I have been struggling for 2 days now in trying to deploy our Umbraco site to the live system. I have the web site and database set up with the same versions of Umbraco/Courier etc and the same licence files. But I have been unable to transfer the content or underlying structure across successfully.
Background: I have 3 Data Types which are custom in that they have non-standard names but were created from the standard Data Types (checklist, no edit and macro container) and share the same render controls and GUIDs as the original Data Types. I have a number of Document Types which use these Data Types. These all derive from a base Document Type. Similarly I have a number of Templates which the Document Types use which derive from a single master Template.
Since Courier does not currently support transfer of any of these things there seem to be 3 options available:
(a) Create a Package to export/import the Data Types, Document Types and Templates. However, the Data Types seem to get corrupted when installing the package: if they are created they default back to NText and PreValues are created with different values; at other times a terminal error is displayed when trying to view them - see my issue in CodePlex http://umbraco.codeplex.com/workitem/29961. Presumably because the Data Types are corrupted, they disappear from the Document Types. Furthermore the inheritance structure of both the Document Types and Templates is ignored when installing the package.
(b) Re-enter the Data Types, Document Types and Templates manually. If I do this then all appears to be well but when I transfer using Courier virtually all my media and content links are corrupted (the wrong images appear and the links to content pages are bad or missing).
It seems that whichever route I take it is fraught with problems. Could anybody advise how to deploy the underlying Umbraco data such that the content can then be transferred successfully via Courier?
Hi, I deployed my Courier installation by duplicating the database and copying the files as you describe in (c). Can I question your use of the term 'Export/Import of the entire database' - did you use DTS or SSIS to copy all objects in the database? If so have you examined the resulting cmsPropertyData table (either via sp_help 'cmsPropertyData' or by scripting the table to a new window in Management Studio). You might find that the IDENTITY has been dropped from the id column.
If this is the case, there is a post in this forum that describes how to transfer an Umbraco db from vistadb to sqlserver and that has a copy of the schema of an empty Umbraco database in it. Try running that script in to the (empty) target database before attepting to transfer via DTS/SSIS again.
Thx for the reply Ant ... I used MSSQL Management Studio Import/Export on a blank database. I didn't check the cmsPropertyData table since I am not familiar with the database structure and didn't want to risk corrupting it. Not sure why the IDENTITY should be dropped but will give your script a go if you can give me a link?
The original thread with the sample code attached is VistaDB-to-SQL-Server-Utility and the resulting project is vistadb-to-sql-server but the downloads have been removed from both due to some legal matters apparently - god know what about!
I've put the empty db script from the package here - note that I've used this on a 4.0.4 installation - I assume things have changed for 4.5 onwards.
I would check the structure of the target db first to see if the identities are mising, but it sounds likely given the method and the resulting error.
Many thanks for your help Ant ... I daren't use the script since we're on 4.5.2 and I suspect it will cause more probs. Will re-run Import/Export and check the cmsPropertyData table as you advise.
Deployment Problems
I have been struggling for 2 days now in trying to deploy our Umbraco site to the live system. I have the web site and database set up with the same versions of Umbraco/Courier etc and the same licence files. But I have been unable to transfer the content or underlying structure across successfully.
Background: I have 3 Data Types which are custom in that they have non-standard names but were created from the standard Data Types (checklist, no edit and macro container) and share the same render controls and GUIDs as the original Data Types. I have a number of Document Types which use these Data Types. These all derive from a base Document Type. Similarly I have a number of Templates which the Document Types use which derive from a single master Template.
Since Courier does not currently support transfer of any of these things there seem to be 3 options available:
(a) Create a Package to export/import the Data Types, Document Types and Templates. However, the Data Types seem to get corrupted when installing the package: if they are created they default back to NText and PreValues are created with different values; at other times a terminal error is displayed when trying to view them - see my issue in CodePlex http://umbraco.codeplex.com/workitem/29961. Presumably because the Data Types are corrupted, they disappear from the Document Types. Furthermore the inheritance structure of both the Document Types and Templates is ignored when installing the package.
(b) Re-enter the Data Types, Document Types and Templates manually. If I do this then all appears to be well but when I transfer using Courier virtually all my media and content links are corrupted (the wrong images appear and the links to content pages are bad or missing).
(c) Export/Import the entire database and web-site from the original system to the target system along with a complete copy of the original web-site. Then edit the configs etc for the live environement. This caused the system to generate errors relating to inserting a null id in the ID column (as reported by another user here http://our.umbraco.org/forum/ourumb-dev-forum/bugs/12451-Cannot-insert-the-value-NULL-into-column-%27id%27-move-from-localhost-to-server)
It seems that whichever route I take it is fraught with problems. Could anybody advise how to deploy the underlying Umbraco data such that the content can then be transferred successfully via Courier?
Hi, I deployed my Courier installation by duplicating the database and copying the files as you describe in (c). Can I question your use of the term 'Export/Import of the entire database' - did you use DTS or SSIS to copy all objects in the database? If so have you examined the resulting cmsPropertyData table (either via sp_help 'cmsPropertyData' or by scripting the table to a new window in Management Studio). You might find that the IDENTITY has been dropped from the id column.
If this is the case, there is a post in this forum that describes how to transfer an Umbraco db from vistadb to sqlserver and that has a copy of the schema of an empty Umbraco database in it. Try running that script in to the (empty) target database before attepting to transfer via DTS/SSIS again.
TTFN
Ant
Thx for the reply Ant ... I used MSSQL Management Studio Import/Export on a blank database. I didn't check the cmsPropertyData table since I am not familiar with the database structure and didn't want to risk corrupting it. Not sure why the IDENTITY should be dropped but will give your script a go if you can give me a link?
The original thread with the sample code attached is VistaDB-to-SQL-Server-Utility and the resulting project is vistadb-to-sql-server but the downloads have been removed from both due to some legal matters apparently - god know what about!
I've put the empty db script from the package here - note that I've used this on a 4.0.4 installation - I assume things have changed for 4.5 onwards.
I would check the structure of the target db first to see if the identities are mising, but it sounds likely given the method and the resulting error.
TTFN
Ant
Many thanks for your help Ant ... I daren't use the script since we're on 4.5.2 and I suspect it will cause more probs. Will re-run Import/Export and check the cmsPropertyData table as you advise.
don't use import/export for database transfer, you get those "insert identity null" errors. use backup/restore.
I'm experincing a similar problem with the inheritance structure of the Document Types.
Have you found a solution to that?
Regards
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