Moving BI 5 to a different server

[ingeborgdot]

I'm going to be moving my BI Server to another PC I have. What I'm actually doing is taking my Plex Media Server and upgrading that. I'll be taking the case from the BI Server and buying all new components to beef up my Plex. Well, I'll be taking my BI and moving it to my Plex server and it's components which will be a good bump up in power, which is good anyway.
So, where can I find the best tutorial on taking my BI and moving it to another server? Or if anyone can point me in the right direction for some good detail literature on the subject.
Thanks.

 

[sebastiantombs]

All you really need to do is to make sure you have your license number. You can get that by clicking on "contact support" on the configuration page. That will copy the license, and basic config information to your clip board. Then just paste it into NotePad or WordPad, print it out and save it as a file. Once you've done that you can deactivate the license in the current install and that is important to do.

Additionally you may want to export your configuration setting for your cameras. That is also available in the system configuration of the main console. Make sure you copy those files to somewhere else on your system so you have a backup. Personally, I'd rather recreate each camera when moving a system just to keep things "pristine", at least to start with anyway.

 

[ingeborgdot]

So you want me to recreate all my settings to all 49 of my cameras?

 

[sebastiantombs]

I did not say todo that. I said I prefer to do that, but then again I only have 22 cameras.

 

[ingeborgdot]

I'm just messing with you. I don't have 49 cameras, but just wanted to give you a bad time. I only have 10 cameras, so it shouldn't be too bad to switch over. Are there some configuration settings that you can save over, or is it all or none.
Sorry, for messing with you, but....

 

[sebastiantombs]

I think it'll move all your configs over. Another dodge would be to go into the registry and copy all of the camera configs from there.

 

[wittaj]

Like anything, some have had success doing an import and others have had issues.

I would say do an export from the global BI settings and do one for each camera to have just in case.

But what you could do to recreate from scratch and not take too much time is since you are moving from one working computer to another is have one in EVAL mode and then open up a page in BI and then manually type it in the other computer. That way you don't have to write it down or screenshot it. I just set two monitors next to each other and went to town and didn't take too long.

 

[ingeborgdot]

But you believe it is much better to just do it from scratch though. I'll probably do it that way. Just take a snapshot of my settings, etc. since I won't be able to have a PC and monitor next to it. It only takes some time, and I seem to have a lot of that.

 

[sebastiantombs]

I do keep screenshots of camera settings as a routine thing to do for the camera settings. It is yet another way to get the settings moved and entering them rather than importing does insure a "clean" installation. Importing can import the boo boos and errors that go with them, hence why I said, originally, to recreate everything.

 

[wittaj]

I believe it is better to do from scratch. Your system now has been updated BI versions and what not, so there could be code in the config file of a camera that isn't present when you download and install whatever version BI you are running and then you get problems.

When I migrated, I tried the quick way with an import and several of the cameras didn't work.

 

[ingeborgdot]

Okay, I finally got everything I need to start my new build for my Plex, so I'm going to start the move from the one server to another.
I'm going to mess around a little and try the export and import process. If it doesn't work, I'll just do each camera all over again. I have taken screen shots of each of the cameras settings, so I have everything I need to set it up.
I have exported each camera individually, plus also the the Global BI settings.
When I go to import, is there anything I need to do special? I've never tried it before, so I'm not sure if there is more to the process than just that?
What do you recommend doing for the download of BI on the new server?
Thanks.

 

[ingeborgdot]

I still use BI tools, even though they haven't had updates as of late. How can I get my settings of that over to my new setup?
Edit: I got it.

 

[ingeborgdot]

I did the export - import, and it all is working great. No problems at all that I can see.

 

[ingeborgdot]

I am running the BI in the new server in Demo mode at this point, to make sure all it good. I should be ready to deactivate the old server shortly. I just want it to run awhile if that makes sense.