Migrate ALM/QC Synchronizer links

This topic describes how to migrate synchronization links from the Micro Focus ALM/QC Synchronizer to Micro Focus Connect connections. For details about the ALM/QC Synchronizer, see the ALM Synchronizer page. It also describes how to migrate a ALM/QC connection with an external vendor to an ALM Octane connection with that same vendor.

Perform the migration

This section describes how to migrate synchronization links from the ALM/QC Synchronizer to Micro Focus Connect.

Note:  

  • ALM/QC synchronization links do not distinguish between connections and data sources. Each link combines the information relevant to the connection and the data source.

  • The migration imports the cross references from the ALM/QC Synchronizer to a Micro Focus Connect connection. It does not, however, automatically create your type, project, or rule mappings.

  • If you need to open a support case regarding your migration, create a backup of Micro Focus Connect AppData/data folder. Include this backup in zip format together with the input files LinkConfig.xml and LinkIDsMap.xml and all Jira key/id files that match the naming convention jira.{projectkey}.{type}.txt.

To migrate the synchronization links:

  1. In the Micro Focus Connect dashboard, create a data source for the Master source, ALM/QC. For details, see Create a data source.
  2. Create a second data source for the Target, such as Jira, Azure DevOps, or ALM/QC. The creation of these data sources is required at least once per active unique endpoint URL/domain. Data sources targeting the same endpoint (URL/domain) may be reused.
  3. Create a connection that is a mirror of the ALM/QC Synchronizer link. Use the same link name for the new connection. Ensure that the Master project and Target project of the connection match that of the ALM/QC Synchronizer link. For details, see Create and manage connections.

    Tip: Always use type specific project maps, and not Common Projects. This allows the merging of connections, if necessary, in the future.

  4. Disable the link in ALM/QC Synchronizer.
  5. In the Synchronizer Dashboard, select Link > Export > Link Data Into Backup File. Synchronizer generates two files: LinkConfig.xml and LinkIdsMap.xml. Do not edit these files.
  6. For Jira type target endpoints:

    1. Create a property bag for Jira with the following content:

      url=http(s)://jira_server_address:port/

      username=jira_admin_user

      password=jira_admin_password

      projectkey=jira_project_key

      board=jira_project_scrum_board

      type=link_issue_type_name (e.g. Bug)

      columns=id,key

      headers=false

    2. If using a proxy server, append the tomcat java options to the contents of the above file.

    3. Use the DataSourceExtractors script to query the Jira server for the issue type IDs and keys of the project in the ALM/QC Synchronizer link. (In the batch file, un-rem and run line 9.) For details, see Batch utility scripts. This batch creates an output file, jira.{projectkey}.{type}.txt.
  7. Stop all running connections in the Micro Focus Connect instance, using the StopAllConnections script.
  8. For best results, move all of the input files that you created in the above steps, such as the LinkConfig.xml, LinkIDMap.xml, jira property bags, and Jira ID key map files into the Connect/UserMaps folder, the default location used by the migration script.
  9. Zip and perform a backup of the AppData/data folder.
  10. Open the mfcGosipXrefsMerge.bat script.

    1. If you renamed the LinkConfig.xml or LinkIdsMap.xml files, modify lines 8 and 9 in the script file with the new names.
    2. For a Jira endpoint, use lines 10, 11, and 12 to specify the input key-value pair files in sequence to the command, for each input file that you created above. The script allows up to three key-value pair files. You may add or remove lines to or from the script to represent all of your Jira types. If you do add or remove lines, make sure to modify line 23 to reflect the correct set of lines, and the file name parameters they represent. Verify the paths of the files on lines 10, 11, and 12.
  11. Run the GosipXrefsMerge script. Un-rem and run line 23.
  12. Open ClearWatermarks.bat and un-rem line 21 and run it: mfcClearWatermarks.jar -removenulls -removemismatches. (This is the third version of the command in the batch script.)
  13. Log on to Micro Focus Connect and export the cross references for the Connect connection. Do a sanity check to make sure that the cross references between the ALM/QC master to the target endpoint systems are correct. Using the ALM Synchronizer link, make sure that the cross references have the expected values and that they represent artifacts known to have synced correctly between the endpoints.
  14. Once again, zip and backup the AppData/data folder.
  15. Perform a final verification. After the checks are successfully completed, start the connection and verify that Micro Focus Connect picked up where the ALM/QC Synchronizer left off.

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Migrate an ALM/QC connection to ALM Octane

This section describes how to migrate Micro Focus Connect connections from ALM/QC to ALM Octane.

The following procedure describes the migrating of an ALM/QC-Jira connection to an ALM Octane-Jira connection. The same steps apply to other connection endpoints such as ALM/QC-Azure DevOps, Rally, and Version One.

To begin the migration:

  1. Verify that the connection you want to migrate is error-free. For example, synchronize ALM/QC defects to Jira bugs and make sure that there are no synchronization errors.

  2. Migrate the ALM/QC project to an ALM Octane workspace. For details, see the ALM Octane Shift migration tool on Marketplace.

  3. Stop the existing Micro Focus Connect connection. For details, see Start and stop connections.

  4. Identify the mapped pairs of ALM/QC IDs to the corresponding ALM Octane IDs. The recommended method is to export the IDs to an Excel file. For details, see the ALM Octane documentation.

  5. Create a connection for the newly created ALM Octane workspace, to the original Jira project.

  6. Map the ALM Octane types to the corresponding Jira types, just as they were mapped in the original ALM/QC project connection. Include all relevant metadata, such as field mappings and calculated values.

  7. Export the cross references from the original ALM/QC Micro Focus Connect connection. For details, see Manage cross references.

  8. Open the exported cross reference .xml file and replace the ALM/QC IDs with the corresponding ALM Octane IDs.

  9. Export the cross reference template for the new ALM Octane-Jira connection. For details, see Manage cross references.

  10. Copy the cross references from each syncset, into the corresponding syncset <adds> block in the cross reference template .xml file. Make sure to copy from the correct ALM/QC type syncset to the corresponding ALM Octane type syncset.

  11. Delete all <removes> blocks from the cross reference template .xml file. Do not change any sub-blocks of an attachment or comment ID, as they are not affected.

  12. Stop all running connections on the Micro Focus Connect service. For details, see Start and stop connections.

  13. Purge and backup the database. For details, see Purge scripts.

  14. Import the cross reference template .xml file, now containing all the correct matched cross reference IDs, into the new connection. For details, see Manage cross references.

  15. Verify the accuracy of the results by re-exporting the ALM Octane-Jira cross references and performing a spot check.

  16. Restart your connections.

Post migration guidelines

Follow these guidelines to correctly migrate Comments and Attachments.

  • Comments: Set the Include comments since (yyyy-MM-dd) property for the date of the Shift migration, in both the Jira and ALM Octane data sources. Micro Focus Connect will ignore comment updates before the date of the Shift migration. Set this property for each data source. Failure to set this property may result in the creation of a new comment, rather than an update.

  • Attachments: Attachment references are populated by Micro Focus Connect during the first iteration. They are reported in the audit as Associated Updates. The Shift tool adds an additional attachment for history in ALM Octane. As a result, an additional attachment will be added to Jira and reported in the audit.

Tip: We recommend testing out this strategy on a test project with small data sets, before implementing it in a production environment.

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