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4.4. Moving HelpSpot 5 Windows Installations

To move a windows installation from one server to another, first take an assessment of your current system environment.

• Database Platform: MySQL or SQL Server? - You can determine this by opening the .env file in your current environment and noting the DB_CONNECTION value
• Database Location: Application server or external? - You can determine this by opening the .env file in your current environment and noting the DB_HOST value. If the value is "localhost" or "127.0.0.1" then the database is co-located with the application server. If you have a connection to an external IP or DNS then the db is most likely external and won't need to be moved along with the application server.
• Web Server: Apache or IIS? - Determine if you are using IIS or Apache to host your helpspot instance. You may want to open the "IIS Manager" tool in windows to look for a helpspot site and check your helpspot install location to see if Apache has been installed.

Install HelpSpot on Your New Server

1. Follow the standard windows installation instructions as if you were installing a new server: https://support.helpspot.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=648. You can install the latest version of HelpSpot 5 even if your current installation is on an older version of HelpSpot 5. The moving process will also update your instance.
2. This guide will direct you to install HelpSpot using IIS and Microsoft SQL Server. If you determined above that you are using MySQL, you will need to modify your installation .env to connect to your mysql server. You will also need to enable the mysql extensions in your php.ini file.
3. It can be good to just login and make sure that you new server is all configured and functional before starting to move your data.

Migrate The Database

1. Place your old server in maintenance mode. This will prevent the old server from performing database changes during migration.
2. If you determined that your database location is on the Application server you will need to make a backup of that database and import it into your new database server. Standard MySQL or SQL Server backup and restore tools can be used. This article include links for database backup tool instructions (specific links at bottom): https://support.helpspot.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=315
3. Update the connection information in the .env file on you new server to connect to your migrated database. If your database server location is external your can simply update the connection information in the new server's env file with the parameters from your old server's .env.

Copy The Application Key

1. Copy the APP_KEY setting located .env file on you old server to your new server. This is needed to decrypt values in the migrated database.

Copy Files

1. Copy the files in these locations on your old installation to the corresponding location on your new installation. (Locations listed here are relative to the directory your .env file is located in):

   helpspot/storage/*
   helpspot/public/custom_code/*
   helpspot/public/custom_templates/*
   helpspot/helpspot/custom_pages

2. If you have created a custom language pack you will need to copy that language pack over.
3. If you have created secondary portals, those portal directories will need to be copied over.

Update HelpSpot

1. Open a command prompt on your new server and cd to your helpspot directory: cd c:\inetpub\wwwroot\helpspot
2. Run the helpspot update command: C:\php\php.exe hs update

This will move your HelpSpot installation. You may need to make DNS and webserver binding and certificate changes to direct users to the new location.