Prepare the source Data Archive for the move

After installing Data Archive on the target computer, prepare to move and then decommission the source Data Archive.

1. If you are not using the automatic archive creation feature, verify that there are some empty archives registered on the source Data Archive. Build and register a few new archives if necessary.

   Some empty archives will be moved to the target Data Archive later in the procedure.

2. Use the SMT Archives tool (Operation > Archives) to force an archive shift on the source Data Archive.

   Note: Forcing a shift ensures that the primary archive is nearly empty. When the target Data Archive is eventually brought online, a flood of events will come in from the buffered interface nodes, which can cause a nearly-full archive to shift. It is better to force a shift ahead of time under controlled conditions.

3. Create a list of all registered archives on the source Data Archive.

   1. From a command prompt, run the piartool -al command to create an archive list.

   2. Redirect the output to a file.

   3. Record this file location; you will use the output later to determine which archive to move to the target server first.

4. Determine the directory where Data Archive writes its event queues.

   This directory is determined by the Snapshot_EventQueuePath tuning parameter. On PI SMT, this is accessed from the Operations > Tuning Parameters > Snapshot tab.

   If Snapshot_EventQueuePath does not appear in the output, the event queue directory is PI\dat.

5. If the event queue directory on the target Data Archive uses a different drive letter or directory path, edit the Snapshot_EventQueuePath tuning parameter to point to the desired event queue path on the target Data Archive.

   You may make this change on the source Data Archive because changes to Snapshot_EventQueuePath do not take effect until you restart PI Snapshot Subsystem.

6. Shut down PI Snapshot Subsystem service on the source computer.

   After shutting down the PI Snapshot Subsystem Service, make sure that the queue is empty and that there are no events in the queue.

   • Run piartool -qwait to make sure that the queue is empty.

   • Run piartool -qs to check that "Events in Queue" is 0.

7. Shut down Data Archive on the source computer.

8. Back up the source Data Archive.

   Follow the instructions in this topic: Back up your source Data Archive using the offline command backup pidiag -backup <backupdir>.

9. On the source Data Archive, disable the PI Network Manager service so that Data Archive does not restart accidentally.

10. Assign a new IP address to the source node and rename the source node.

11. Restart the source Data Archive computer so that the new IP address and source server name take effect.

    Data Archive will not start again after the restart, provided you disabled the PI Network Manager service on the source Data Archive.