Update LiveCompare Service Configuration Wizard

You can use the Update LiveCompare Service Configuration Wizard to do the following:

  • Encrypt, re-encrypt, or decrypt SQLite databases.

  • Set a new password for the LiveCompare service account.

  • Change the LiveCompare URL scheme, for example, from http: to https:.

Security is ensured as external SQLite analysis tools can't examine or modify encrypted databases.

Database encryption

When LiveCompare is configured to encrypt SQLite databases, it encrypts the following:

  • Workspace databases stored in the <LiveCompare user data dir>\private\workspaces folder on the LiveCompare server.

  • Newly created workspaces.

  • Unencrypted workspaces that are registered in LiveCompare.

  • Object Links Cache databases.

  • Existing and newly created performance history data and SC_MON data databases.

  • SQLite databases used by LiveCompare and stored in the <LiveCompare user data dir>\private folder.

Note that LiveCompare doesn't encrypt SQLite External Data Sources.

You need to back up the user data directory on your LiveCompare server before changing the database encryption status. This backup applies to the following status changes:

  • From Unencrypted to Encrypted

  • From Encrypted to Re-encrypted

  • From Encrypted to Unencrypted

Time required for database encryption

Encryption or decryption of existing SQLite databases is performed in the last step of the Update LiveCompare Service Configuration Wizard. Databases are encrypted at an approximate rate of 30MB per second. The time taken for SQLite databases to be encrypted, re-encrypted or decrypted depends on their size. The following table provides some approximate values.

User data size Runtime
100MB 3s
1GB 33s
100GB 5m
1TB 1h

Run the Update LiveCompare Service Configuration Wizard

Before running the Update LiveCompare Service Configuration Wizard, make sure that no users are signed in to LiveCompare, and that no apps or workflows are running. To start the Wizard, select the Update LiveCompare Service Configuration app from the Windows Start menu. The following screen is displayed.

Database Encryption screen.

The Current Configuration section indicates the current database encryption setting, either Encrypted or Unencrypted.

The New Configuration section allows you to adjust the configuration.

You need to back up the user data directory on your LiveCompare server before changing the database encryption status. This backup applies to the following status changes:

  • From Unencrypted to Encrypted

  • From Encrypted to Re-encrypted

  • From Encrypted to Unencrypted

The following options are available:

  • Select No change to keep the configuration as it is.

  • Select Encrypted to encrypt workspace databases on the LiveCompare server. This option is only available if the current configuration is Unencrypted.

  • Select Re-encrypted (use a new key) to re-encrypt the workspace databases using a new key. This option is only available if the current configuration is Encrypted.

  • Select Unencrypted to decrypt the workspaces. This option is only available if the current configuration is Encrypted.

Click Next > to continue. The following screen is displayed.

If you have chosen ‘Encrypted’ or ‘Re-encrypted (use a new key)’, click Generate Random Seed to generate a random seed to use for the encryption. Alternatively, enter or paste a seed value into the Seed field. If any other option is chosen, the Seed field is disabled.

Click Next > to continue. The Service Configuration screen is displayed.

Service Configuration screen.

Complete the screen fields by specifying:

  • The account name and new password for the existing LiveCompare service account, or

  • The account name and password for a new LiveCompare service account.

In each case, the account should be local to the LiveCompare server machine and a member of the local Administrators group.

Note: Changing the LiveCompare service account name will invalidate any existing RFC Destinations that use a secure network connection. See the Create secure RFC Destinations help topic for details.

Click Next> to continue. The Account Rights screen is displayed.

Account Rights screen.

This screen lists the rights required for the LiveCompare account. Rights that are present marked with Tick icon.. Rights that are missing are marked with Cross icon.. If any rights are missing, click Fix to apply the missing rights to the LiveCompare account.

To apply any missing rights manually, follow these steps:

  1. Run the Local Security Policy applet on the LiveCompare server.

  2. Select the Security Settings > Local Policies > User Rights Assignment folder.

  3. If the SeServiceLogonRight right is missing, display the properties for Log on as a service, and add the LiveCompare account.

  4. If the SeBatchLogonRight right is missing, display the properties for Log on as a batch job, and add the LiveCompare account.

  5. Click Retest and check that there are no missing rights.

Click Next > to continue. The URL Scheme screen is displayed.

URL Scheme screen.

Select the URL scheme to be used by LiveCompare. If you choose ‘https’, IIS must be configured separately to support https, as described here. If you are upgrading from an earlier release of LiveCompare and have changed the URL scheme, the URLs of any existing URL-based reports will be adjusted to reflect the new scheme.

Note: A warning message is displayed if the URL scheme doesn't match the scheme used for the ReportBaseUrl field set in the Configuration - Reports screen for an earlier release of LiveCompare. In this case, you must use the same URL scheme or update the ReportBaseUrl field once LiveCompare is configured.

Click Next> to continue. The Completing LiveCompare Configuration screen is displayed.

Completing LiveCompare Configuration screen.

Review the summary settings and click Finish. Clicking Finish sets the username and password for the LiveCompare service account and updates the LiveCompare URL scheme if required. It also applies any changes to LiveCompare’s database encryption settings, encrypting, re-encrypting or decrypting existing SQLite databases as required.

  • This section describes the effects of encrypting SQLite databases.

  • This section describes the approximate time required to encrypt SQLite databases.

When the configuration process is complete, the LiveCompare Service Configuration screen is displayed.

LiveCompare Service Configuration screen.

Click Done to close the screen or Save... to save the configuration log to a text file. If necessary, you may send the log file to Tricentis support for analysis.

Export the database key

If you selected either Encrypted or Re-encrypted (use a new key) in the Database Encryption screen, follow these steps to export the database key used for the encryption as an XML file.

  1. Sign in to LiveCompare as a user with Administrator permissions and click Studio tool button. to go to the LiveCompare studio.

  2. In the Administration screen’s Database section, click Export Database Key.

  3. In the screen that follows, click download the file to download a file named database_key.xml to your machine. Keep the file in a safe place.

  4. For security, click done to delete the server-side copy of the database_key.xml file.

Database encryption with unregistered workspaces

The following table describes some special cases that arise when using database encryption with unregistered workspaces.

Current configuration New configuration Special cases
Unencrypted Encrypted

An unregistered workspace exists that was copied directly from another encrypted server.

In this case, the workspace can't be encrypted. The Update LiveCompare Service Configuration Wizard logs the paths of the database files that couldn't be encrypted.

Encrypted Re-encrypted

An unregistered workspace exists that was copied directly from another encrypted server, or a workspace was exported (so it is unencrypted) and then copied to the LiveCompare server without being registered.

In these cases, the workspaces can't be re-encrypted. The Update LiveCompare Service Configuration Wizard logs the paths of the database files that couldn't be re-encrypted.

Encrypted Unencrypted

An unregistered workspace exists that was copied directly from another encrypted server, or a workspace was exported (so it is unencrypted) and then copied to the LiveCompare server without being registered.

In these cases, the workspaces can't be decrypted. The Update LiveCompare Service Configuration Wizard logs the paths of the database files that couldn't be decrypted.

Next: Configure LiveCompare to run using HTTPS/SSL