To perform testing on an instance of Devolutions Server without altering the data in production, deploy a test instance based on a copy of the production instance.
Before deploying a Devolutions Server instance, it is recommended to run a few tests to make sure everything is working properly. See Devolutions Server staging checklist for more details.
The following steps describe how to create a test instance hosted on the same machine as the production instance.
Copying a production instance of Devolutions Server to a staging environment can impact privileged accounts if the PAM module is in use. To avoid this, remove the privileged accounts from the staging instance and create new ones specifically for the staging environment.
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Perform a full backup of the production database.
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Restore the database under a new name.
Make sure your service accounts are present in the new SQL Server. The
DVLS_Ownermust still be aDB_Owneron the restored database and have the Alter any login from the securable. -
In the Devolutions Server Console, under Edit – Database, point the Devolutions Server instance to the new SQL Server and database.
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In the Advanced credentials section of the same tab, check Apply least permissions on both the Web Application and the Scheduler service. Click on Save.
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Stop and restart the Devolutions Server instance to apply the changes.
From this point on, you can perform the Devolutions Server Console upgrade and update the test instance. The console is designed to support earlier versions of Devolutions Server.
The instructions above can be used to migrate the Devolutions Server instance to a new server.
If desired, you can disconnect the old machine from your domain and rename the new one to match the original machine name. Doing so eliminates the need to update the access URI and the Devolutions Server data source in Remote Desktop Manager.
If you plan to migrate the SQL database to a new server, this should be done after completing the Devolutions Server migration. Once the database has been migrated, update the database configuration via the Devolutions Server Console.
If you plan to move the Devolutions Server instance to a new identity provider, you can also use the authentication migration tool to transfer users and user groups to the new provider seamlessly.