Export and import spaces and space customization

You can export a space and re-import it to another ALM Octane instance.

In addition, you can apply a shared space's customization to another space by exporting the customization from one space and importing it to another space.

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, only the site users and their relations are exported. 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 and considerations:

  • The ALM Octane environments from which a space is exported and to which the space is imported need to be of the same version.

  • 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 ALM 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 prevent data inconsistency, during the export operation, the exported space is deactivated. The space is reactivated automatically after the operation is completed.

  • You cannot import a space from a non-LDAP environment to an LDAP environment.

To export a space: 

  1. Open 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.

  3. Click Export Space.

  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 Enable export and import of 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 Files.

    Note: OSA files of deleted shared spaces will not be deleted.

To import a space: 

  1. Open 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.

      • When All data is selected, importing a space into an existing space overwrites the data in the target space. Merging data from two spaces is not supported.

      • If you import into an existing space using Site users only, ValueEdge and ALM Octane does not modify the space data, but rather creates missing site users and connects them to the space. This option is intended for duplicating space data using manual tools, rather than the export/import tool. When importing Site users only, make sure that the space data of the existing space is aligned with the space data of the exported space.

    2. Locate a .osa file that was exported from the same version of ValueEdge and ALM Octane.

    3. Choose the space to import.

  4. Click Import.

    If new users were added to the destination site during the space's import, the users are assigned a default password: NewSiteUser1.

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Enable export and import of Elastic data

The following steps create a physical repository in the Elastic server that will store the snapshots of exported ALM Octane spaces, and then register this repository in ALM Octane by its name.

If you already have an Elastic repository that you can use for this purpose, or if you have your own guidelines to create it, skip steps 1-3. Register the repository in ALM Octane using step 4.

If you are importing from one environment to another (for example from staging to production), perform this procedure in both the export and import environments.

To create a repository in Elastic and register it in ALM Octane:

  1. In the elasticsearch.yml file (under the config folder) add the following property:

    • Windowspath.repo: ["c:\\mqm\\site\\storage\\site"]

    • Linuxpath.repo: ["/opt/octanerepo/storage/site"]

    Replace this with any folder in your environment where index backups will be stored by the Export space tool.

  2. Restart the Elastic server.

  3. Register a new Elastic repository using a REST call to the Elastic server:

    Windows:

    curl -X PUT localhost:9200/_snapshot/octane_migrate -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{\"type\": \"fs\", \"settings\": { \"location\": \"C:\\mqm\\site\\storage\\site\\migrate_ssp\"}}"

    Linux:

    curl -X PUT <server>:9200/_snapshot/octane_migrate -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"type": "fs", "settings": { "location": "/opt/octanerepo/storage/site/migrate_ssp"}}'

    • octane_migrate is an arbitrary logical name of the new repository which will identify it.

    • location should be any folder under the path you specified in the yml file.

  4. Define the following site parameter in ALM Octane: MIGRATION_ELASTIC_REPOSITORY.

    This should be defined as the name of the repository you registered in the previous step. In the above example, the value of the parameter would be octane_migrate.

    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.

  • The snapshot location must be accessible both from the export environment Elastic server and the import environment Elastic server. If this is not the case, you need to copy the snapshot manually after the export finished to the repository of the import environment Elastic server.

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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.

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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.

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See also: