Exporting and Importing Projects

You can export the contents of FME Server Projects, and import the projects to the same instance, or another instance, of FME Server 2017 or later.

When exporting and importing projects, keep in mind the following:

  • If a project contains users:
    • You must belong to the fmesuperuser group to export and import, with the exception that a user can export a project if the project contains that user's account, and only that account.
    • The same permissions the user has on the current system apply on the system to which the project is imported, but only on items in the project. Any other permissions the user has on the current system do not carry over.
  • If a project contains API tokens, one of the following must be true to import:
    • You belong to the fmesuperuser group.
    • The owner of the project conducting the import has the same user account on the target system.
  • If a project contains server apps without their associated API tokens, those apps are disabled on the target system until explicitly enabled.
  • The user who performs the import becomes the owner of any items in the project if the project does not include the user accounts of the original owners, or those user accounts do not exist on the target server. If the project contains any items of the same name on the system to which the project is imported, and the user performing the import does not own those items, the import fails.
  • If a project changes after it is exported, but before it is imported, you may want to revert it to its original state, so that it matches the export. For more information, see Removing Projects.
  • You may want to update the project version before you export it. The specified version is appended to the .fsproject file that is exported.
  • Importing a project triggers only the Project Import system event, if enabled. For example, if a new repository is created on the FME Server as a result of importing a project, the Repository Create event is not triggered.

To Export a Project

Note: Any Resources that belong to a project are not included in an export unless the resource is migratable. By default, the DATA, ENGINE, and DASHBOARD Resources are configured for migration. To determine if your resource folders are migratable, open the fmeServerConfig.txt configuration file. Locate your resources under FME SERVER SETTINGS START > Shared Resource Management. Resources with a SHAREDRESOURCE_ISMIGRATABLE_* value of true are migrated.

  1. On the Projects page, select a project and click Export. The Configure Export page opens.
  2. Filename: If desired, edit the .fsproject project configuration filename.
  3. Export To:
    • Resource Location: Saves the project configuration as a .fsproject file to the specified Resources location.
    • Download: Downloads the project configuration as a .fsproject file to your local system.
  4. Exclude Sensitive Information: If checked, the following are not included in the export:
  5. Notifications: (Optional) If Resource Location is specified, expand this field and specify the Notification Service topics to notify upon success or failure of the export (default topics are already specified). For more information, see Monitoring FME Server Events from Topics.
  6. To complete the export, click Save (if Resource Location is specified) or Download (if Local File is specified).

To Import a Project

  1. On the Projects page, click Import. The Configure Import page opens.
  2. Overwrite Existing Items: If a project configuration of the same .fsproject filename already exists on the current instance, this setting controls the overwrite behavior of the import. If checked, items in the existing project are overwritten by items of the same name in the imported project. If unchecked, only items from the imported configuration that do not exist in the existing project are imported; nothing is overwritten.

    3. When using Overwrite Existing Items, keep in mind the following, depending on the component that is being imported:

    • Automations and Notifications: If Yes, Automations workflows, topics, subscribers, and publishers missing on the target project are added; existing ones are updated. A union is performed between topic registrations already present on the target project and topic registrations received from the source.
    • Resources: If No, files or folders that are missing are added; existing ones are not updated. If Yes, files or folders that are missing are added; existing ones are updated. In either case, if a root resource of the same name is not defined on the target server, the resource package is not imported.
  3. Pause Notifications System: This option appears only to users who belong to the fmesuperuser security role. When checked (default), all Automations workflows and Notification Service publishers and subscribers are disabled during the import. When the import is complete, the service automatically re-enables. This option is useful to prevent automations workflows from triggering unexpectedly during an import. For example, you may have a Dropbox Directory Modified trigger configured on a directory that is affected by the import, but do not wish to trigger notifications related to the import.

    4. This option is not available to users who do not belong to the fmesuperuser role. If an import is conducted by a non-fmesuperuser user, the notification service remains active during the import.

  4. Disable Projects on Import: If checked, the following kinds of items in the project that are new or overwritten on the FME Server after import are disabled:

    5. To use these items, you must explicitly enable them.

  5. Import From:
    • Upload: Imports a project configuration (.fsproject file) that was downloaded to the system.
    • Resource Location: Imports a project configuration (.fsproject file) that was saved to a Resources location.
  6. Notifications: (Optional) If Resource Location is specified, expand this field and specify the notification service topics to notify upon success or failure of the import (default topics are already specified). For more information, see Monitoring FME Server with Notifications.
  7. To complete the import, click Upload File (if Upload is specified), or Import (if Resource Location is specified).

To View History of Project Import and Export Activity

Select Projects > History. For a log of a particular import or export, click an entry in the table.

Alternatively, you can view both project import/export and FME Server configuration backup/restore history under Backup & Restore > History.