Migrating Niagara Enterprise Security stations

Niagara Enterprise Security stations are Niagara stations that have some additional unique migration requirements and options. The following topics describe the specific steps required to migrate your NiagaraAX-3.8 security Supervisor and controller stations to Niagara 4.8 (and later) security stations. This topic provides an overview of the process.

To reduce downtime, migrate the Supervisor station first and then the individual security stations.

A typical Supervisor station includes persons, badges, access rights, schedules, threat level groups, intrusion PIN, intrusion zones, NiagaraIntegration ID, tenants, new users, new roles, new categories, a PhotoIDNetwork, and ObixNetwork, PxViews, additional personnel information, an Ldap network, alarm class, custom Wiegand format, and keypad configuration.

The following list summarizes the aspects of the AX security system that need special migration attention:

  • Passphrase: Be sure to have the station passphrase available before starting the migration process. Depending on the migration scenario you are using, you may need to re-enter an existing passhphrase or create a new passphrase during the migration process. Refer to “System Passphrase” and related topics in the Niagara Platform Guide for more details about passphrase usage.
  • devDriver based video drivers: Niagara 4 does not support RapidEye and Dedicated Micros legacy devices. During migration, the migrator deletes devDriver-based devices, including these two. If your installation includes one or more of these devices, please upgrade to the supported devices: Axis, Milestone and MaxPro video drivers.

    If your installation uses the devDrivers for AxisvideoNetwork and Milestone, a procedure in this chapter documents how to use the Video Driver Upgrade tool to upgrade these drivers to nVideo-based version of the drivers.

  • Remote Video Camera mapping: As part of AX to N4 compatibility restrictions, Supervisor cameras cannot be discovered under the NiagaraNetwork from an AX controller. So, to migrate cameras to the new Supervisor station, map them in a Niagara Enterprise Security 2.3 JACE before doing the station migration. Then, during migration, the new station retains that mapping without additional changes after migration.
  • Backup: Before migration, you will make a backup of the Supervisor station and all subordinate stations. By default, the BackupService does not include alarms and histories. To retain these database records, you must specifically include alarms and histories in the backup.
  • Backup schedules: Before migration you must use the web UI to unassign any schedules in the BackupService and re-assign them after completing the migration.
  • Photo ID station AsureID Legacy Device: If you use AsureID to create photo ID badges, Niagara 4.8 (and later) does not support the AsureID Legacy Device. Before migrating, add the newer AsureID Client Device to your Photo ID network.

    Refer to the “Manually adding a Photo ID device (not legacy)” topic in the Niagara Enterprise Security Installation and Maintenance Guide for guidance on how to configure the newer Asure ID Client Device.

  • Supervisor database support: Niagara 4.8 (and later) supports MySQL 5.6 (and later) and SQL Server 2008 (and later). These are the minimum requirements for the Supervisor database.
     NOTE: There is no special procedure for preparing the Supervisor database. If your database is older than the supported versions, contact the database supplier for software upgrade procedures. 
  • Remote station database password: The migrator clears the Hsql password in each remote station. After migration it sets up the default password to access the Hsql database. While the database will work with the default password, you should change it to a more secure credential after migration.
  • Roles: Roles are handled differently in Niagara 4. The migrator removes all AX security roles from the UserService and moves them to the Niagara 4 Role Service.
  • Custom modules: If your installation includes custom modules made using the ProgramModule feature, you will need to refactor them before migrating the Supervisor and subordinate stations. Refer to “Migrating modules made with the ProgramModule component” in this guide.