A New Server for Open Dental: A Westerville Office Plan

Moving Open Dental to a new server is a planned evening, not a copy-and-paste job. The vendor's steps start with the database version: the new server must run the same MariaDB or MySQL version as the old one. Then the old server is stopped and disabled so no workstation can write to it, the database and image folder are copied across, and every workstation is pointed at the new name.

Last updated: November 2026

When is it time for a new server?

• The operating system is off the list. The vendor supports Windows 11 and Windows Server 2016 through 2025, and stopped supporting Windows 10 on October 14, 2025.
• The office has outgrown the edition. The vendor notes home editions of Windows can hit connection and networking limits; the Pro and Business editions are the ones it recommends.
• The hardware is tired. Slow, out of warranty, a drive throwing errors, or a server that doubles as the busiest front-desk computer.

What has to be known before anything is copied?

The vendor lists four checks before a migration begins.

1. The database version. Installs after July 14, 2021 normally use MariaDB; older ones use MySQL. The new server gets the same version, installed from the vendor's trial installer.
2. The storage engine. Some steps differ for InnoDB databases, which the program's Diagnostics window shows.
3. HL7. Offices using it schedule the migration with the vendor.
4. A backup. Of the image folder, the database, and the my.ini configuration file, before anything moves.

How does the move itself go?

On the old server, the vendor's order is to stop and then disable the database, Open Dental Service, eConnector and API services, rename the image folder so it stops being shared, and close port 3306 in the Windows firewall. That makes it impossible for a workstation to keep writing to the old machine by mistake. On the new server, only the database engine, its grant tables, my.ini and the image folder are installed; the program and database come over from the old server.

Then the share is set up, the data paths are checked, each workstation's connection settings are changed to the new server name (the not connecting page covers those four settings), and an image saved on one computer is opened on another before the office is handed back.

Where should the new server sit?

On a wired connection to the main switch, on a battery backup, somewhere with airflow. Westerville's power comes from the city's own electric division, and whatever the utility, a database server should be able to shut itself down cleanly on battery rather than lose power mid-write. The vendor also suggests keeping the server dedicated to that job where possible.

Where does the old machine's data end up?

It keeps every chart the practice has, so it is not sold, recycled or handed to staff until its drives are wiped or destroyed. The state's Data Protection Act (Revised Code 1354.03) treats a practice's program as meeting its framework test when it conforms to the entirety of the federal health-privacy security requirements, and those requirements cover disposal of the hardware data lived on. The old drive is either wiped with a tool that writes over it or physically destroyed, and the date is recorded.

The same law also expects a program to catch up with a revised framework within a year, so a server replacement is a sensible moment to review the written program as a whole.

What does the practice see?

The move happens after hours. The office closes one evening on the old server and opens the next morning on the new one, with the same charts, the same images and the same logins. Anything still pointing at the old name is found that morning, not three weeks later.

Questions practices ask

Can the vendor move the server for us?

The vendor publishes the steps and supports the program. The hardware, Windows, the network and the workstation changes are the practice's IT side.

Can we upgrade the database version during the move?

Not in the same step. The vendor's instruction is the same version on both servers; an upgrade is its own change, after the move is proven.

Will backups keep working?

Only once they are pointed at the new server and tested. The backup page covers that.