Assistance Needed with Data Migration from osTicket 1.9.14 to 1.18.1

w0777

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to migrate data from an older instance of osTicket (version 1.9.14) to a newly set up osTicket instance (version 1.18.1) on a different server. The new instance is already up and running smoothly; now I just need to transfer the data from the old system.

Is it possible to migrate the data between these versions? If so, are there any scripts or tools that could assist with this process? I'd appreciate any advice or insights from anyone who has experience with this type of migration.

Here is the information about the current and new environments

Current osTicket Server Information
osTicket Version: v1.9.14 (8b927a0)
Web Server Software: Microsoft-IIS/8.5
MySQL Version: 5.7.15
PHP Version: 5.6.25

New osTicket Server Information
osTicket Version: v1.18.1 (0375576)
Web Server Software: Microsoft-IIS/10.0
MySQL Version: 8.0.37
PHP Version: 8.3.8

Thanks in advance for your help!

KevinTheJedi

w0777

First, please always read the system requirements before installing/upgrading. PHP 8.3 is not fully supported yet; v1.18.1 requires PHP 8.1-8.2 only. The upcoming v1.18.2 will have PHP 8.3 support so please stay tuned.

With this being said, you should first downgrade to PHP 8.2 on the new server to ensure the upgrade runs smoothly.

Now, we do have official Upgrade Documentation available but I will also summarize below.

First step is to login to the old helpdesk, go to Admin Panel > Settings > System, set Helpdesk Status to Offline, Save Changes. Next go to Admin Panel > Emails > Settings, disable Email Fetching by unchecking both checkboxes, and Save Changes. Once complete you can do a full database dump via mysqldump command (super easy; many guides online). Once you have the full database dump file you can create a new database on the new server and import the dump file into the newly created database. Then copy your old installation’s include/ost-config.php file to the include/ folder on your new server. Modify the config file on the new server if needed to update the database hostname, user, passwords, etc. to match the new server information. Once complete you should be able to visit the new site in the browser, login as an admin (from the old system), and run the upgrader.

Here is a very important note; if you are running any plugins on the old install you will need to download the new builds relevant to 1.18.x and place them in the plugin folder on the new server before running the system upgrade. This is so any plugin database scripts can run and change the needed database information.

Cheers.

w0777

So what is the best way to down grade PHP? PHP is not my expertise and it took me a while to get PHP working in IIS.

KevinTheJedi

w0777

There are many guides online that explain how to do this. This is outside the scope of osTicket and we are not a windows shop.

Cheers.

w0777

KevinTheJedi Fair enough, I will continue to search for instructions or guidance on PHP. Thanks for the reply.

KevinTheJedi

w0777

If you did manual PHP installation then you would simply reverse everything you did to install 8.3 to uninstall it then repeat the install steps but with 8.2.

Cheers.

w0777

KevinTheJedi That makes sense however I inherited this partial install. Someone started it, could not get PHP working nor osTicket installed. I got everything to work but now they want the old data migrated. What a pain this has been.

KevinTheJedi

w0777

In IIS find the Handler Mappings, find the mapping for PHP, and that’ll be the path where PHP is installed. You would essentially either delete the current PHP directory or create a new one (you can have multiple installed without issues). Then go download the PHP build for windows, unzip it, place it in the PHP directory (new or old), modify the PHP Handler Mapping in IIS to add the new path, restart IIS, and visit the site to see if it’s working. You can then login and view the Information page to see if the PHP version shows the correct one.

Cheers.

w0777

KevinTheJedi Thank you so much for the PHP help. I might have more questions when it comes to moving the old osTicket to the new server and then doing the upgrade. Like will the old version of osTicket run on the newer MySQL database?

KevinTheJedi

@w0777

Database version and location doesn’t matter as long as you create the database using utf8 character set and utf8_general_ci collation. You must also make sure you import the full database dump from the old server into the database on the new server as outlined in the steps I posted above.

Cheers.

w0777

KevinTheJedi Also you mentioned osTicket plugins, how can I tell if the old system is using plugins? This is my customers installation, I do not use the system, I am just trying to help them get the system moved and upgraded.

KevinTheJedi

w0777

Admin Panel > Manage > Plugins or in the database in the plugin table or in the plugin folder on the old server.

Cheers.

w0777

KevinTheJedi So I think I am making some progress. I got the old database restored to the new server, I modified the ost-config.php correcting the database credentials. I also downgraded PHP to 8.2. So now when I navigate to the helpdesk site I get a message stating that "Support Ticket System Offline". OK, so I found the osticket.ost_config and set the isonline key to the value of 1 thinking that maybe that was the issue however I still get the offline message.

KevinTheJedi

w0777

Go to the agent login page (ie. /scp) and login as an Admin as stated in the steps I posted above. Once you login as an Admin you’ll be presented with the Upgrader.

Cheers.

w0777

KevinTheJedi OK, several things. I have discovered that the old helpdesk system uses a LDAP Authentication and Lookup plugin. I can't seem to find a version of this to install on the new server. Second issue, navigating to the /scp page works. I am asked here to login. None of the user accounts and passwords given to me seem to work. Maybe because the old systems used LDAP and not stored passwords in the database. I am stuck at this point not know what to do next.

KevinTheJedi

w0777

LDAP plugin is on our website. Download the version of the plugin relevant to the version of osTicket you are upgrading to.

Cheers.

w0777

KevinTheJedi OK, but how do I install it if I can't login? I can not get past the login on the /scp login screen.

KevinTheJedi

w0777

You place it in the include/plugins/ folder. You must have an admin account with local login allowed. If none go to database, go to staff table, set backend to NULL, and then local password should work.

Cheers.

w0777

Can I insert a new user for myself in the staff table so I can log in as an admin to finish the upgrade and in get the LDAP configured? I think once I get the LDAP plugin configured then my client can log in via LDAP. After the upgrade is complete I can delete my account. Not sure if that will work. I really appreciate your help.

KevinTheJedi

w0777

Sure can.

Cheers.