Helm 4 Upgrade Tool

Please Note: You can find further information on how to upgrade you Helm 3 licence to Helm 4 here...

The Upgrade Tool is a Windows application deployed with Helm 4 that allows the migration of information from one control panel to Helm 4. In the current version, a Helm 3 installation can be upgraded to Helm 4. The application has been designed so that other control panels can be incorporated into the upgrade process and it will also have the ability to merge those control panels into one central Helm 4 installation. The tool has also been designed to not make any modifications to the current configurations of the domains. This is so that it will not affect the current installations and will mean that the previous control panels will continue to work until you are happy with the upgrade, and thus can perform the upgrade again and again if necessary.

You'll see that we've added the most requested feature we received which has made the tool more complex than just a simple "upgrade script". Using this tool, you can upgrade from multiple sources and can even migrate the control server to a different machine than the current control panel you are using. This will be very useful for those with multiple control panels at the moment and later down the line those with multiple products as well.

(Above) The upgrade tool allows you to import your existing data from a local copy of Helm 3, or read it from a file that you have exported from a different server.

(Above) The tool running through the export process from Helm 3, having just exported the services and moving on to the accounts and hosting plans.

(Above) After the export is complete, you can choose to immediately import the data into a local copy of Helm 4, or to save the data to a file so that you can import it on another server

(Above) With the process over and all of your data imported into Helm 4, you are ready to try out all the new features of Helm 4. You can re-run the upgrade tool at any time to move the latest data, or to put your Helm 4 installation back into an original state after having run tests on it.

This tool is designed to allow you to upgrade to Helm 4 from a number of different information sources. This tool will not make changes to your current services enabling it to be run along side an active control panel without affecting customer services. Please note that this tool is not a migration tool (i.e. move hosted services from one place to another), but a control server upgrade tool to allow you to upgrade from your current control panel solution to the Helm 4 control system even if they are on different machines.

The tool can support a number of different information sources which are currently as follows:

Helm 3 - This allows an upgrade from version 3.x of the Helm control server family. In order to migrate from Helm 3 you will need to ensure you are running this tool on the Helm 3 control server.

Import Data File - This is a .h4 file that the upgrade tool generates. This is used for exporting settings from one information source in order to install on a different machine. Use this format when needing to migrate a control server from one machine to another. Please note that the new control server MUST be able to communicate with the original host servers in order to complete its task.

How to Use the Upgrade Tool

Prerequisites
Make sure that Helm 4 is setup on your control server and that all your remote machines have the Helm 4 remote, or Helm 4 control server installations on them. Without either of these, this tool will not be able to complete the import processes.

Make sure that all the appropriate modules are installed on all your servers including a new module called the "Helm Upgrade Service" module, which is a server extension. You can uninstall this module when your migration is complete

Performing the Upgrade
Depending on whether you are upgrading to Helm 4 on the same machine as your current control panel or whether you are upgrading to Helm 4 on a different server you will need to perform a different task.

Upgrading On The Same Machine

Go to the Helm 4 installation folder and go to the "Tools" folder.
Run the Helm4UpgradeTool.exe application.
Go through the wizard following the instructions until you hit the "Import" page.
Select the appropriate information source that you will be upgrading from and click Next.
The tool will show it importing the information from the selected source. Once finished click Next.
You will be asked whether you want to upgrade on the server or export the settings to a file. Select "Yes, Upgrade Now!"
Click 'Next', and the tool will show it importing the information in the local Helm 4 control system.
When complete, click 'Next' and you are now upgraded!

Upgrading To A Different Machine

Go to the Helm 4 installation folder and copy the "Helm4UpgradeTool.exe", "Helm4UpgradeTool.Readme.txt" and "WHA.Pro.dll" files from the "Tools" folder and the "WHA.Helm.Core.dll" from the "bin" folder to the server where your current control panel is installed (all into the same folder).
Run the Helm4UpgradeTool.exe application on the original control panel central server.
Go through the wizard following the instructions until you hit the "Import" page.Select the appropriate information source that you will be upgrading from and click Next.
The tool will show it importing the information from the selected source. Once finished click Next.
You will be asked whether you want to upgrade on the server or export the settings to a file. Select "No, Save my settings to upgrade on another server.."
Select the location of the .h4 data file which you will need later in order to upgrade on the Helm 4 control server.
Click 'Next' and the tool will show that it has finished, and the file will now exist in the location where you requested it to be saved.
Copy the new .h4 file onto your new Helm 4 Control server.
Go to the Helm 4 installation folder and go to the "Tools" folder again.
Run the Helm4UpgradeTool.exe application.
Go through the wizard following the instructions until you hit the "Import" page.
Select "Import Data File" as your information source this time.
In the file selector that appears, point to the new .h4 file that you have just copied over.
Click 'Next' and the tool will show it importing the settings you just exported from the other machine.
Click 'Next' again and you will be asked again if you want to upgrade on the server or export the settings to a file
Select "Yes, Upgrade Now!"
Click 'Next', and the tool will show it importing the information in the local Helm 4 control system.
When complete, click 'Next' and you are now upgraded!

Restarting the Upgrade Tool Process Again

No problem. You can attempt any upgrade as many times as you like. Just drop your Helm 4 database and recreate it using the Helm Configuration Tool and just run through the steps above again.