Data Restoration and Migration
This topic explains how to restore and migrate data in FlowForce Server.
Data restoration
If the INSTANCEDIR_BACKUP (which is the copy of the INSTANCEDIR) is of the same version and on the same machine as the currently running FlowForce Server, you can restore data as follows:
1. Stop the FlowForce Server service and the FlowForce Web Server service.
2. Rename the INSTANCEDIR, for example, to temp_data.
3. Copy the INSTANCEDIR_BACKUP to INSTANCEDIR.
4. Start both the FlowForce Web Server and FlowForce Server services.
You can also restore backups that originate from another machine and that may have an older database version. The steps below could be useful, for example, if you want to migrate FlowForce data to a new server, or if a hardware failure has occurred.
Note that you can restore data on a machine with the same or a different operating system. In the latter case, note that all the paths used in jobs may not be valid on the new operating system, in which case you will need to update them manually. Importantly, credentials that are tied to operating system user accounts, that is, credentials where the Allow usage for job execution option is enabled, may no longer be valid on a new machine. In this case, you will need to update the credentials manually.
To restore data to a new FlowForce Server installation or version, follow the instructions below:
1.Install FlowForce Server and any of the following if applicable: MapForce Server, StyleVision Server and RaptorXML Server. If you need to install LicenseServer as well, you can select it as part of the FlowForce Server installation (Windows only). On other platforms, you will need to install LicenseServer separately.
2.Log on to the LicenseServer Web administration interface and deregister all the products from the old machine. Then register all the products from the new machine with LicenseServer. This step can also be performed after migration.
3.Stop the FlowForce Server service and the FlowForce Web Server service.
4.Rename the INSTANCEDIR, for example, to temp_data.
5.Run the migratedb command by supplying INSTANCEDIR as --datadir and INSTANCEDIR_BACKUP as --olddatadir (examples below).
Windows
FlowForceServer migratedb
--datadir=C:\ProgramData\Altova\FlowForceServer\data
--olddatadir=C:\transfer\backup_data
CentOS
sudo ./flowforceserver migratedb
--datadir=/var/opt/Altova/FlowForceServer/data
--olddatatdir=/home/chang/backups/data
6.Start (in this order) the FlowForce Server and FlowForce Web Server services.
Data migration
You can migrate FlowForce data by means of the migratedb command or via the FlowForce Server Setup Page. In both cases, data from the existing instance directory will be copied and upgraded if necessary. The existing instance directory will not be modified.
Note that copying an existing instance to a new directory might take some time and disk space. Therefore, an in-place upgrade is recommended when you install a new version of FlowForce Server. An in-place upgrade means that a piece of software is upgraded directly in its existing location, replacing the old version with the new one, rather than installing the new version in a separate location (e.g., in a year-based directory).
If you only need to upgrade the FlowForce database to the latest version, run upgradedb.
Data migration via the FlowForce Server Setup page (any OS)
To migrate data via the Setup page, take the steps below:
2.Navigate to the instance you wish to migrate.
3.Stop the FlowForce Server service and the FlowForce Web Server services.
4.Click the Migrate Instance Directory button.
5.In the dialog that opens, select a location to which you want to migrate the data.
6.Click Migrate Instance. The Setup page will display a new instance. The Actions Log of the new instance will inform you about the migration process.
7.As soon as the migration is complete, start the FlowForce Server Web and the FlowForce Server services if they have not started automatically.
Data migration via the command line
You can also migrate data on Windows and Linux via the command line.
Windows
To migrate FlowForce data on Windows via the command line, follow the instructions below:
1.Stop the FlowForce Server service and the FlowForce Web Server services.
2.At the command prompt, run the FlowForce executable with the migratedb command, for example:
"C:\Program Files(x86)\Altova\FlowForceServer2026\bin\FlowForceServer.exe" migratedb
--olddatadir=C:\ProgramData\Altova\FlowForceServer\data
--datadir=C:\ProgramData\Altova\FlowForceServer_New
3.Start the FlowForce Server Web and the FlowForce Server services.
Linux
To migrate data on Linux via the command line, follow the instructions below:
1.Uninstall the previous version of FlowForce Server. Note that deinstallation does not remove the instance-data directory. For more information, see Important Paths.
2.Install FlowForce Server 2026. This creates a new instance-data directory with the default configuration data (for example, /var/opt/FlowForceServer).
3.Stop the FlowForce Server service if it is running:
sudo systemctl stop flowforceserver
4.Stop the FlowForce Web Server service if it is running:
sudo systemctl stop flowforcewebserver
5.Migrate the data by running the migratedb command. For example:
sudo /opt/Altova/FlowForceServer2026/bin/flowforceserver migratedb
--olddatadir=/var/opt/Altova/FlowForceServer/data
--datadir=/var/opt/Altova_FlowForceServer_Data_New
6.Start the FlowForce Server service:
sudo systemctl start flowforceserver
7.Start the FlowForce Web Server service:
sudo systemctl start flowforcewebserver