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Sawmill Newsletter

January 15, 2009

Welcome to the Sawmill Newsletter!

You’re receiving this newsletter because during the downloading or purchase of Sawmill, you checked the box to join our mailing list. If you wish to be removed from this list, please send an email, with the subject line of “UNSUBSCRIBE” to newsletter@sawmill.net .

News

Sawmill 8.0.1 shipped on December 24, 2008. This is a minor "bug fix" release, and it is free to existing Sawmill 8 users. It is recommended for anyone who is experiencing problems with Sawmill 8.0.0. You can download it from http://sawmill.net/download.html .

Sawmill 7 users can upgrade to Sawmill 8 for half of the license price; or if you have Premium Support, the upgrade is free. Major features of Sawmill 8 include support for Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server databases, real-time reporting, a completely redesigned web interface, better multi-processor and multi-core support, and role-based authentication control.

This issue of the Sawmill Newsletter describes the process for migrating from Sawmill 7 profiles, databases, users, and schedules to Sawmill 8.

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Tips & Techniques: Migrating Sawmill 7 Data to Sawmill 8

If you've upgraded from Sawmill 7 to Sawmill 8, you probably have existing profiles, databases, users, and schedules in your Sawmill 7 installation, which you would like to use with Sawmill 8. Sawmill 8 provides an Import Wizard for easy transfer of these files and data.

To start, first install Sawmill 8, but do not uninstall Sawmill 7. Or, if you want to uninstall Sawmill 7, make sure you back up your LogAnalysisInfo folder to a drive where Sawmill 8 can reach it. Once Sawmill 8 is installed and running, the Admin page will show no profiles:

Sawmill 8 Fresh Install

Now, click the Import link at the right of the Admin menu, and then click "Import Sawmill 7 data" to bring up the Import Wizard:

Import Wizard: Browse To LogAnalysisInfo

Click the Browse button and browse to the location of the LogAnalysisInfo folder in your Sawmill 7 installation (or enter the pathname of the LogAnalysisInfo folder in the field), and click the Next button. Sawmill will examine the Sawmill 7 LogAnalysisInfo, finding your profiles, schedules, and users, and display a page like this, where you can check which ones you want to import:

Import Wizard: Select Data To Import

After selecting the profiles you want to import into Sawmill 8, and checking Schedules and/or Users if you want to import the Sawmill 7 schedules or users, click Next. The Import Wizard will show a page like the following, asking which databases should be converted:

Import Wizard: Select Databases To Import

After selecting the database you want to import, click Next. If any of them are MySQL databases, you will be prompted at this point to choose the name of the MySQL databases for Sawmill 8 (it can't be the same as the Sawmill 7 profile, or the converted Sawmill 8 database will overwrite the Sawmill 7 database, and vice versa); if this appears, choose the names at this point. The next page gives a list of data that will be imported:

Import Wizard: Ready To Import

After reviewing the list, click Finish to confirm and begin the import. Sawmill will convert your profiles to Sawmill 8 format, and install them in the Sawmill 8 profiles list. It will convert the databases for those profiles to Sawmill 8 database format (if you asked it to), and install them in the Sawmill 8 installation. It will convert the schedules and users to Sawmill 8 format (if requested), and install them as Sawmill 8 schedules and users. As it imports, it will show its progress by adding Complete next to each item. If there are errors, it will report them; otherwise, you will get a page like this:

Import Wizard: Import Completed

The import was successful, so now click Close to close the Import Wizard, and then click Profiles in the Admin menu to return to the profiles list:

Profiles List After Successful Import

The list now contains the profiles that have been converted from Sawmill 7. If you look at Scheduler or Users, you will see your imported schedules and users; if you view reports, you will see the data from the imported Sawmill 7 profiles.

Advanced Topic: Converting A Database to SQL Server Or Oracle

The Import Wizard converts Sawmill 7 databases using the "internal" database engine to Sawmill 8 databases using the "internal" database engine, and it converts databases using MySQL to Sawmill 8 databases using MySQL. If you want to change the database to use Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle, you need to then convert the database to a new format by exporting it to text, changing the database server, and importing it. This is done from the command line.

To export a database to text, use this command:

sawmill -p profile -a ed -d v8DatabaseExport

This exports the database for the profile profile to a text format, and puts the text files in a directory called v8DatabaseExport (or use a different pathname for the export directory). Now, go to the Database -> Server section of the profile Config. There, change the database server options to point to the database server you want to use (e.g., select MS SQL and enter the DSN information). Save the changes, and run this command:

sawmill -p profile -a id -d v8DatabaseExport

This will import the database from the text files in the folder v8DatabaseExport. This will put the data into the profile's database, which is now in the new location you specified. That's all--the profile now uses a different database engine, and the original data from the database is in the new location.

This method can be used with any v8 profile (not just those converted from Sawmill 7), to convert its database from one database server to another.

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