Aloha 6.4.22 (XP) to 6.7.30 migration (new server)

[xywh]

Hello all!

My restaurant is currently on Aloha 6.4.22 on Windows XP, Parallel port license key. I'm building a NEW server that will be running Windows 7 32-bit (just seemed like the easiest O/S - 64-bit an Server sounded like they were causing problems), with Aloha 6.7.30 on top.

The current Aloha server is running actively in the restaurant. The new box I am ATTEMPTING (probably a bad idea) to run Aloha as a VM on top of ESXI. So far, I've got the box prepped by reading several tutorials on this site - especially by coorsman (thanks!). I've got the new USB HASP key recognized, and networking prerequisites squared away, lana set, and about to start loading Aloha.

I should say - my day job is a network engineer, so I'm pretty comfortable around this stuff - not so comfortable around Aloha's idiosyncrasies.

MY QUESTION - the Aloha CD I have does not have advanced.exe on it. My understanding is, after I get Aloha all prepped, services running, etc. - I need to copy the data over from the old machine and "update" the database from 6.4.22 to 6.7.30. My understanding is that I need advanced.exe to do this.

Any ideas/help? Pretty sure I didn't get the full Aloha CD.

Cheers!

 

[xywh]

A bit of follow up to this thread - still requesting help! Loading Windows 7 32-bit on to ESXI worked like a charm, as did passing the HASP key through to the Operating System.

I got Aloha Table Service loaded on the new computer, as well as EDC (looks like I also have an upgrade to 7.x EDC - but I did not apply it). After loading Aloha, was able to login to Aloha Manager - license shows correct. Setup all of the networking. Copied over the EDC files - able to Start POS Processing in EDC.

I waited for the restaurant's EOD to run as normal. Then, early in the morning, I came in with the new server. I copied DATA and NEWDATA over to the fresh server, and installed the fresh server in place of the old server. Aloha on the terminals all upgraded to 6.7.30 as planned. Finally Aloha terminals booted - but never came fully up. Each terminal errored:

ERROR
LogWrite Transaction: failed to open Z:\Aloha\DATA\TRANS.LOG (0x5)

So, because it was the start of the day and I didn't have any transactions, I just deleted TRANS.LOG on the BOH Server and Terminal. I also powered off the two other terminals, leaving only one isolated terminal. Upon rebooting the terminal, after deleting TRANS.LOG again, I got the same error as above (LogWrite Transaction).

Then, I tried to copy over the trans.log from the old server to DATA again. Upon booting the terminals, it hung on the Aloha loading screen:

Verifying/Converting TRANS.LOG

And it just sat there. THEN, I tried to do a database upgrade via Aloha Manager, Utilities -> Database Upgrade. Back to the LogWrite Transaction ERROR.

Then I tried to do a ..\bin\grind /fixlog on the original trans.log (from the old server). Still, the terminal errored with the LogWrite Transaction ERROR. However, after dong the /fixlog, I noticed that the version string in the trans.log (when viewing with Notepad) changed from 6.4.22 to a 6.5.x version.

At this point, I've tried everything that I can think of. At some point (noteworthy - but I forgot after what step I did), I did get an error on the TERMINAL:

Cannot run version 6.7.30, only authorized for 6.5

However, as I indicated, the Server is running well - Aloha Manager sees the HASP, and the Aloha services are running.

At this point, I unplugged my new server, and plugged back in the old - and went back to working as usual.

What are the next steps I should try? I've seen talk of the UpgradeAny path - but I don't have the UpgradeAny executable. I also thought about closing my current/old server's hard drive - and then UPGRADING Aloha on that server (although I don't see an upgrade exe on the CD), and then copying THAT DATA/NEWDATA to the new server.

Any thoughts? Thanks all!

 

[xywh]

Shameless bump - can anyone help? Essentially looking for how to go from the Aloha 6.4 database to 6.7.

Thanks!

 

[restguy]

It sounds like you are not licensed for that version. Are you sure the key is licensed for anything above 6.5?

 

[xywh]

Absolutely - I just got the new key from my dealer. I have the new keycodes straight from NCR, and they are inputted - and working at least on the Server.

 

[AlohaRoss]

Couple of thoughts
1. copy over the new Bin folder from BOH to all FOH
2. Verify and refresh data
3. Close Aloha Manager, Also stop and restart the CTLsrv in services
4. Make sure the service starts
5. Restart Aloha manager
6. Restart the FOH.
if still not working, check debout files and see what they have to say about license info for 6.5, 6.7
Still lost, email me rossabout at yahoo and we can do a teamviewer and see whats up

 

[xywh]

I will do that ASAP and get back to you. Thanks a TON for the thoughts - I REALLY appreciate it!

 

[xywh]

Just thought I'd report back my stupidity...

The reason the database upgrade wasn't working was the BootDrv was shared with only READ ONLY permissions. Once I changed it to Full Control, all is well!

Thanks very much for the help, everyone.