Migration and Import Question

[nicky9499]

Good day everyone,

 

My virtual airline is doing a feasibility study and research of options for next year's migration plans. We have been using VAFS for the better part of a decade.

We like phpVMS' stability, control and flexibility, in addition to being compatible with SmartCARS.

However, starting the VA from scratch is out of the question, therefore migrating as much data over is a key consideration.

To this end, I have searched but found no information on how to import existing PIREPs (not flight schedules) and pilot accounts into phpVMS.

We have a programmer that can take VAFS PIREPs and parse them into any format, CSV or otherwise, required for the destination system.

Please advise.

 

Cheerio,

Nick

Edited November 15, 2019 by nicky9499

[servetas]

phpVMS v7 is currently under development. In any case, your developer would be great if he could familirize himself with the system's file and database tables. In that case, he will be able to do everything required to import all of the data into phpVMS's database without loosing any of them.

[nicky9499]

Thank you for the reply Servetas however that does not answer my question at all. Here is it, rephrased:

• Where is the function within [http://demo.phpvms.net/admin] that allows the user to import PIREPs into phpVMS?

To further elaborate: at [http://demo.phpvms.net/admin/flights] there is an Import button at the top of the page.

At [http://demo.phpvms.net/admin/pireps] there is not.

Edited November 15, 2019 by nicky9499

[ProAvia]

You can import flights - schedules - thru the admin panel. There is no facility in the admin to import PIREPS or pilots.

You should be able to export your PIREPS from your present database using phpMyAdmin. You would then convert that export to the format used for phpVMS v7 and import that into the phpVMS database using phpMyAdmin. Be advised, there may be some fields present in your current database that aren't in phpVMS. Likewise, phpVMS may have some fields that your current software doesn't have.

In any case, you will have to convert most all of your database tables as the format most likely will not match that of phpVMS.

[nicky9499]

Thank you ProAvia, fully understood.

Do you think you could post a screenshot of the PIREP database (or just a list of fields present) in phpvms v5, if possible, please?

It would be really helpful for our associate who can then start working on the conversions right away while I install and setup the system (and smartcars).

[ProAvia]

Well now it sounds like you are leaning toward converting from VAFS to phpVMS 5.5.2. 

What version of PHP does your host support?

For PHP 5 see here: https://github.com/DavidJClark/phpvms_5.5.x

For PHP 7.0 - 7.2 see here: https://github.com/ProAviaAZ/phpvms_5.5.2.72

Both of these are basically identical, except for the PHP version they work under. For either, look in /install/sql/structure.xml for the DB table structure.

phpVMS v7 database is totally different than phpVMS v 5.5.2 - and presently, there is no migration tool to convert between the two versions.

Edited November 18, 2019 by ProAvia

[nicky9499]

Hi ProAvia,

Thanks for the elaboration. My host supports php 5.2.17 through 7.3.9.

The team is currently looking at phpvms 5 as it is the last version compatible with TFDi's smartCARS.

However, that there is no way forward from phpvms 5 to 7 is a major concern as we plan for this to be a long term solution.

Is there any migration tool planned (or even possible)? If not, we may put off our plans until smartCARS is compatible with phpvms 7.

Edited November 19, 2019 by nicky9499

[ProAvia]

The second link in my post above works with PHP 7.0-7.2. 

There is no phpVMS version 5. There is only 5.5.2 and 5.5.2.72 - and either will support smartCARS.

No idea about a migration tool. 

 

[Nabeel]

There currently is a migration tool for v2/v5 to v7, but I haven't tested it in a long time; it's a command-line/manual process and still incomplete with a few things. I know this is something I'm going to have to better address (to make it easier), but from what I remember, almost everything did transfer over. I think that's something I'm going to focus on getting to work better before the full release. There was some potential data loss, mostly with ACARS, because all the different ACARS stored their data in their own formats.

But that's something I'll need help testing.

v7 won't be compatible with smartcars. They had their own API layer and stuff which sat on top of classic.

[Nabeel]

I added an issue on Github to track the migration work: https://github.com/nabeelio/phpvms/issues/443

Hopefully I can get started on that soon.

[nicky9499]

For posterity I'm linking this thread from TFDi confirming smartCARS 3 will be compatible with phpvms 7, release date unknown.

https://forums.tfdidesign.com/index.php?/topic/3520-phpvms7-support/

[DanFlutter]

Hi, I know this question is 5 years old. However, It would be very useful to get a list of required fields to be imported into MySQL.

From IBEva, we also have the data exports about the former system we are still using. We can eventually do some ETL on this data and transform it to the same format as required by PHPvms 7. I know that Fleets, Pilots, and other types of data could be imported successfully using CSV. However, we know that this option is not available for Pireps.

 

Is there any proper method to import this data into the system using a proper Laravel class to do this? Or the only valid method to import the data is writing the data directly into the database as a db import? 

Also, putting data directly into the Pireps table would not affect calculations for hour count for each pilot and also for fleets.

[DisposableHero]

Simple logic to see what is needed is to create a manual pirep or check an acars pirep directly from the database, then you can prepare your old data to match the new fields and import via some sql queries. Or of course you can write a custom module, utilizing laravel features to make it more complex if you wish.

 

Most important things is the data units, flight (pirep) times are in minutes and all weight / fuel values are in pounds (lbs) for phpvms v7 database (regardless what you select for display).

Also you may need to match your old pilot id's in those pireps with new user_id's you have in your system (don't mix them up with idents, I am talking about the real database indexed id numbers of users)

Then you may need to match your old airline codes with your new airline_id's to have more matches / reflecting details.

You can probably use the same timestamps for created_at, submitted_at, updated_at fields of v7, it will not harm the system but if you have detailed times you can use them too (created_at is the time a flight is started, submitted_at is the the it gets filed etc.)

Pirep type (manual/acars), pirep state, pirep status can be same for all these imported all pireps.

 

In theory if you can match the pilot id's with their old pireps, nightly cron can re-calculate their pirep counts and times according to that data (pilots will be happy).

 

What you will lose is financial details of those pireps (can be done if you want to go that deep but I think this is not important compared to the pirep itself), and detailed acars data (like logs, flown points etc) you may have in that old system.

 

Good luck