Home Sentinel Importing and Exporting Importing to a Sentinel Environment

Importing to a Sentinel Environment

Note: The import procedure cannot be reversed. Please ask your System Administrator to make a backup of your Sentinel database before you proceed with the import, in case you need to revert to your pre-import configuration.

You will need a Sentinel Migration Package to import. This can either be a zipped (.zip) file, or a plain .xml file, created by an export from another Sentinel environment.

To import to Sentinel:

1. Click the Menu button below the Sentinel header.

2. Click Import/Export.

Note: This menu option only appears to users who have import or export permissions.

The Import/Export window appears.

3. Click the Import panel.

Note: This panel is disabled if you do not have permissions to import to a Sentinel environment.

An Open dialog box appears.

4. Navigate to the folder containing the package you want to import.

5. Click on the file, and click Open.

Note: If the migration package is corrupt, the import cannot continue. An error message window appears. Click OK to close the window. The Import tab closes.

If this is a valid Sentinel migration package, the Import tab opens.

The following information appears on the different panels of the Import tab.

Migration Package Contains the following information relating to the package:

  • File Name: The file name of the migration package.
  • Package Description: The description that was supplied at the time that the export package was created (if no package description was added, this header does not appear).
  • Sentinel Version: The full version number of the migration package Sentinel version (for example 4.0.2.20); this has a tick icon if there are no Sentinel version compatibility issues. If the Sentinel instance that you are importing to has an earlier version number than the migration package version number, the versions are incompatible, and an error icon is displayed along with an error message showing the version number of this Sentinel instance.
  • Package Version: The full package number of the migration package Sentinel version (e.g. 1.0)
    No package version compatibility issues.
    If the Sentinel instance that you are importing to has a different package number than the migration package number, the Sentinel version package numbers are incompatible, and an error icon is displayed along with an error message showing the package number of this Sentinel instance.
  • Contents: The content of the migration package, broken down into separate counts for folders, monitors and workspaces.
  • Export Details: The user name of the user who performed the export operation, the exporting server name, and the date/time that the migration package was created.
    Note: If either the Sentinel version or the Package version number is incompatible, the import cannot continue.
Import Options The default import options:

  • Submit imported monitors and new monitor versions: This option is only available if this instance of Sentinel is configured to use Change Management. If you select the check box, then imported monitors, or existing monitors with new versions, are automatically submitted for approval if the check box is selected.
  • Always add new monitor versions: If selected, the system always imports this version of the monitor. If not selected, the system will only import this monitor version if it does not already exist in the instance of Sentinel.
Preview after import The Preview after import panel on the right side of the Import tab shows a preview of what the Workspace panel will contain after the import. This includes what is currently in the Workspace panel, as well as the newly imported items.

You can navigate through the Preview after import panel in the same way that you navigate through the Workspace panel. The following labels are appended to the import item (workspace/folder/monitor) names as applicable.
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  • New: The New label indicates that the item to be imported is completely new to this Sentinel instance.
  • Modified: The Modified label indicates that the applicable workspace or folder to be imported contains items that already exist in this instance of Sentinel.
  • Moved: The Moved label indicates that the item to be imported already exists in this instance of Sentinel, but is in a different location (folder or workspace). During import, the item is moved to its new location (as it exists in the migration package).
  • New Version: Only monitors will have the New Version label. This label appears for monitors that already exist in this Sentinel instance, but where the migration package version is different from the version in this instance of Sentinel.

New items with the same name:

If a workspace in the migration package has the same name as an existing workspace, but is not actually the same workspace, then the workspace to be imported will have suffix of “(1)”, after the import. For example, “Doc workspace 2” is imported as “Doc workspace 2 (1)”. In the preview panel, this suffix does not exist.

Preview of workspace Doc workspace 2 Doc workspace 2 after import, now named Doc workspace 2 (1)

The same behaviour can be observed with different monitors that have the same name, and different folders that have the same name.

6. If needed, change one or both of the import options by selecting or deselecting the relevant check boxes in the Import Options panel. Options: Submit imported monitors and new monitor versions and Always add new monitor versions.

7. Review the Preview after import panel.

8. Click Import.

9. Click Yes in the Perform Import confirmation dialog.

The import completes, with a message:

Each imported monitor has a version comment, indicating that this version of the monitor was imported, and taking the form: “[comment from exported version] - migrated from [migrating Sentinel server name]”.

Incompatible Packages or Versions

If either the Sentinel version or the Package version is incompatible, an error message appears.

  • Click OK to close the message box.

Approve Imported Monitors

If Change Management has been implemented, you will need to approve the newly imported monitors.

  1. Submit new monitors for approval (unless you selected to have automatic submissions as part of the import).
  2. Approve or reject the newly imported monitors.

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