Tranfer All CDRouter Data to a New System

Introduction

If you have recently upgraded your CDRouter system hardware to a new NTA platform, this article will help you transfer all existing configuration data and test results to the new system.

Using the cdrouter-backup and cdrouter-restore utility programs, you can make an exact copy of your old system’s CDRouter database, and files on disk, so you can resume testing right where you left off.

Additionally, for those transferring data from the NTA1000 platform to the NTA3000 platform, we also have the cdrouter-migrate utility to help change the interface names within your configuration files to the new interface names.

Background

The CDRouter database and all test data, including config files, packages, devices, and test results are stored in a central location on the system.

This test ‘data’ is stored within the /usr/cdrouter-data directory and its sub-directoires. Using the tools and the process outlined below will get this ‘data’ onto your new system.

Requirements

Having the items mentioned in the bullets below will make the data transfer process simpler.

  • Both the old and new NTA hardware platforms should be powered on. The management interface of both systems should ideally be connected to the same network to avoid congestion while CDRouter data is being transferred.

  • Use a separate system or location with write access accessible via SSH (Do not use either NTA system). This separate location will be used to temporarily store the backup of the CDRouter data.

  • Make sure there are no tests running on either system. Using any of the backup/restore/migrate utilities will automatically shut down the CDRouter software which will interrupt any tests that may currently be running.

Data transfer steps

All three (3) of the utilities: cdrouter-backup, cdrouter-restore, and cdrouter-migrate are described here

  1. Use the cdrouter-backup tool on your old NTA platform to save off (backup) all your data. (You should not use either NTA, old or new, to save your backup)

  2. Use the cdrouter-restore tool on your new NTA platform to restore all your data from the backup file.

  3. If you are transferring from an NTA1000 platform to an NTA3000 platform, use the cdrouter-migrate tool to convert/migrate you configuration files. (The migration tool should be run on the new NTA3000 platform after your data has been restored there)

After the transfer has completed, the CDRouter web interface on the new NTA should appear identical to the one that was running on your old system.

If you used the cdrouter-migrate tool to convert your CDRouter configuration files, please consult the interface mapping table to see how the interfaces names were changed.

Also note that any custom testpaths configured in the CDRouter database will produce warnings until you have manually copied the custom test modules from the old system to the new NTA. Go to the Preferences page in the CDRouter web interface if you need to update or delete any custom testpaths.

If you encounter any problems while using any of the utility programs, please contact support@qacafe.com for assistance.