Requirements

CAST Storage Service/PostgreSQL		The machine on which you are running this extraction must have local or network access to the CAST Storage Service/PostgreSQL where the required data is stored.
Number of Applications per Analysis Service schema		At the current time, it is only possible to extract data from an Analysis Service which contains one single Application, however it is possible to run multiple export actions against multiple Analysis Service schemas to generate data for multiple Applications. This will result in multiple CSV output files which can all be referenced during the import action.

How does it work?

The export process is run with the CLI tool exporter.exe. This tool is installed with CAST Imaging and can be found in the following location:

%PROGRAMFILES%\CAST\ImagingSystem\imagingetl

WARNING MODULMSG ; Body An existing execution of exporter started on <DATE TIME>

Execute the below command line to see all the available arguments: 

C:\Program Files\CAST\ImagingSystem\imagingetl>exporter.exe -h

Click to enlarge

Step 1 - run the export

To generate the data ZIP, run the following command either direct in a Command Prompt or via a batch file, changing it to suit your own environment:

exporter.exe --host <name_of_CSS_host_server> --user <CSS_user_name> --password <CSS_password> --port <CSS_port_number> --mngt <name_of_management_schema> --outputdir c:\temp\my_output_path --log c:\temp\log\log.txt

Parameters: 

Parameter	Required?	Description
-h / --help		Displays the help message.
--version		Show program's version number and exit.
--host		Enter the network host name of the server on which the CAST Storage Service/PostgreSQL is located. Default = localhost.
--user		Enter the CAST Storage Service user login. Default = operator.
--password		Enter the CAST Storage Service password corresponding to the user entered in --user. Default = CastAIP.
--port		Enter the port number for the target CAST Storage Service/PostgreSQL. Default = 2282 (CAST Storage Service 3): CSS2 2280 CSS3 2282
--schema		CAST recommends using --mngt instead of --schema. Please use one or the other. --schema will eventually be phased out in favour of --mngt. Enter the name of the Analysis schema schema containing the Application you would like to work with in CAST Imaging. You can view the name of the Analysis Service schema as follows: AIP Console: See Database Schemas in Administration Center - Applications - Application Details (Local Base = Analysis Service schema) Server Manager (for traditional AIP installations without AIP Console):
--database Available in ≥ 2.1.0-funcrel.		This option allows you to specify a specific CAST Storage Service/PostgreSQL database name other than the default "postgres". In the vast majority of situations, this option is not required. It is only necessary if the CAST AIP schemas as stored on the CAST Storage Service/PostgreSQL instance in a database other than the default "postgres". For example: --database customdb
--mngt Available in ≥ 2.0.0-beta6.		CAST recommends using --mngt instead of --schema. Please use one or the other. Enter the name of the Management schema (i.e. the combined installation) containing the Analysis schema in which the Application you would like to work with in CAST Imaging is stored. You can view the name of the Management schema as follows: AIP Console: See Database Schemas in Administration Center - Applications - Application Details (Management Base = Management schema) Server Manager (for "legacy" AIP installations without AIP Console):
--outputdir		Enter the location where the resulting output ZIP will be stored. This folder must exist.
--log		Enter the location for the output log file. This file must exist.
--debug		Print debug messages (default: false).
--debuginfo		Control check files: yes|no (default:NO).
--cfg		Regeneration of config files: yes|no (default:NO).
--aiptable		Force the extraction of AIP tables: yes|no (default:NO).
--limitedscope Available in ≥ 2.1.0-funcrel.		This option will perform a truncated export of application data (i.e. not all the application data is exported) in order to improve the time needed to show results in CAST Imaging. This option is therefore aimed at POC, demos etc. where results need to be produced quickly. It should not be used in production environments.
--applicationname Available in ≥ 2.1.0-funcrel.		This option allows you to specify the name of the Application for display purposes in CAST Imaging. For example: you may have an Application called "TopSecretApplicationName" in your CAST AIP schemas and you would rather have this Application displayed with a more friendly/appropriate/anonymized name such as "ApplicationX". you may want to import the same Application multiple times into CAST Imaging, if so, use this option to name the Application appropriately, e.g. "MyExportV1", "MyExportV2", "MyExportV3" etc. If so, use the following syntax: exporter.exe --mngt <name of schema containing the application to export> --applicationname <name of application as displayed in CAST Imaging> --outputdir c:\temp\my_output_path --log c:\temp\log\log.txt --applicationname will accept the following characters only: A-Z a-z 0-9_

Error codes

Step 2 - Check the results

Assuming the extraction process is successful, the data will be extracted to multiple .CSV files which will be automatically zipped to a ZIP file stored in the location defined in --outputdir. The ZIP file will be named with the name of the Application that has been extracted (MEUDON in the example below):

This ZIP will need to be uploaded to the Application Management portal in CAST Imaging as part of the data import action.

Tips

[WinError 10054] An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host

If you are attempting to export from a PostgreSQL instance installed on Microsoft Windows (i.e. CAST Storage Service) and your application is very large, you may find that the export process fails with the error which is caused by a timeout:

[WinError 10054] An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host

By default, on PostgreSQL instances installed on Microsoft Windows, the PostgreSQL instance timeout is set to 2hrs, therefore any export process that takes longer than 2hrs will fail. If you encounter this error, it is possible to modify the timeout setting using the postgresql.conf file located here:

%PROGRAMFILES%\CAST\CastStorageService<version>\db_data\

Edit this file with a text editor and find the tcp_keepalives_idle entry:

# - TCP settings -
# see "man tcp" for details

#tcp_keepalives_idle = 0		# TCP_KEEPIDLE, in seconds;
					# 0 selects the system default

By default, this entry is commented out and will be ignored - this means that the default value of 0 applies - i.e. the Microsoft Windows system default of 2hrs. To set a longer timeout interval, uncomment the entry and set required interval in seconds (above 2hrs). For example to set a timeout of 6hrs:

# - TCP settings -
# see "man tcp" for details

tcp_keepalives_idle = 21600		# TCP_KEEPIDLE, in seconds;
					# 0 selects the system default

Save the file and then restart the CAST Storage Service instance to apply the change.

Next steps?

Please see Import the CSV data for more information about the next step.