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      Moving a MFT Hub to a new machine

      This article details the steps needed to move the MFT Hub service to a new machine.

      Moving your SureSync MFT Hub installation to a new machine might be necessary. For instance, the machine you have the Hub installed on could be being replaced by newer hardware.

      Please note that special care must be taken when moving a database to a new machine to ensure that users are not locked out of the SureSync MFT (MFT) database due to lack of permissions on the Job Folder(s) in the database. If the old machine and the new machine are both members of the same domain and you use domain accounts and groups for Job Folder permissions in MFT, no additional work should be needed. The same user accounts and groups will be recognized on the new machine.

      If you are using local groups only, you must change the permissions on the Job Folders in your database before copying it to the new machine. You can end up using local groups either by choice when in a domain (you decide not to use domain accounts for the Job Folder permissions) or because one or both of the machines are standalone and do not have access to domain accounts.

      You can also have problems if the machines are members of different domains and no trust is established between them. In these cases, you must add the "Everyone" group to each Job Folder in your database and grant that group "Full Control" before copying the database to the new machine. This will allow you to open the database on the new machine, and you should immediately redefine your security for each Job Folder on the new machine and then remove the "Everyone" group to prevent unauthorized access to the MFT database.

      To move the MFT Hub to a different machine you would do the following:

      1. Disable all Jobs in the MFT Desktop on the original Hub machine. This will ensure that the Jobs don't launch on the new machine before you've verified that everything is configured correctly on the new machine. The easiest way to do this is launch Enterprise Status and click on Disable All.
      2. If your SQL database is hosted on a separate SQL server, you need to know the server name, instance name (if any), and database name to open the same database on the new machine. If the database is hosted on a SQL instance on the machine being retired, you will need to use SQL Management Studio to perform a full backup of the database and restore it into SQL on the new machine. This is most common with SQL Express installations. You can easily retrieve your database information by launching the MFT Desktop on the old machine and looking in the lower right corner. There will be Database: [DatabaseName] on [server\instance]. Make note of these details. You will need to know a SQL credential with db_owner permissions to the database in question.
      3. Install the full MFT installation on the new machine.
      4. Launch the MFT Desktop on the new machine. You will be prompted to open a database. Click the "Open an unlisted database" button. Provide the relevant details for the database obtained in step 2.
      5. Expand "Computers and Storage" in the left-hand tree navigation and click on "Servers."
      6. Click on "Computer" in the Ribbon Bar to launch the Computer Wizard. Add the new machine to the database.
      7. Stop the "Software Pursuits SureSync MFT Communications Agent" service on both the old and new Hub machines.
      8. In the MFT Desktop, click on the Home button, click on "Additional Actions," and click on the "Change the Hub Machine" button. If you have not stopped the Hub service on the old machine, you will receive a warning that you must stop that service.
      9. In the "Change Hub Machine" dialog, select the old Hub machine the "Select your old MFT Hub from the list below" drop-dow menu and select the new Hub machine in the "Select the new machine that will become the new MFT Hub from the list below" drop-down menu.
      10. Click the "Change MFT Hub" button.
      11. Click OK and the MFT Desktop will restart.
      12. Start or restart the "Software Pursuits SureSync MFT Communications Agent" service on the new Hub machine.

      You have now completed switching the Hub to the new machine. There are additional steps you may need to take.

      1. It's critical you make sure all paths in your Jobs are still correct. If the old Hub machine had paths in the Jobs and the machine is being retired, you must update the paths in the relevant Jobs to use the new Hub agent. This can be done by clicking on Home | Additional Actions | Replace Machine References. 
      2. If the old Hub machine is being fully removed, you can right-click on that machine under Computers and Storage | Servers and delete the machine. You can only delete the machine if it has no Root Path references in any Jobs.
      3. You will want to ensure that the new Hub machine is activated and the old Hub machine is deactivated (if no longer in use). To process license activations, click on "Licenses" in the Ribbon Bar of the MFT Desktop. Click the "Activations..." button. Check "Activate" for the new Hub machine if it it not already activated. Check "Deactivate" for the old Hub machine if it is no longer in use. Click on the "Activate, Deactivate or Refresh via the Internet" button to process the activation request. If the Hub machine does not have Internet access, click on the "Export Activation/Deactivation Request" button instead and follow the prompts.
      4. Enable your Jobs from the new Hub machine.