Share this page

# Export and import spaces and space customization

You can apply a shared space's customization on another space by exporting the customization from one space and importing it to another space.

In addition, you can export a space and re-import it to another ALM Octane instance.

In this topic:

## Export shared space customization

You can export data from a shared space customization to a file. You can then import the file to another shared space. The source and target spaces must be shared, and in the same ALM Octane version.

The export file contains the following entities: rules, fields (including UDFs), workflow (phases and transitions, forms, labels, lists, entity labels, roles, data hiding, and email template.

To export shared space customization:

1. Expand Settings and select Administration> Spaces.
2. Select the shared space.
3. In the left pane, click Export Customization. The Export Shared Space Customization dialog box opens.

4. Click Export. The data is saved to a file in your default Downloads folder (for example: `Default Shared Space_1001_15.1.21_entities.zip`).

   Note: Do not extract the file. When importing it to another shared space, you upload this file as it stands.

Back to top

## Import shared space customization

This section describes how to import the shared space customization file.

Note: It is recommended to back up the database before starting the import process. In case of an unexpected failure, you will be able to restore the database.

To import shared space customization:

1. Expand Settings and select Administration> Spaces.

2. Select the shared space.

3. In the left pane, click Import Customization . The Import Shared Space Customization dialog box opens.

4. Click Browse and navigate to a file you would like to import (for example: `Default Shared Space_1001_15.1.21_entities.zip`).

   Note: Do not extract the file. Upload this file as it stands.

5. Click Import. ALM Octane performs a validation to check correct formatting of the file.

6. If the validation fails, the errors are displayed in the Import Shared Space Customization dialog box.

   For example:

   `The following role cannot be deleted because users are still assigned to it: [role name]`. | This error occurs if you attempt to delete a role while users are still assigned to it. To continue, unassign the users from the exported space, regenerate the export file, and import the new file.
   `This entity cannot be updated as it does not exist anymore. To successfully complete the import process, delete this entity from the exported space.` | This error occurs when attempting to update an entity that no longer exists. To continue, delete the entity from the exported space, regenerate the export file, and import the new file.

7. If the validation is successful, click Diff report for details.

   The Diff report lists the changes that will be applied to the current space customization.

   To continue the import process, click Apply Changes.

   When the import process completes, click Close.

   Note: You may need to refresh your browser to reflect the changes.

Back to top

## Export and import spaces

You can export and import spaces along with their settings and data. All of the information is saved to a self-contained file with an osa extension. The export allows you to back up and share your previously configured spaces.

When you export or import a space, you can indicate whether or not to include the space's data. If you do not include data, then only the site users and their relations are saved/loaded. If you include data, the space's tables and file system are also included.

If you are working with an very large space, you may choose to exclude the data, and migrate the data and file system manually using database utilities such as Oracle DUMP. This method will take less time than exporting and importing via ALM Octane and will not affect performance.

Note that the some optional tables can be extremely large, and their migration can take a long time. When exporting, you can choose whether to include search and run history, trends, and audit information.

Caution: Importing a space into an existing space will overwrite the data in the target space. Merging data from two spaces is not supported.

Prerequisites:

- The import only works on a space that was exported with the same version of ALM Octane.

- Export and import are only supported for the same database vendor. For example, a space exported from Oracle can only be imported into Oracle.

- If the Octane database user does not have permission to create a schema in the database, a new space must be created beforehand and then used as the target space for importing.

To export a space:

1. Open the Settings > Site. By default, ALM Octane opens the Spaces sub-tab.

2. Select the check box adjacent to the space you want to export and click Deactivate Space. It is important to deactivate the space before exporting it, in case there are changes during the export process.

3. With the checkbox still selected, click Export Space. This button will only be enabled if a single space is selected. If you select multiple spaces, it will be disabled.

4. In the Export Space dialog box, indicate if you want to export Site users only or DB. The DB options include the following:

   Option | Exported contents
   --- | ---
   Storage | Full file system, including images and attachments.
   Elastic | Search and run history, trends, and audit information. For details, see To export and import Elastic data:.
   Audit | Historical tables.

5. Click Export. Wait for the status message to indicate Exported Successfully and for the dialog box to show the Download link and MD5 ID number.

6. Click Download to save the .osa file to your default Download folder. The file name contains the tenant string and the version of ALM Octane.

7. To clean up the export files, deselect all spaces and click Delete Export Space.

8. Re-activate the space by selecting it and clicking Activate Space.

To import a space:

1. Open the Settings > Site. By default, ALM Octane opens the Spaces sub-tab.
2. Make sure no spaces are selected.

3. Click Import Space. The Import Space dialog box opens.

   1. Indicate whether to import All data or Site users only.
   2. Locate a .osa file that was exported from the same version of ALM Octane.
   3. Choose the space to import.

4. Click Import to load the space.

   If during the import, new users were added to the site to which the space was imported, they are assigned a default password: NewSiteUser1.

   Importing a space into an existing space overwrites the data in the target space. Merging data from two spaces is not supported.

To export and import Elastic data:

1. Enable export and import of Elastic data as described in How to configure Elastic repository for space export import.md.

2. If you are importing into a different environment (for example from staging to production), you need to perform the above procedure in both the export and import environments. In addition, you will need to copy the snapshot from the export Elastic server to the import Elastic server.

Note: Elastic data is not included in the exported .osa file. If you export Elastic data, a snapshot is created in the Elastic server. When you import the space with Elastic data, this snapshot is restored. You therefore need to be careful to not accidentally delete snapshots from Elastic.

Back to top

See also:

- Import from file

https://admhelp.microfocus.com ALM Octane 8942
Tips to improve your search results... ALM Octane Help Center ALM Octane Help 15.1.90 All View Local Help Center View Online Help Center back Go back in browser history forward Go forward in browser history Remove search highlights next topic Go to next topic previous topic Go to previous topic Print the current topic Version: