Upgrading QC 12 to 12.55, forgot passphrases, what are the options?
Question ID: 108165
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A lifetime ago, someone set up our ALM installation for us. Unfortunately, since that time, the people who knew where the notes were for the confidential data and security passphrases is no longer with the company and i cannot find any record of it.

We are now faced with trying to do an upgrade but are stopped because we do not know the passphrase. We are running SqlServer … is there any way out of this mess ?

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Posted by (Questions: 99, Answers: 7)
Asked on February 6, 2018 4:06 pm
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This is actually a common issue where people forget to take note (or loose notes) of the confidential data and security passphrases.

You have a few options:

1. Guess - (remember, it is case sensitive) - it could be the ''default'' given by HPE/MicroFocus if you raise a case.

2. If the old Server is still standing, see if you can login Site Admin (page) and look at the Site Configuration page to get the value for the parameter ''COMMUNICATION_SECURITY_PASSPHRASE'' that is listed as one of the parameters - a ''good'' guess would be that this same phrase was used for BOTH passphrases that are asked for during upgrade of the Site Admin schema.

3. Carry it along, but you still don't know what it is - (At the end of the Install Guide in Appendix, it has directions about grabbing a special file off the old install and carrying it forward to the new install).

4. Start over with a New/Blank Site Admin schema (qcsiteadmin_db or similar name)

Option 1 - checking ''default'' only populates ONE phrase (there are 2 passphrases), but HPE/Microfocus knows and an tell you the actual ''default'' phrase - consultants often put it in BOTH.

Option 2 - Unless someone decided to make these different, they sometimes put in as the same phrase - one is always exposed by Site Admin parameters.

Option 3 - if old server is there, you can get file. This always works.

Option 4 - Will definitely work, but you need to ''restore'' your project(s) from the DBID.xml file(s), and need to re-import your LDAP users (after fixing LDAP settings) -- if NOT using LDAP (using the default ''Quality center authentication'' instead), users will get re-created when restoring projects, but will not have original passwords or other user-identifying information (it will need to be re-populated manually).

I recommend on the OLD server turning OFF LDAP (back to QC-authentication) BEFORE copying the qcsiteadmin_db database to the new location for upgrade - there is a ''bug'' in the newer installers where it misses one of the LDAP parameters during qcsiteadmin upgrade (upgrade a copy) and then the server cannot communicate with the LDAP server leaving EVERYONE locked out.

If LDAP does not work after upgrade, try this:

http://eyeontesting.com/questions/868/unable-to-login-site-admin-after-enabling-ldap-aut.html

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Posted by (Questions: 0, Answers: 15)
Answered on February 6, 2018 5:31 pm
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Thanks, I'll do Option 4
( at February 6, 2018 6:13 pm)
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