Export ALM/QC projects

This section explains how to export a project from ALM/QC to files.

Overview

Consider the following before exporting ALM/QC projects:

  • Each ALM/QC project is composed of the database schema and file repository folder.

  • You can export the project to compressed files in the .qcp format or export the project into two separate files, one for the database schema dump or backup and the other for the file repository.

  • The exported files will be uploaded to a dedicated AWS S3 bucket. The location and credentials of the bucket will be provided during the migration process.

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Prerequisites

Ensure the following before exporting an ALM/QC project:

No checked-out entities in your project If your project enables version control, ensure there are no checked-out entities in your project. Projects with checked-out entities cannot be upgraded. If any checkouts are found during the upgrade process, un-checkout them in order to proceed.
DB schema and file repository are synched The database schema and file repository of your project are aligned. The best practice is to deactivate the project before exporting it.
S3 Browser client In order to accessing the AWS S3 Bucket.
Direct access to the ALM/QC database Make sure you have direct access to the ALM/QC database.
FTP client In case FTP will be used, for example, Windows FTP command-line client, or preferably the FileZilla FTP client.
MD5 software

For example, md5.

This is optional if the file sizes are the same after the upload.
ZIP software For example, 7-zip.
Backup of your ALM/QC instance Ensure a full backup of your ALM/QC instance.
Sanity check in the project to export

Run a sanity check in the project you want to export:

  1. Open ALM Site Administration.

  2. Right-click the project and select Maintain Project > Verify Project.

  3. If there is an error, fix it by running the Repair Project tool.

    To run the tool, right-click the project and select Maintain Project > Repair Project.

    If the error cannot be fixed, contact your site administrator.

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Export a project to a .qcp file

It is recommended that you export your project to a .qcp file. The file contains both the database schema and file repository. This method is faster if the database type is SQL server.

Note: For ALM 12.53 and earlier, there is a project size limit of 2 GB. For ALM 12.55 and later, there is no size limit. If your project is bigger than 2 GB, see Export a project to separate files.

To export a project to a .qcp file:

To export manually from the Site Administration See Export a project.
To use self-developed tools with ALM REST API

See the ALM REST API.

Note: This API is available to ALM 15.00 and later.

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Export a project to separate files

If your project is bigger than the size limit of 2 GB, you can export the project database schemas and file repository into separate files.

To export database schemas:

  1. Connect to the Oracle database server as a database user.

  2. Run the following command to obtain the schema list, tablespaces, and size of each .dmp file.

    Replace 'SCHEMA1', 'SCHEMA2', and 'SCHEMA3' with the real source schema list for each dump file. Keep schema names in upper case.

    Copy code 
    set pagesize 200 
    set linesize 200 
    set col Size_MB format 9999.999 
    select owner schema_name, tablespace_name, SUM(BYTES)/1024/1024 Size_MB 
    from dba_segments 
    where owner in ('SCHEMA1','SCHEMA2','SCHEMA3') 
    group by owner, tablespace_name 
    order by 1 desc; 

  3. Run one of the following commands for each schema you want to export:

    Copy code 
    expdp system/<password> schemas=<schema name> dumpfile=<schema name>_<date>.dmp 
    logfile=<schema name>_<date>.log exclude=statistics directory=DATA_PUMP_DIR

    or

    Copy code 
    expdp system/<password> schemas=<schema name> dumpfile=<schema name>_<date>.dmp 
    logfile=<schema name>_<date>.log exclude=statistics directory=DATA_PUMP_DIR

    For example, if you want to export the PROJECT_WORK schema, run the following command:

    Copy code 
    expdp dumpfile=PROJECT_WORK.dmp logfile=expdp_PROJECT_WORK.log 
    schemas=PROJECT_WORK EXCLUDE=OBJECT_GRANT EXCLUDE=PASSWORD_HISTORY

  4. Connect to the database with system user.

    For example, sqlplus system/<password>

  5. Run the following select command to locate the data pump directory:

    Copy code 
    SELECT directory_path FROM dba_directories WHERE directory_name = 'DATA_PUMP_DIR'; 

  6. Change to the data pump directory, and you will see all the dump files in the directory.

  7. Compress the exported dump files and upload the compressed file with the corresponding log file.

    For example,

    Copy code 
    PROJECT_WORK.dmp.gz 
    Copy code 
    expdp_PROJECT_WORK.log

  8. (Optional) Run md5 sum for size checking.

    1. Open a command window.

    2. Go to the directory where the md5.zip was extracted.

    3. Run the following command:

      Copy code 
      md5.exe -generate <compressed folder path><compressed folder name.zip>

      You get a single line after running the command. For example, 24BCED0C939DD7E61C6E4CCE252687BE db_schemas.zip

    4. Copy the output to a text file.

    5. Upload the following files to the AWS S3 bucket:

      • <Db_schemas>.zip

      • <Db_schemas_md5>.txt

  1. In the SQL Server database, back up the database schemas by one of the following options:

    • Back up each database schema by running the following command:

      Copy code 
      Backup database X to disk='<path>' 

    • Detach the database by running the following command:

      Copy code 
      Sp_detach_db 'database name'

  2. Compress the database schema backups.

  3. (Optional) Run md5 sum for size checking.

    1. Open a command window.

    2. Go to the directory where the md5.zip was extracted.

    3. Run the following command:

      Copy code 
      md5.exe -generate <compressed folder path><compressed folder name.zip>

      You get a single line after running the command. For example, 24BCED0C939DD7E61C6E4CCE252687BE db_schemas.zip

    4. Copy the output to a text file.

    5. Upload the following files to the AWS S3 bucket:

      • <Db_schemas>.zip

      • <Db_schemas_md5>.txt

To export file repository:

  1. Open ALM Site Administration.

  2. Select the project you want to migrate. In the Project Details tab, under the Project Directory field, find the file repository path of the project.

  3. Connect to the application server, navigate to the project directory path, and compress the entire file repository folder.

  4. Run md5 sum.

    1. Open a command window, navigate to the location where the md5.zip file was extracted, and run the following command:

      Copy code 
      md5.exe -generate <compressed folder path><compressed folder name.zip>

      For example,

      Copy code 
      md5.exe – generate C:\”Documents and Settings”\Desktop\ project1_filereposiotry.zip

      The command returns the md5sum output. For example, 24BCED0C939DD7E61C6E4CCE252687BE project1_filereposiotry.zip

    2. Copy the output to a text file.

    3. Upload the following files to the AWS S3 bucket:

      • <project_filereposiotry>.zip

      • <project_filereposiotry_md5>.txt

  5. Repeat the above steps for each project you want to migrate.

  6. Compress the folder for every project in the .zip format and upload the file to the AWS S3 bucket.

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Summary

After you complete exporting a project, all the project data is saved in the following files:

Database

  • Oracle

    • A single file that includes the schema list, tablespaces, and size of each .dmp file.

    • All the schema dump files in the compressed format.

    • All the log files of the export.

  • MS SQL Server

    • All .bak files.
Repository All the file repositories in the compressed format.

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See also: