Go live for production - BA
This section explains the process for moving Pentaho content and server settings among multiple server instances. Typically, this process includes either two or three separate servers with identical configurations: one for BA content development, one for testing and QA if desired, and one for production. We recommend that you work with a member of Pentaho professional services to help with the preparation work for deployment to production.
Prepare for going live
This section is divided into two parts; the first part serves as a checklist for setting up a Pentaho Server, and the second consists of prerequisites that you must perform before going live with your production server. If you already have your production server
ready to go, skip ahead to the tasks listed in the Pentaho Server Set Up Checklist below. table.
This checklist guides you through the tasks you need to do to ensure a smooth transition from a development server to a live production server.
| Task | Do This | Notes |
| Verify System Requirements |
|
|
| Obtain Software and Install the Pentaho Server |
| |
| Change the Server Fully Qualified URL | If you are going to have many machines pointing to one server, make sure you change the fully qualified URL and verify that you can connect to it. | |
| Configure the Server |
|
| Task | Do This | Notes |
| Compare configuration files |
|
|
| Verify Data Sources |
| |
| Define Security |
| |
| Upload Content |
|
Compare configuration files
The most important server configuration
settings are stored in the
/server/pentaho-server/pentaho-solutions/system/ directory. There are
also a few core settings inside of the Pentaho WAR
archive deployed to your application server, though they should not change at all after your
initial server setup is complete.
CautionDo not change the names of any content
files, data sources, solution directories, or other file names during the promotion process.
Names should be set during solution development and strictly maintained throughout content
promotion. Modifying file names can result in complications with BA content that cannot be
immediately detected, which will negatively impact your QA process.
To be absolutely
certain that you have all of the server configuration files selected, you should compare the
following directories in their entirety:- /pentaho-solutions/system/
- /WEB-INF/ inside your deployed pentaho.war
- /META-INF/ inside your deployed pentaho.war
- For JBoss deployments, the PentahoHibernate-ds.xml and quartz-ds.xml files in the /server/default/deploy/ directory
NoteThere are binaries inside of the plugin directories for Analyzer, Dashboard Designer, Interactive Reports, and Community Dashboard Framework. While it may be useful to note any binary differences, which would
indicate possible version differences among Pentaho Server or plugin deployments, in general you should be most
concerned with XML configuration files and properties files. However, if you have done any
plugin customization work, you will need to promote those changes as well.
Move content to production server
This checklist is a compilation of best
practices for you to use to promote your Pentaho Server settings, data sources, and content.
Before you dive into going from a development server to your live production server, make sure that you have completed all of the tasks in the Prerequisites checklist.
| Task | Do This | Notes |
| Download Content |
| |
| Set Up Schedules and Blockout Times |
|
Next steps
These resources will be helpful to you
after your Production server is live.
- Fine-Tune Pentaho Systems - provides guidance on how to maintain and fine-tune your Pentaho Server.
- Pentaho Training and Education
- Hitachi Vantara Lumada and Pentaho Support Portal - check with support for service packs.