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FME Flow Troubleshooting: Upgrading

Liz Sanderson
Liz Sanderson
  • Updated

Full Guide: FME Flow Troubleshooting Guide

Are you encountering issues while upgrading FME Flow (formerly FME Server) – either during or afterwards? Please read below for some common troubleshooting tips, questions and resources.

In 2023, FME Server underwent a name change and is now known as FME Flow. Since this article discusses features present in previous versions of FME, it will refer to both names interchangeably, using the appropriate product name based on the year the feature was introduced. For more information on the rebranding, see our website. 
 

Content Overview

 

Initial Troubleshooting

  • Before upgrading, please ensure you have considered the change and requirements, and have decided on the approach that is right for you, as discussed in the documentation on upgrading FME Flow.
  • If you are upgrading FME Flow, please ensure that you have created a valid and complete backup. Please see the documentation for more information. Note that upgrading FME Flow requires that you uninstall the older version and install the new version.
  • Please refer to our documentation for a list of FME Flow components included in the migration, noting those that are not migrated as part of the backup and restore operation.  
  • Please see the Backup & Restore Task History in the Web Interface to access the Log File.
  • Check the Core Log Files for any ERROR or Warning Messages. 
    Resources > Logs > core > current/old > fmeconfiguration.log
  • Check the Tomcat Catalina Log File for any SEVERE error messages. 
    Resources > Logs > tomcat > hostname > catalina.<date>.log
  • The uninstall process may leave behind some files and directories if there have been any post-installation configurations. It is okay to remove these files – you may consider keeping a backup of these files. It is recommended to delete existing directories if you are performing an upgrade to the same machine.
  • We recommend upgrading FME Form (formerly FME Desktop) and FME Flow to the same version and build to avoid any incompatibility issues.
  • You cannot install multiple versions of FME Flow on one machine. Please see the documentation on upgrading in place/on the same machine. 

 

Common Issues

“How do I upgrade an FME Flow Hosted instance?”

This process is different than the traditional method for FME Flow. Please see the documentation for more information.

 

"When I try to download my backup .fsconfig file, it fails."

If you are trying to perform a backup and it fails, but there are no errors reported in the backup task log, then it is likely the backup file is very large and the operation is timing out. In older versions of FME Flow, backups larger than 2GB could cause this (Please see this question for more information.). The current workaround is to save the file to Resources instead of downloading it.

 

“The FME Flow backup/restore process is taking forever, and system performance is impacted.”

Some FME Flow instances have a very large Resources folder. The processes that create the FME Flow backup may be running out of resources (memory or disk space). Please consider manually moving the large file(s) to another location, running the backup process, and restoring the file(s) manually. 

 

“FME Flow Windows Services cannot start after upgrading.”

If you encounter the error below when attempting to start the FME Flow Windows Services after an upgrade, it may indicate an incomplete uninstallation.

Error 1075: The dependency service does not exist or has been marked for deletion.

Please see this article for more information.

 

"After upgrading, the FME Flow log in page shows the error 'FME Flow is not ready yet. Try again later.'"

Please see this article for troubleshooting: FME Flow Troubleshooting: “FME Flow is not ready yet. Try again later."

 

"After upgrading, I get the error 'There was an error submitting the job' when I try to run a job."

Please see this article for troubleshooting: FME Flow Run Workspace: There was an error submitting the job

 

"All of my jobs are going to the queue after upgrading."

First, make sure that the FME Flow Engines service is running and that the expected number of engines is available on the Engine Management page. 

Check your Queue Control setting and confirm the Engine Assignment Rules are correctly set up.

If you are upgrading an FME Flow express installation to FME Flow 2024 or later, it could be due to engine names now defaulting to localhost. Engine Assignment Rules may need to be updated. Please see Known Issue: Engine Name Change to Localhost Causes Jobs to Queue

 

"When I log in after upgrading, I see IDs like a31b-487f-b7b5-d05be789262c on the Web UI instead of words."

This can happen if you reuse a system share location from an old installation or copy/paste files from an old installation directly to the system share outside of FME Flow after upgrading. Reinstall FME Flow and ensure you provide an empty location for the system share. Never copy files directly to the system share unless they're Resource files or you have been instructed to by Safe Support.

 

"My schedule categories are missing after upgrading."

Tags are now used instead of categories. If you are upgrading from a version of FME Flow prior to 2023 when this change occurred, categories will need to be recreated after upgrading. See Known Issue: FME Flow Schedule Categories are Not Converted to Tags Upon Migration

 
"Will my trial license be lost if FME Flow is upgraded?"

No, your license will not be lost. You will have to re-license FME Flow when you upgrade, but it does not count as a new trial as long as you're within your trial period. Use the request license form in the web interface once you have installed the new version.

 

"I want to move drives when upgrading my FME Flow."

Simply specify the new location in the installer when reinstalling FME Flow. FME will put all the new config files in that location. Restore as usual. Please see this question for more information. 
 

"I want to download a backup from FME Flow programmatically."

You can achieve this using FME Flow REST API. Please review the API Doc found at <your FME Flow URL>/fmeapiv4/docs/index.html for more details.

Applicable API endpoints are:

Download encryption keyfile:

GET /configuration/encryption/keyfile

Download backup:

POST /migrations/backup/download

Save backup to a Resource location:

POST /migrations/backup/resource

 

"I am trying to import a large backup file to FME Flow using Internet Explorer, and it is failing."

In FME Server 2019 and newer, if I try to import a backup file greater than ~5GB it fails with the error: 

COM.safe.fmeserver.configuration.migration.FMEConfigurationException: java.util.zip.ZipException: archive is not a ZIP archive

Internet Explorer is no longer a supported browser. Please use one of the Supported Web Browsers for Safe Websites.

 

Additional Resources

Are you still experiencing issues?

If you are still experiencing issues that are not addressed in this article, please consider posting to the FME Community or contacting Safe Software for one-to-one support.

 

Have ideas on how to improve this?

You can add ideas or product suggestions to our Ideas Forum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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