How to migrate Workbench jobs to new server safely?

JunkDoom

I will be decommissioning my server Domo Workbench runs on and need to migrate all jobs to a new machine. The current Workbench has jobs that run as frequently as every 60 minutes. I figured I could just export/import the jobs/settings, and leave them in a disabled state on the new server, test my connections to Domo, then enable the jobs on the new server and disable the jobs on the old server.

However, on the job export screen there is a note saying "It's not recommended to switch jobs between computers. Please set up new jobs on each computer." I don't see any explanation for the risks. Some jobs have dozens of columns, some of which need data types changed, upsert keys verified, etc. It would likely take hours to manually create the jobs. And if anything got messed up and the server needed to be rebuilt, I'd have to start all over again.

Does anyone know what the risks are? What's the best way to proceed? Thanks!

Landon W.

Hey, JunkDoom,

My name is Landon, and I am with the Domo Support team.

Rather than doing an export of your jobs, which can cause problems when being imported to a new machine, we recommend using the Workbench backup tool to migrate to a new machine or server. Please refer to this article for full details: https://domo-support.domo.com/s/article/000005219?language=en_US

To get to the backup tool, in Workbench click into the ellipses menu (…) followed by the three lines to expand the sidebar. Three options up from 'Export' you should see 'Settings'. The Workbench backup can be found there.

JunkDoom

I did see that config export option but assumed that it was also an option, but risky. I will try it. If I want jobs to restore in a DISABLED state so they don't run unexpectedly on the new server, are these steps reasonable?

-Disable jobs on the current server and back up config
-Re-enable all jobs on current server
-Restore config to new server
-Make sure I can authorize to my domo account and test jobs on new server
-Disable jobs on current server and enable jobs on new server

If I back up/restore the config right now, can the jobs sit on the new machine for a few weeks before I activate them, or will jobs running on the original server confuse the new server?

There is also a SQL Server database migration going on at the same time as this move, so I'm trying to minimize the moving parts when it's cutover time.

GrantSmith

The last time I utilized the backup and import backup, it created new jobs with the same definition but with new datasets and job IDs, which caused a lot of issues and duplicated datasets.

What I recommend doing is doing a registry migration where it treats the new server as the existing server and Domo will restore all the jobs as is. You'd just need to make sure you don't have them both running at the same time.

Here's some documentation on this process:

https://domo-support.domo.com/s/article/4407023681559?language=en_US