Setting Up Source Databases for Migration

Before migrating data, indicate your source and target SAP ASE servers and register the paths between the source and target databases they contain.

To do this, start sybmigrate with the -m setup command line option, or by selecting “Setup source databases for migration” when you are prompted in the Session Type window.

  1. The Connect to ASE window allows you to designate the source and the target SAP ASE servers for your migration process.
    • Choose from the drop-down menu in the Server fields. The menus provide a list of SAP ASE servers that are located in the default interfaces file ($SYBASE/interfaces on UNIX or %SYBASE%\ini\sql.ini on Windows) or in the interfaces file that you specify with the -I command line argument.

      If you are not using the interfaces file, you cannot use the -I command line argument; you must specify the source and the target SAP ASE servers in the host:port format.

    • During the setup phase, you must be logged in to the servers as a System Administrator. Enter “sa” into the Login field, enter your password, and select Connect.

    Note: You can run only one session of sybmigrate at a time. Therefore, if there is another user running sybmigrate on the same source and target SAP ASE servers, you see the error message “Setup session lock: Either previous setup exit abnormal or there is another setup session running. Do you want to override?” You can override the session lock because it is possible that the previous session may have crashed or quit prematurely.

    Before proceeding with the setup and migration process, verify that there are no other users running sybmigrate. If there is more than one user running sybmigrate simultaneously, Sybase cannot guarantee data integrity.

  2. The Session Type window prompts you to select the type of operation you want to perform. Choose from:
    • Setup source databases for migration

    • Migrate database objects and data

    • Validate the migrated objects and data

    • Reports – when you select Reports, a Reports type window displays. You can choose from status, space_est, repl, diff, or password. When you select either the space estimation or the replication report, a Report Paths Window prompts you to select the database paths on which to run the reports.

      The Password, Status, and Replications reports are disabled if the setup session has not been completed between the source and target SAP ASE servers.

    If you started sybmigrate with the -m option specifying setup, migrate, validate, or reports you do not see this window.

  3. Use the Setup wizard to prepare databases for migration. The Setup wizard displays several windows:
    • Choose Database window

      This window prompts you to select the source and target databases located within your source and target SAP ASE servers, so that sybmigrate knows where to put the data from the source SAP ASE server in the target SAP ASE server.

      Note: The source and target databases must have identical names.

      The Source Database drop-down list has a list of the databases in your source SAP ASE server.

      The Target Database drop-down list has a list of the databases available in the target SAP ASE server. sybmigrate requires that you create the databases in the target SAP ASE server before beginning the migration process.

      The migration path is a selected source and target database pair.

    • Configure DDL threads

      Choose the number of threads to be used to create database objects on the target server for the specified migration path.

    • Configure copy threads

      Chose the number of threads to be used to copy data from the source to the target for the migration path. Make sure you use sufficient numbers of threads for systems with multiple engines.

    • Configure index threads

      Chose the number of threads to be used to create indexes on the target server for the specified migration path. Make sure you use sufficient numbers of threads for systems with multiple engines.

      You control the number of threads used for parallel table transfer. When several tables are transferred concurrently, each table requires a one-server-to-one-server CIS connection.

      Suppose the data migration is performed on unpartitioned tables (each table contains a single partition). When you migrate such tables, a single server-to-server connection is established, which uses a single user connection on the source SAP ASE server and a single user connection on the target SAP ASE server.

      If the data migration is performed on n-way partitioned tables, the data transfer is performed in parallel with an n-way degree of parallelism. This requires n worker processes on the source server and 2n user connections on the target server.

      For example, suppose you have 10 n-way partitioned tables to migrate. You use four threads in sybmigrate, and configure the source SAP ASE server to have at least four worker processes and eight user connections. You must configure the target SAP ASE server to have at least eight user connections.

    Note: The value you assign to each property in the setup session becomes the default value. You can temporarily override default values in the migrate or validate session. Limit these values to the resources available to the SAP ASE server.
    • Configuring the work database

      sybmigrate requires at least one work database during the migration process. The Database size field provides a default value in megabytes. The default value is based on the number of copy and create index threads specified in a previous window. The default is the minimum value; you can increase but not decrease it.

      The Device field lets you indicate the device on which to create the work database.

      Note: When migrating from a source SAP ASE version 12.0 through 12.5.0, sybmigrate also requires a work database on the target server. The wizard prompts for the same information for the target work database.
    • Current paths

      Review the migration paths you have selected. Right-click a migration path to display edit and delete options.

      You can add paths by selecting Add Migration Path. To add paths later on, rerun sybmigate in Setup mode.

    • Configure repository

      sybmigrate creates a repository database on the source server to track the migration of all migration paths. The default database size is a minimum; you can increase but not decrease it.

    • Migration of server-wide data

      You can choose whether or not to migrate information in system catalogs, such as login information. The options are:
      • Yes – server-wide data is migrated at the end of the Setup phase.

      • No – server-wide data is not migrated. You can return to this window and choose to migrate data at any time—as long as database migration has not yet begun.

      • Undecided – allows you to return and choose another migration option later on. However, you cannot begin the Migration phase until you have chosen Yes or No. Undecided is useful when you want to set up the migration process, but plan to migrate data at a later date.

      If the target server already has been configured for logins or other server-wide information, sybmigrate defaults this option to No.

      The Options button provides advanced options for handling login accounts. The options let you specify:

      • Whether or not to lock login accounts after migration

      • How to handle login passwords when migrating across platforms
        • No change – use when migrating to the same platform (default)

        • Generate random passwords

        • Assign passwords from a list in a file

    • Summary

      Displays a summary of options chosen. Click Finish to perform the chosen setup tasks.

  4. The Setup Progress window displays the progress of the setup phase.

    During this time, sybmigrate is creating the repository database, installing the database schema, creating a working database for each selected path, and migrating the server data based on your selection, in that order. If you are running sybmigrate in setup mode a subsequent time, it is creating new paths for data migration. If you do not want to create new paths, there is no reason to run sybmigrate through the setup mode more than once.

    You can to view the progress in the log by clicking Show Log. The completion of the setup process is indicated when the Current Task window displays DONE, and when the log shows SETUP_COMPLETE. Click Close to exit the log and the Setup Progress window.

  5. You return to the Connect to ASE window. Select Quit to exit sybmigrate. To begin the migration phase of the data migration process, exit sybmigrate and restart it in the migrate mode.
Related concepts
GUI Mode