you will see a pop up window telling you that the upgrade process has been completed successfully (Figure 13).

Select the OK button and you will be brought back to the “Upgrade 9.x Archives” selection dialog (Figure 14).

Continue with these steps until all archives have been updated. Verify that the archives can be viewed via a web browser. Also verify that you can populate the new archives. After all archives have been updated and verified, you can use the old “Archive Administrator” to delete the old archives and then manually clean up any existing leftover files.

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