Upgrading i-net Clear Reports <=15 to >=16 on Linux (or moving from another OS)

i-net Clear Reports
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Previous versions of i-net Clear Reports - until version 16 was released - had a multi platform installer that was basically just a zip file with a single setup.jar file to install the reporting software.

Users were able to run the setup with virtually any user (root was recommended) to install and setup the server.

Version 16 and up use a different approach with system specific installers - deb and rpm packages. This allows to define Java as a dependency and leverage system specific installation mechanisms.

But the new releases since version 16 also introduce a specific user account which is created during installation to be used for running the server and confining it into a user namespace. This results in some breaking changes especially when upgrading from older versions:

  • The default server/daemon installation of i-net Clear Reports 15 and older is run using the root user
  • The preferences were stored as System Configuration

Here is the recommended way for upgrading:

  1. Stop the service of the previously installed version (see the specific versions documentation)
  2. Download and install i-net Clear Reports from our website - but do not run the browser bases setup
  3. Stop the newly installed reporting server: service clear-reports stop or /etc/init.d/clear-reports stop
  4. Create one of the following configuration files (either one is ok):
    • /etc/default/clear-reports
    • /etc/default/clear-reports
    • Insert the following content (one and only line): DAEMON_USER=root
  5. Create the following file with the specified content - this will be the master password for logging in:
  • /usr/share/i-net-clear-reports/remotelogin.xml
  • <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><remoteinterface><password encryptedvalue="yiHG43th7teVqjljKn2tctEb4GWJ6rKa80453WceRL8=" encryptedsalt="eYSAWbDrpNptDBMjHd5k+N+w6vU=" /></remoteinterface>
  1. Start the reporting server: service clear-reports start or /etc/init.d/clear-reports start
  2. Open the remote GUI - it should be running on the port of your previous installation (default: 9000) and click log in. It should say that a master password is required. Enter “password” to log in.
  3. There should be a module called “Setup” - open it and follow the instructions. The Setup will require a new license (generate a Plus Trial License).
  4. Restart the Server and log in again.
  5. Open the Configuration => Plugin Module and check that all plugins are enabled. Restart the Server if needed.
  6. Check that the Task Planner has all the Tasks from the Scheduler migrated and that the Configuration is what is expected from the previous installation.
  • If System Permissions were enabled, it might be needed to disable them before the Task Planner tasks appear.
  1. Open the Maintenance Module, set up a Backup, run the Backup and Download the whole Backup.
  • Make sure that the Backup is a zip file (Some Operating Systems tend to extract the zip file after a download)
  1. Stop the newly installed reporting server: service clear-reports stop or /etc/init.d/clear-reports stop
  2. Remove the configuration file from Step 4 (or remove the DAEMON_USER line)
  3. Start the reporting server: service clear-reports start or /etc/init.d/clear-reports start
  4. Open the Remote GUI and log in using the master password. Open the Maintenance Module.
  5. Upload the Backup zip file and restore the whole Configuration.
  6. Restart the reporting server
  7. Open the Remote GUI and log in using the master password. Check the Configuration and Task Planner
  8. Remove the previous version of i-net Clear Reports.

The i-net Clear Reports Server should be running in the newest version now. For any questions or suggestions, please get in touch with clearreports@inetsoftware.de.

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Note about Scheduler => Task Planner Migration

The Scheduler has been removed in version 17 of i-net Clear Reports. The API for creating scheduler actions has also been removed and replaced by the more powerful API of the Task Planner.

The new API allows custom implementations of: Trigger, Jobs and Actions. They have to be implemented in custom plugins and are not compatible with the previous Scheduler Actions.

Please note that scheduler tasks will only be partially imported if Custom Actions have been used before. You will have to create new Actions with the new API and update the migrated tasks accordingly.

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Note about the Repository: permissions and ownership

Due to the new user the reporting server is running with there may be permission problems when accessing the Repository browser. You should look up the path of your repository in the Configuration Manager and check the permissions of this path in a console program on the server.

It is important for the reporting server that its user has read+write permissions to every file and additional execute permissions for directories. The owner of each file and directory should be the user the reporting server is executed with.

You can find out the respective user using ps aux | grep java.

A server restart is required after these changes were made.