Overview

During a DNN import or export, the process can get stuck indefinitely on the "In Progress" status. Alternatively, it may fail and display an exception error in Task History:

Export/Import EXCEPTION: The process cannot access the file [filename] because it is being used by another process.

This is generally observed in a web farm configuration where there are multiple servers.

 

Prerequisites

• The environment is in a web farm.
• Access to a SuperUser account.

 

Diagnosis

The root cause of why this issue occurs is due to the import/export task tries to access the same export package located in the RootFolder/App_Data/ExportImport folder at the same time another process is accessing the folder. The possible causes are:

1. The scheduler task "Site Import/Export" does not have a specific server name defined.
2. The web farm is a DFS configuration where file replication occurs frequently and the import task tries to access the export package at the same time of file replication.

 

Solution

The scheduler task "Site Import/Export" does not have a specific server name defined

1. You need to go to Settings > Scheduler > Scheduler Tab > Edit "Site Import/Export" scheduled task. 
2. In the Servers field, set a specific server name (You can find the server names in Settings > Servers)

 

The web farm environment is a DFS configuration

• You will need to exclude the RootFolder/App_Data/ExportImport folder from DFS file replication, review the Microsoft documentation here.
• If you are an OnDemand customer, you will need to submit a ticket to support and they will need to submit an incident to the SaaS team (Agent Only).

 

Testing

To test that the issue has been resolved by:

1. Try the import process once again.
2. The import should say that the job has succeeded in Settings > Import / Export.