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Moving to a new server

These are the essential steps needed to move the Smartsign Server-application to a new server. Depending on your configuration and infrastructure there will be variations and additional things to consider.

  1. Prepare the destination server, use the new server preparation checklist and prepare as much as possible before proceeding.
  2. Stop the Smartsign Server 10 service on the old server
  3. Copy these files and folders from the source server to the same location on the destination server
    (default paths, substitute with your installed path as necessary)
  • All servers:
    • C:\Program Files\Smartsign Server 10\config
    • C:\Program Files\Smartsign Server 10\www
  • Server version 10.23 and higher:
    • C:\Program Files\Smartsign Server 10\tools\docker.env.onprem
    • C:\Program Files\Smartsign Server 10\tools\docker\configs
  1. Database location
  • Localhost:
    • Source server: Export or backup the database
    • Destination server: Import or restore the database
    • Recreate database login/user as necessary
  • Remote server:
    • Assuming the existing database will be used for the replacement server, make sure you have a healthy backup before proceeding
  1. Install as usual using the Smartsign Server 10 installer msi
    • Configure and validate database, hostname, smtp and other settings using the Server Installer utility
    • It will start the new server when you are done

Hostname​

Avoid changing the hostname used for Smartsign if possible. If you already have a CNAME (ex: smartsign.example.com) in place, you'll simply reuse this by changing the DNS record once you have confirmed that the new server is working as intended. If you need to change the hostname, users will need to learn a new address and players need to have their configured hostname changed. While this is possible it typically requires more work and planning.

Transitioning​

You should in general not run the new and the old server at the same time. Especially not if re-using the same database. If the new server will have a different hostname (and database) it's possible to leave the old running for a limited period of time to facilitate migration of players to the new hostname, but then it should be shut down and disabled to avoid interfering with the license updates of the replacement server.