Vault Export/Import tool question

[jstarbird]

Vault 5

I'm trying to plan out a migration from VSS to Vault and part of that is combining a couple of vss db's into one Vault repository. However because I need to do a Full Import, because of our needs, I would need to keep the repository offline until both Imports were done.
So what I was thinking about doing to try and avoid that problem is first importing them both into their own repositories. This would allow me to keep the first one open while the second imported into it's repository and then once it was done I'd do the Export/Import to add the second to the first creating my desired combined repository.
So I was wondering about how long does the Export/Import process take, approx? The second VSS db I'm estimating to take approx 2 weeks to fully import initially from VSS.

Thanks,
J

[lbauer]

We wouldn't recommend this approach. A VSS database import is somewhat imperfect, since we have to employ some workarounds to recreate VSS history, particularly labels and pins. Also, VSS database corruption can lead to some errors in the import. So to try to export the imported database from one Vault repository to another could be problematic. Also, since the folder export import process re-creates all the history, it could take almost as much time as a VSS import.

If you're looking to streamline the import and still be able to view VSS history, VSS handoff would be a good solution. Is there a reason why a you decided not to go that route?

[jstarbird]

We wouldn't recommend this approach. A VSS database import is somewhat imperfect, since we have to employ some workarounds to recreate VSS history, particularly labels and pins.

We are aware of this. We do not use Pin at all. As to labels, this is actually one of the reasons we want to do a Full Import. We want to be able to diff between new and old labels.

Also, VSS database corruption can lead to some errors in the import. So to try to export the imported database from one Vault repository to another could be problematic.

I'm not sure why this would have an impact if all the data were already in Vault and it would be exporting/importing only that data. I wouldn't be importing it into the middle of a tree. Basically I'm talking about data that had no previous related history to what would already be in the destination repository. So in other words were talking about taking VSS db1, db2 and db3 and combining them into Vault Repository 1. But to do that with the Full import, without using the export/import function, would take approx 2 1/2 months. So while the entire process will still take that long I can at least allow people to use the Repository 1 while I import db2 into temp repository 2 and db3 into temp repository 3. Then when those are done I was hoping to be able to Export them and then Import them into Repository 1.

Also, since the folder export import process re-creates all the history, it could take almost as much time as a VSS import.

If you're looking to streamline the import and still be able to view VSS history, VSS handoff would be a good solution. Is there a reason why a you decided not to go that route?

Two reasons really, VSS is a headache and we want to get rid of it. Yes we may need to use it to go back and get something but it wouldn't need to be running all the time. Maintenance alone takes it offline for 2 days.
Second, a big reason to move to another SCS is the new features, with the handoff we lose many of those features as they apply to our old data.
While I do agree the handoff is a nice feature it just doesn't fit into our wants/needs. Believe me it was discussed here about how many versions we'll most likely lose and it was decided that the Full Import was still the way to go.