Upgrading SQL Server when used with FileHold

This procedure is provided for informational purposes, a Microsoft SQL Server upgrade is not covered by FileCare. If you need assistance, you can contact the FileHold Professional Services team at [email protected]. Make sure the planned new version of SQL Server is compatible with the system requirements for your version of FileHold.

Considerations for FileHold when upgrading Microsoft SQL Server

Performing a SQL upgrade and the easy FileHold related steps below might be a 1 hour process, it depends on speed of server and how long the SQL upgrade takes.

Backup all FileHold Databases and Log files completely, ensure these backups are available by inspecting the backup files. FileHold used four databases with default names ch_librarymanager, ch_documentrepository, ch_fulltextsearch and ch_userrolemanager. The "ch_" is a prefix that can be changedn at installation time, so you should confirm if a custom prefix was used for your databases.

These steps are suitable for FileHold 15.0 and higher.

1. Verify your SQL Server is properly maintained and running in an optimal way. For example, make sure maintenance plans for reindexing, updating statistics and backing up transaction logs are operating normal as needed.
2. Before starting the upgrade, stop the FileHold scheduled tasks to avoid having them run and fill your event log with errors when SQL is not available.
3. Stop the FileHold web site in IIS management.
4. Perform the SQL Upgrade via the SQL installation process. Refer to the documentation provided by Microsoft. Reboot the server as required.
5. When the upgrade is complete, ensure that your FileHold service user account is still the DBOwner of all FileHold databases and has valid log in permissions. You can do this using Microsoft SQL Management Studio.
6. Update the database compatibility level for each of the four FileHold databases to match the level of the SQL server.
7. If you changed the database server instance name as part of the upgrade process, use the utility in the FHInstrumentation tool to update the new name in the FileHold configuration files.
8. Start the FileHold web site in IIS management.
9. Run the Server Health Checker: Run the Health checker application to validate that all is functioning, by following this procedure page. Green/amber is good, red indicates a configuration issue.
10. TEST THE SYSTEM.  If all is green / yellow in the report, then you should login and test the FileHold system:

• Add a document,
• Search for the added document using CONTAINS FTS. You may need to wait a minute for it to be indexed.