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Migrating Acunetix On-Premises to Another Server 

This document explains how to migrate Acunetix On-Premises to another Windows or Linux machine.

Migrate to a new Windows machine

There are two methods to migrate your Acunetix On-Premises to the new Windows machine.

Method 1

Use this method if your Windows source machine supports tar.

Step 1: Source machine backup

Version number of Acunetix on source machine

Make sure that the version of Acunetix you are using on the source machine has been fully updated to the latest version. Take a note of the version number to compare with the version number on the destination machine.

  1. On the source machine, create a batch file axbackup.bat as follows:

net stop "Acunetix Supervisor"
net stop "Acunetix Database"
if not exist %userprofile%\axbak\ mkdir %userprofile%\axbak
tar -zcvf %userprofile%\axbak\ax_backup.tar.gz --exclude *ProgramData/Acunetix/certs* C:\ProgramData\Acunetix
net start "Acunetix Database"
net start "Acunetix Supervisor"

  1. Start an Administrative command line, and run the axbackup.bat file.This makes a backup of your data into the axbak folder inside the current user's home folder.
  2. Copy the contents of this folder into a parallel axbak folder in the current user's home folder on the destination machine.

Step 2: Destination machine restore

  1. Firstly, proceed to install Acunetix from the downloaded EXE file. (You can download the installation file using your license key information from here)

Version number of Acunetix on destination machine

Make sure that the version of Acunetix you are using on the destination machine has been fully updated to the latest version and matches the version number on the source machine.

  1. On the destination machine, start an Administrative command line, and run the following commands:

net stop "Acunetix Supervisor"
net stop "Acunetix Database"
C:\Windows\system32>cd C:\
C:\>tar -zxvf %userprofile%\axbak\ax_backup.tar.gz
net start "Acunetix Database"
net start "Acunetix Supervisor"

  1. Your Acunetix install is completed with the data migrated to the destination machine.

Step 3: Delete Acunetix from the source machine

You can now proceed to uninstall Acunetix from the source machine.

Method 2

No tar in your operating system? To migrate Acunetix on-premises to another server, follow these steps:

Use Command Prompt (CMD), not PowerShell.

  1. Download 7-Zip and install it to your source machine.
  2. On the source machine, start an Administrative command line, and run the following commands:

net stop "Acunetix Supervisor"
net stop "Acunetix Database"
if not exist %userprofile%\axbak\ mkdir %userprofile%\axbak
"C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -tzip %userprofile%\axbak\ax_backup.zip C:\ProgramData\Acunetix -x!Acunetix\certs
net start "Acunetix Database"
net start "Acunetix Supervisor"

  1. Copy the axbak folder into the destination machine
  2. Now proceed to install Acunetix from the downloaded EXE file. (You can download the installation file using your license key information from here)
  3. On the destination machine, start an Administrative command line, change directory to the axbak folder (in which the  ax_backup.zip file exists), and then run the following commands:

net stop "Acunetix Supervisor"
net stop "Acunetix Database"
copy ax_backup.zip c:\ProgramData
cd c:\ProgramData
tar -zxvf ax_backup.zip
net start "Acunetix Database"
net start "Acunetix Supervisor"

  1. Your Acunetix install is completed with the data migrated to the destination machine.
  2. You can now proceed to uninstall Acunetix from the source machine.

Migrate to a new Linux machine

These steps were tested on a Ubuntu 64-bit 20.04.1 setup.

Step 1: Source machine backup

Version number of Acunetix on source machine

Make sure that the version of Acunetix you are using on the source machine has been fully updated to the latest version. Take a note of the version number to compare with the version number on the destination machine.

  1. On the source machine, start a terminal, and run the following commands:

sudo su
systemctl stop acunetix
cd /home/acunetix/.acunetix
mkdir ~/axbak
tar -zcvf ~/axbak/ax_data.tar data/
tar -zcvf ~/axbak/ax_db.tar db/
cp wvs.ini ~/axbak/

This makes a backup of your data into the axbak folder inside the root user's home folder.

  1. Copy the contents of this folder into a parallel axbak folder in the root user's home folder on the destination machine.

Step 2: Destination machine restore

  1. On the destination machine, install Acunetix and complete the activation process. (You can download the installation file using your license key information from here)

Version number of Acunetix on destination machine

Make sure that the version of Acunetix you are using on the destination machine has been fully updated to the latest version and matches the version number on the source machine.

  1. Next, start a terminal, and run the following commands:

sudo su
systemctl stop acunetix
cd /home/acunetix/.acunetix
rm -rf data/
rm -rf db/
rm wvs.ini
tar -zxvf ~/axbak/ax_data.tar
tar -zxvf ~/axbak/ax_db.tar
cp ~/axbak/wvs.ini .
chown -R acunetix:acunetix /home/acunetix/.acunetix/
systemctl start acunetix

  1. Your Acunetix install will be completed with the data migrated to the destination machine.

Step 3: Delete Acunetix from the source machine

You can now proceed to delete Acunetix from the source machine from the terminal with:

sudo su
cd /home/acunetix/.acunetix/
./Uninstall

 

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