I need to change my computer and transfer inFlow On-Premise to the new one, what do I do (multi-user)?

Please note: we will sunset inFlow On-Premise on July 31, 2024. After sunset we will stop selling or activating new licenses for inFlow On-Premise and stop providing support (including online KB articles).

If you need to move your data to a new server, we can help you with that! See below for complete steps. 

System requirements

Your inFlow On-Premise license and database can be transferred to any computer. Before transferring your data to a new computer, make sure your new computer meets or exceeds the system requirements.

The steps for transferring your database is different depending on whether you’re using inFlow in single-user mode (only on one computer) or multi-user mode (multiple computers sharing data). If you just have the one computer to use inFlow and need to replace it, please see the steps here for transferring your database and program to another computer.

Using inFlow in multi-user mode

If you’re currently using inFlow’s multi-user mode, one of the computers in your network is acting as the server, which is the main or primary computer storing all the data. All other computers are called client computers.  Depending on whether you’re replacing the server computer or client computer, please see below.

Switching the server computer

If you need to switch computers (possibly due to the server needing to be replaced/repaired), see below.

NOTE: You must make sure that all computers are running the same version number of inFlow or multi-user mode will not work. You can check this information in Main Menu > Options > About inFlow before switching the computers.

First, locate your current server computer. If you’re not sure, go to a computer with inFlow, then go to Main Menu > Options > Connection Settings.

If it says “You are connected to another computer”, the listed details below that is the name of the server. You’ll need to find that server before proceeding with the steps below.

If it says “You are connected to your own computer” and inFlow is showing all the up-to-date information,  then the computer you are on is the server. It’s important to make sure that all the information is up to date as you will be backing this up and transferring.

Once you have found the current server:

  1. On the current server, make a backup file by going to the Main Menu > General > Back up data.
  2. Check the version number and inFlow web account email address you are using by going to Main Menu > Options > About inFlow. Take note of this information, as you’ll need it later on.
  3. Create a backup file in inFlow by going to Main Menu>General>Backup data. Save the backup file directly to your computer.
  4. Transfer the backup file either to a USB / portable drive or a shared network drive. You will need this file later on the new server.
  5. On the new server computer you want to transfer your data to:

    a) If inFlow is not yet installed, we’ll need to install inFlow using the same version number as found in step 2. You can find a list of all installer versions here. When you have found the matching version, run the installer and then click Customize my installation > Server and Client > choose  LocalDB 2014 or SQL Server 2014 > Install. Then move on to step

    5.b) If inFlow is already installed, we need to ensure that it is acting as a server (and not a client). Click the Main Menu > Options > Connection Settings and check that it says “You are connected to your own computer”. This is the correct setting for a server, so skip to step 6 if you see this.If you see “You are connected to another computer”, please click “Connect to a different computer” and select yourself “(this computer)” in the dropdown, to make it the server. If it fails to do this or if you do not have the option, you will need to uninstall inFlow and reinstall following step 4a for “if inFlow is not installed”).
  6. Once you’ve verified that the new server is set up properly, go to Main Menu > General > Restore Data and select the backup file that was made in step 1.
  7. If you’ve already got a license / trial account with us, go to Main Menu > Options > About inFlow > Log in and login to your account to upgrade you from Free edition.
  8. On every other client computer, go to the Main Menu > Options > Connection Settings and select “Connect to a different computer“. Choose the new server from the dropdown, or type in its server name / ip address.
  9. On the original server computer, go to Main Menu > General > Reset all Data. Don’t worry, it will make a backup in addition to the one you’ve already done in step 1.

This reset is so that if other users accidentally reconnect to this old server in the future, they will not enter any information into a blank database. Leaving the old database behind runs the risk of users putting information in without realizing they’re not connected to the new server — which will leave you with two separate databases.

 

Switching a client computer

If it’s just a client computer you are replacing:

  1. On any other computer already connected to the server, click on Main Menu > Options > About inFlow to check the version number. Find the matching version installer here.
  2. On the new client computer, download and install the matching inFlow version. Click Customize my installation > Client-only.
  3. Once it finishes installing, it will either connect you to your current server automatically, or ask you to choose from a dropdown selection.

If you are having trouble connecting, please see this article for troubleshooting multi-user mode connections.

inFlow Inventory
Archon Systems
w,
+1.866.923.4974
260 Carlaw Ave #397
Toronto, ON, M4M 3L1
Canada
May 21, 2020

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