DFS 8.1.0 - 1 Migrating from Earlier Versions

This chapter describes how to move from using earlier versions of DAM for Sitecore to DAM for Sitecore v8.

DAM for Sitecore v8 is a completely new product, rewritten from the ground and up. It is build, as a native Sitecore SPEAK application. Being a native Sitecore Application, it enables the strong features of Sitecore, including the link database and the Experience Database xDb.

The foundation of the new DAM for Sitecore is a much stronger and much more extensible platform than the old one.

Because the product represents a new platform, the upgrade path is different from earlier releases. The deeper integration into Sitecore makes a complete change in how data is stored and mapped.

1.1 Requirements

DAM for Sitecore v8.0 requires at least Sitecore v8.0. XXX (Centralize this) Insufficient information

1.2 Migration step by step

These are the recommended steps to perform to migrate from using DAM for Sitecore v4 to v8.

• Upgrade Digizuite™ DAM to the newest version of Digizuite™ DAM.
  
• Backup the Sitecore installation.
• Upgrade Sitecore to Sitecore 8.0-8.1. (XXX Upgrade to one of the supported Sitecore versions - see Requirements (Link) for details).
• Disable DAM for Sitecore v4 (follow guide XXX link).
• Install DAM for Sitecore v8. The following dialog will show up, it is very important that you choose Merge and Append.

• Configure DFS 8 to match your Digizuite™ DAM configuration. The DAM for Sitecore Installation Guide contains the details on configuring DAM for Sitecore.
• Extend Sitecore Templates to use the new DFS 8 fields. Go through all Sitecore Templates, that have DAM for Sitecore v4 fields, and add corresponding DAM for Sitecore v8 fields. In DAM for Sitecore v8, we included a migration tool, which shows all templates that uses any of the DFS fields and which content pages that uses these templates.

The url is: /sitecore/admin/DFS/report.aspx?version=DFS4

This report is split up in 2 section. The first one (Templates with DFS fields), are all templates which has DFS4 fields directly on is.

The second section (Templates which inherit DFS fields), shows all templates that inherit an templates which has DFS fields.

For each template you can see how many content items that uses it and if click the plus icon, it then lists all the content items.

When you run the report and you have DFS v8 package installed, you will see a new button for each of the templates that has DFS fields directly on it. When you activate the button, the code will automatically run through all the field of the template and create DFS8 fields and the name of the new fields is the same name as the DFS4 + " – DFS8".

• Optional step: Configure old DFS 4 fields to be read-only, to force users to use the new DFS 8 fields.
• Components (sub layout) logic:
  • On the Expirence Editor, you should render DFS8 fields instead of DFS4 fields. Because the DFS4 module is disabled.
    • On the Web, if DFS 8 field has a value, then show that, otherwise show DFS 4 value which is retrived from DigiCache.
• Now someone should go through all the content items, and fill in data on the DFS8 fields. This process could also be automated, if the mapping between DFS4 field values can be mapped to something DFS8 fields accepts.

This will give a slow transition from DFS 4 to DFS 8 and it is the recommended upgrade path.